Dave's Favorites: LensDoc

Barrel distortion really bugs me. If I know that a line in a photograph--like the wall of a skyscraper or the horizon--is supposed to be straight, even a slight bow ruins the entire shot for me. That's why I adore LensDoc from Andromeda Software. I've tried other programs that try to correct for a wide-angle lens' barrel distortion, but I keep coming back to LensDoc.

A standard PhotoShop Plug-In, LensDoc runs inside any image editor that recognizes Plug-Ins. I routinely use it in Paint Shop Pro, for instance, and it works exactly the same there as it does in PhotoShop. To use it, simply load an image and invoke LensDoc from the Plug-In Filters menu.

The genius of LensDoc is that instead of making you enter meaningless numbers into a dialog box in a frustrating game of trial and error, you simply drag a trio of dots over what should be a straight line in the image. Then just click a button and the image is instantly corrected, with little, if any, unwanted distortion.

LensDoc sells for $89 and is available from Andromeda Software. It's certainly expensive if you only need to fix one or two pictures, but if you consider it a long-term investment for correcting a lifetime of future warped photos, it's definitely worth the money.

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