Eric used a Sony a6400 camera body and the Laowa 9mm f/2.8 Zero-D Lens. This lens is the widest rectilinear lens available at the time, March 2026. There is no such thing as perfection in life, camera lenses are no exception. So all lenses must be analyzed to quantify their distortion. The Laowa lens’s distortion is exceedingly small.

Here is the distortion that the lens adds. See any distortion? Probably not visually unless you look very carefully. So, if there is curve that is more pronounced than this distortion, it’s real curve.

The second balloon launch was March 14, 2026.