This is probably the wrong place for this post, but because there has been alot of talk about the WD-58H on here (and my comments on the slight barrel distortion) I thought most people here might be interested in this little plugin I happened to *come across* on the net.

'Digitial Imaging Tools - Debarrelize' plug-in

Its very simple really, it just runs under Adobe After Effects (or photoshop) and streches the image to your specifications to counter-act the barrel distortion of wideangle lenses.

The trade off is that the edges do start to slightly strech, but I imagine you could simply crop the footage a little if you wanted absolute perfection.

I used Dany Nativel's (thx, hope you dont mind) image of his kitchen with the WD-58H to demonstrate (pitty about the text).

http://members.optushome.com.au/heathercam/debarrel.jpg

Hilary Cam.

That looks like a very cool way to correct for the distortion of the WD-58. I have been thinking about getting one and now I can actually see what the images look like.

Can you use it real time for video footage? In Final Cut? Do you know the web address?

I also noticed that the fridge looked perfect but the range hood on the right looked more distorted, is that my imagination?
Mark

Yes, actually your spot on, the top right quarter of the quadrant of the picture does look very distorted and obviously trimmed. When I used the plugin I focused on just getting the fridge door straight.

The distortions may be due to a few things;

1. I used the wrong settings on the plug-in
2. The original photo (not by me) was trimmed off the right side
3. The fridge is further in the background, perhaps the distance of the object to the camera affects the level distortion; and if objects are not equally distorted the plug-in cannot equally un-distort them.

The plugin is Adobe *.8bf file and can only be used in After Effects and Photoshop (seems to crash in ADobe Premiere). It can be used for entire clips in After Effects.

Hilary,
Cool filter. Thanks for the download link. It works fine in Photoshop but I can't seem to get it to work in After Effects. I dropped it into my After Effects/plug-ins/standard/(psfilter) folder but it doesn't pull up. Am I doing something wrong?

Number three is the correct answer, distance to subject. The closer an object is to the lens ( and closer to the edges of the frame), the greater the apparent distortion.

Jeff

Hi Ed,

I had no problems with this plug-in in After Effects (ver 5). I put it in the following folder on my computer;

Program Files\Adobe\After Effects 5.0\Plug-ins\Debarrelizer v1.1w

It should show up under 'digital imaging tools' in the filter list.
Also, remember to have Adobe programs shut while you install a plug-in, or you will have to restart the program to get it to recognise it. It only searches for new plugins when you start-up the adobe application.

Hope that helps.

Thanks Hilary,
It works in After Effects 5.5 using your string.

I'm glad to see my kitchen Debarrelized !

Is there anything similar for Vegas 3.0 ?