Lens correction in LR3

[joel_b.1]

<p>I'm shopping for a wide angle zoom lens. I don't want to discuss the merits of any particular lens here, so I won't go into the ones I'm looking at. In reviews for wide zooms, critics often spend a lot of time talking about the amount and kinds of distortion each lens produces, for obvious reasons: wide zooms are very prone to distortion.</p>

<p>I am wondering, though, how much I really need to take that factor into consideration as I evaluate potential purchases, since in my experience, using LR3's lens correction feature does a terrific job of correcting distortion in the normal and tele zooms I currently use.</p>

<p>So the question: How much or how little should LR3's ability to correct lens distortion affect my thinking as I evaluate the distortion portions of reviews of wide zooms?</p>

<p>Thanks very much!</p>

[patricklavoie]

<p>i never thought of basing my new lens buy base on Lightroom (or any other software) abitlity to correct *problems* later... i buy a lens according to my budget, brand and result i want.</p>

<p><em>How much or how little should LR3's ability to correct lens distortion affect my thinking as I evaluate the distortion portions of reviews of wide zooms?</em><br>

so i will say little to none for me.</p>

[joel_b.1]

<p>It would indeed be quite insane to "base" a lens purchase decision on this factor. Is it not the case, however, that the inherent deficiencies of some lenses may be less materially significant these days, given that pp corrections are available which can effectively eliminate those deficiencies?</p>

[JDMvW]

<p>I think that LR, Photoshop, etc. "lens corrections" are wonderful, but this is for fixing problems in lenses that you have OTHER reasons for using.</p>

<p>For example, for a shot unavoidably taken with a standard lens, the correction of perspective in post is very handy indeed. But if I were starting out on an architectural shoot, I'd bring a shift/tilt lens and get it right in the camera first.</p>

<p>To put it another way, "something" does not come from "nothing". Unlike the CSI shows, a low-res TV surveillance camera can only deliver so much information, so the huge enlargements of a background object with only three pixels involved probably will not yield the license plate number, for example.</p>

<p>Without data, there can be no information --</p>

[scott_ferris]

<p>If LR has a good profile for the lens you want I'd chalk that up as a positive for the lens, if it doesn't then I'd definitely mark that as a negative. But beware, many ultra wide zooms have very complex distortions that vary dramatically through their focal lengths, basic pincushion etc are easy to correct, once you get into mustache and multi radius distortions the software capabilities of LR become weaker, then something more powerful might be needed.</p>

<p>For instance I have the 15mm full frame fisheye, that has a superb profile in LR and can be corrected to a very respectable 15mm field of view rectilinear image.</p>

[trey_cartwright]

<p>I have my lens correction set to auto in Lightroom, for the most part I don't notice the distortions until after I see the correction has been applied. However, I recently purchased a telephoto zoom lens that was known to have significant pincushion distortions. And when the correction is applied by Lightroom, it sometimes results in a visible wireframe looking mesh patterned artifact in the skies.<br>

My advice would be, if distortion is a problem for your images, buy the best quality lens you can afford because fixing a poor quality lens digitally can result in other negative artifacts in your images.</p>

[Robin Smith]

<p>From my perspective this is a non-issue. I only rarely use the lens profiles in LR. The natural vignetting and distortion are exactly what makes each lens unique and the corrected version tends to suck the life out of the image. The only time I use it is when I really need to have the distortion corrected for architectural purposes or when there are bodies of water or seascapes that need to be flat- for my photography this is rare, and can be pretty easily done manually without needing a profile. Mind you, I own lenses that are all pretty low distortion to start with.</p>

<p>I would not make LR profiles a basis of a purchase decision.</p>

[keith_b1]

<p>"I would not make LR profiles a basis of a purchase decision." I agree with this.<br>

On my small set of Nikon wide angle zooms and primes(14-24, 17-35, ZF 21-28-35), LR3 does a good, if not perfect job of correcting distortion. The LatCA correction, I have found, is best done 'by hand' using the slider in "Manual Lens Corrections".</p>