Fixing Lens Distortion

Correct barrel and pincushion distortion in digital photographs. In barrel distortion, the photo appears to bulge outwards from the center. In pincushion distortion, the photo appears to shrink inwards toward the center. Barrel and pincushion distortion are common in photos taken with wide angle or zoom lenses.

ACDSee offers the option of using manual correction via the Manual Correction slider, or enabling lens correction via the lens profile. Select the make, model, and lens of the camera used to take the image. The Lens Correction tool can apply automatic adjustments based on the distortion inherent to the lens used, or enable lens correction for each image manually. After a lens profile has been mapped to an EXIF profile, the Make and Model drop-down menus will be pre-populated with the camera used to take the image based on its EXIF information. The Lens Correction tool contains a database of camera makes, models, and their possible lenses. The possible lenses for the selected camera will be available in the Lens drop-down menu, unless there is only one possible lens, in which case, that lens will be pre-selected.

The name of the lens used in the EXIF information of the image is usually accurate. However, the lens value displayed in the EXIF may not be reliable in the case of third-party lenses, as the camera itself may only recognize the third-party lens as an ID number. If possible, recover the correct lens value and select it from the Lens drop-down menu.

It is also possible to map the correction specific to the lens, (the lens profile), to the camera make, model, and lens combination. Mapping the lens profile will apply the correction to all images with the same camera-lens combination that opened in the Develop pane Lens Correction tool.

Use the Manual Correction slider for further adjustments after using automatic correction, or on its own.

Use the lens profile to correct chromatic aberration, if it is available.

Settings can be set as a preset for future use.

For quick viewing of the available lens profiles, go to Lensfun.

To fix lens distortion using the lens profile:

  1. In the Develop Tools pane, select the Geometry tab.
  2. In the Lens Correction group, enable the Enable Lens Profile checkbox.
  3. If the displayed camera make and model are not correct, select the correct options from the Make and Model drop-down menus.
  4. From the Lens drop-down menu, select the lens used to take the image. Find this information displayed in the EXIF panel in the lower right corner of Develop pane. The correction will occur automatically.
  5. For further adjustments, move the Manual Correction slider to the left for a bulge effect, or to the right to stretch the edges of the image.

Right-click a slider to reset to the default value.

Click the Show Grid button to display a grid over the image. This tool is useful when fixing alignment in images. When the grid is not activated, it is gray .

To save lens profile as a default for future use:

Save the camera and lens combination's correction profile and use it as a default for other images taken with the same camera/lens combination. This will ensure that every time an image is opened from a particular camera make, model, and lens combination in the Lens Correction tool, the Lens field will be pre-populated with the lens mapped to that camera. It is also possible to automatically apply this lens profile to other images taken with the same camera/lens combination upon entering the Develop pane.

As this function relies on EXIF data, this can mainly be performed with JPEG, DNG, RAW, and TIFF images.

  1. With the desired camera and lens combination selected in the Make, Model, and Lens drop-down menus, click the Map Default button.
  2. Enable the Auto-apply this mapped profile when entering Develop mode checkbox to apply the mapped default to future images upon entering the Develop pane.
  3. In the Map Default dialog box, click OK to save, or Cancel to abort.

To manage saved defaults:

  1. Click the Manage Defaults button.
  2. In the Manage Mapped Defaults dialog, do one of the following:
    • Select a default option and click the Delete Mapped Default button.
    • Enable the Auto-apply the selected mapped profile when entering Develop mode checkbox to apply the selected mapped default to future images taken with the same camera/lens combination upon entering the Develop pane.
  3. Click OK to continue, or click Cancel to keep the mapped default.

To fix Chromatic Aberration using the lens profile:

Chromatic aberration occurs due to the properties of a given lens. Therefore, use the lens profile to automatically correct it. The Chromatic Aberration checkbox will be enabled if the selected lens has a corresponding chromatic aberration correction available.

  1. In the Develop pane, select the Geometry tab.
  2. In the Lens Correction group, enable the Enable Lens Profile checkbox.
  3. Enable the Chromatic Aberration checkbox.
  4. Navigate to the Detail tab to view the corrected image.

Save the lens profile with the Chromatic Aberration checkbox enabled to ensure that chromatic aberration will always be corrected.

See also: