fisheye

Barrel distortion is exactly what you saw in your sample photo above -- the unpleasant "bulging" appearance of the image. To really see it, look at a straight line, and notice how it bends. Fisheye lenses could be said to have "barrel distortion" but it's intentional, and extreme. Most lenses try to avoid it.
 
I think you're right. It sounds like the OP did not actually want to know about fisheyes, but rather about how to stitch photos and avoid barrel distortion (which causes lots of trouble for panoramas). I suspect this has all been just terminology problems.

So, I think the answer is: if you want to make a panorama, you don't need to shoot at your widest angle anyhow -- after all, you're already artificially widening your frame by stitching together several photos. So just don't shoot at 18mm. Know your equipment, experiment a bit, and use whatever looks best.

The distortion he's seeing is barrel distortion, which is not "fisheye" distortion (although it is related... vaguely). All lenses have SOME kind of distortion, and any good panorama stitching software knows how to correct for it -- but you want to avoid the distortion anyhow, because it just degrades image quality when your stitcher has to correct it.

(This is also a good lesson: Tell us what you really want to do, instead of trying to ask a question with incomplete information.)

+1

This is exactly what I meant. I know my terminology is messed up, forgive me as I am a noob. I didn't know exactly what barrel distortion is.

it's alright, i think at some point we've all been there before. we know what we want, but it's difficult to convey our intentions. hopefully dcclark answered your question. I agree with the experimenting part.
 
so my next question is, what exactly causes barrel distortion and how can it be avoided?
 

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