What Happened Here???

Hi - I bought a camera for my son today from lotnabox on eBay. I took a few test shots on it and in every one you can see a massive curve problem.

Admittedly it is not a canon it's a small Kodak but as I post all of my Canon questions here I was wondering if someone could take a look and say "that's a .........in the lens that's causing that"

Cheers, Iain

HOSTED PHOTO
please log in to view hosted photos in full size.

From DPReview:

Barrel distortion is a lens effect which causes images to be spherised or "inflated". Barrel distortion is associated with wide angle lenses and typically occurs at the wide end of a zoom lens. The use of converters often amplifies the effect. It is most visible in images with perfectly straight lines, especially when they are close to the edge of the image frame. See also the opposite effect, pincushion distortion.


Rad

ah ha - Thanks for that. So is this a fault with the camera then? Or is this something that you get with cheapo cameras? thanks

More the lens than the camera. And it is the most pronounced when the zoom is at it's widest. You will see this effect vanish as you zoom in.

Rad

Ok thanks. I dont think that I can put up with it so it's time for this one to go back!
Cheers for your help.