I can correct lens distortion for different lenses in Adobe Photoshop. In fact the program does it automatically if I tick a box.
Can I do the same in Final Cut Pro? If so how? What box do I tick?
Background: I shoot a dancing group in music videos with multiple camera. The static wide shots are 16-35mm. I need to correct the body distortions
MacBook Pro 15″, macOS 10.15
Hi, thank you for your answer, I appreciate it.
It isn't a "problem" that is specific to me. The whole photography world uses lens profile corrections since I believe 2002, so 21 years ago.
Basically it comes down to 2 things enabled by the introduction of digital image capture using computer microchips 20 years ago.
1.
All lenses (even very expensive ones) distort an image from how your eyes see it, to a certain degree. Not only fish eye lenses, but all lenses. Including prime lenses, zoom lenses, etc.
All lenses.
This is specifically evident in the corners of an image and is seen as vignetting. Vignetting means "dark outer edges". The centre of an image is bright but the outer edges near the corners darken.
This is very evident on low focal length lenses, like an 8mm fish eye lens, or any wide angle lens. Even a 16-35mm lens used in film or any wide shots will feature considerable vignetting (darkening of the outer edges of an image).
The software I'm talking about (Photoshop in this case) simply brightens this outer area according to what lens is detected. It knows how much each lens vignettes naturally and corrects this if a box is ticked. It has done this for the past 20 years.
The other imperfections that are lens specific are things like chromatic aberration. Especially if shot wide open at a very low depth of field. Objects in the image will have red and blue edges. The software knows how much this is for each lens and removes it.
Also, if shot at too high an aperture like F22 we get diffraction, which is an overall blurring of the image. This is why the sharpness sweet spot of most lenses is a few stops from wide open. But again, the software removes this distortion digitally.
Same with perspective correction. An ultra wide angle lens will stretch out the edges of an image and enlarge the center. Not very pleasing on portraits. Or in architecture, where it is the holy grail to have perfectly straight verticals. Not possible without lens correction on wide angle lenses (which are the norm in interior architecture). The software, again, knows what lens was used and corrects this distortion digitally. Some visual artists don't even accept the loss of quality in the pixels of the digital algorithm and invest in expensive tilt shift lenses to avoid the distortion in the first place.
Those are all necessary corrections that are applied to everything recorded with a lens, to make it more lifelike.
2 .
The second thing that digital image capture has enabled 15 years ago (2008) are additional tools that make workflows easier. Things like automatic perspective straightening, which identifies straight lines in images and can rotate them to be correct automatically, or apply perspective distortion so that various slanted lines appear straight. This is used far less than point 1 above, which is used by every photographer, for every image.
I'm surprised no lens correction options exist for video in Final Cut Pro x.
Could you post some examples? I have a commercial product that will help reduce "fisheye" and one that will fix perspective distortions... I'd like to see if they could be used for your problem before I recommend them.
I started "practicing" photography back in 1970. I had a Mamiya Sekor 1000DTL and at the time, I had no bloody idea what I had. I was a yearbook photog for my junior and senior years. I used to have my own darkroom and I was good at it. I eventually passed the camera down to my brother. All the other cameras I've had since then really weren't as good as that first camera.
I know about quite a bit of what digital camera manufacturers do with their imaging algorithms. The one I usually "focus on" (pun intended) is the one where the image is "ever so slightly softened" to help eliminate an inherent moiré pattern that occurs with square/rectangular pixel elements if the horizontal alignment isn't exactly precisely aligned to the "horizon"... which is just about every image taken. A secondary side effect may be the appearance of "jpeg artifacts"...
I developed a "video cleaner" effect to deal with the inherent softening... nobody goes for it. They don't even go for the earlier "sharpeners" I developed. I can't do any photography, much less shoot any original video anymore, so I have to use whatever stock video I can get a-hold of — almost all of it needs fixin'.
You can take a look at this video that demonstrates my "video fixers" and figure out if it's something you think might help out:
I don't expect anything... just putting it out there.
You started 20 years before me! Thank you for taking the time to answer. I appreciate the time taken.
The solution you posted is exactly what I was looking for (in fixing perspective) but unfortunately it is a manual method. Something like where the technology was for photography back in the late 90's. It requires manual warping.
I had hoped an automatic solution would have been able for video by now. Like Adobe Camera Raw's Lens Profile tab. It says: this was shot with a "Canon EF 24-105 F4.0L IS II USM" on a "DX1" here is the correction for that.
Similar to how in FCPX the plugin FilmConvert Nitrate can apply various film stocks depending on what camera and lens you select.
I am very surprised this does not exist for video.
Thanks again!
I'm not entirely convinced that such a feature would actually save *me* time. The more different options you get to deal with, the more time you spend going back and forth between them. Either way (theirs or mine) it takes practice to become efficient.
Correct lens distortion Final Cut Pro?
