The issue with distortion and group portraits has nothing to do with barrel or pincushion distortion. It has to do with the fact that wide angle lenses sqash and fatten objects in the other edges to keep the lines straight.(...) At about the 35mm focal length for 35mm cameras, this is minimal to non-existent.
Bruce
I noticed this, surprisingly, on a 40mm (Canonet QL17). But the face in question was not far from a corner.
Andre
