ALPA Lens Corrector supports over 90 3rd party lenses

[thomas]

... including Zeiss for Hassy, Contax and 135 format, Hassy HC and Leica M.

The new lens profiles will be released at Photokina.
Still for free!

This is absolutely awesome!!!

There is also a poll on further lenses to be supported (DSLRs + others).

http://www.alpa.ch/en/news/2010/alpa-lc-reloaded.html?year=2010&num=1

 

[cly]

The new lens profiles will be released at Photokina.

incredible! i don't dare to hope that this will fix the distortion of the leica 18mm

--chris

 

[Tim Ernst]

This is only 32-bit, correct? And only works at the pixel level? I wonder how it compares with the Adobe lens profile corrections within LR/ACR?

 

[thomas]

This is only 32-bit, correct?

don't worry - it's really fast even with large files (at least on multi core systems).

I wonder how it compares with the Adobe lens profile corrections within LR/ACR?

there is no comparision. Adobe's algorithms are very, very good with regard to rectangular and trapezoidal transformations (like "perspective" etc.). However they are not really good for circular transformations (i.e. warp tool and lens correction).
In contrast, you will see literally no image degradation with the Alpa Lens Corrector.

 

[Tim Ernst]

I didn't say anything about speed of the plug-in - I already know it only takes a few seconds. But isn't photoshop 64 bit now? This Alpa program would not be at all fast when you consider that you must first quit 64-bit photoshop, then navigate to the program file and select "open in 32 bit," then open and process the file, then save the file, then quit photoshop again, then navigate to the program file and select "open in 64 bit," then open photoshop again. Too bad the new program is not really in tune with current software - and is in fact a step behind.

And I'm talking about comparing with the custom lens profiles in ACR, not the warp or lens correction tools inside photoshop (if that was what you were referring to above). So much better to work with raw data instead of pixels, isn't it? So I was just wondering how the Alpa compared with the custom lens profiles in ACR?

 

[Graham Mitchell]

So much better to work with raw data instead of pixels, isn't it?

When it comes to geometric transformations, it doesn't make a difference. RAW data is in pixel form too.

 

[thomas]

I didn't say anything about speed of the plug-in - I already know it only takes a few seconds. But isn't photoshop 64 bit now? This Alpa program would not be at all fast when you consider that you must first quit 64-bit photoshop, then navigate to the program file and select "open in 32 bit," then open and process the file, then save the file, then quit photoshop again, then navigate to the program file and select "open in 64 bit," then open photoshop again. Too bad the new program is not really in tune with current software - and is in fact a step behind.

this goes for almost every plugin. This is why I run CS4 and CS5 side by side.... actually I use CS5 very rarely.

And I'm talking about comparing with the custom lens profiles in ACR, not the warp or lens correction tools inside photoshop (if that was what you were referring to above). So much better to work with raw data instead of pixels, isn't it? So I was just wondering how the Alpa compared with the custom lens profiles in ACR?

AFAIK the tools ins ACR/LR refer to the same engine as the tools in PS... so they are basically the same.
I think there is a misunderstanding about working on the raw" level or on the pixel level of a processed TIF. When it comes to interpolation (deformation of any kind) there is no real difference... at least not that I know of.

 

[KeithL]

Would the Alpa lens correction software have any advantage over the Phocus lens corrections when using Hasselblad H series lenses?

 

[Tim Ernst]

I see a HUGE difference between running photoshop on 2 gigs and 64 gigs of RAM. Perhaps my files are a lot larger (frequently 2 gigs or larger). There is a world of difference between CS4 and CS5, at least to me, otherwise why in the world would I bother to upgrade? And I can't stand it when a plug-in forces me back to 32-bit and only 2 gigs of RAM. My question is still valid - why would they come out with brand new software that forces us to take a step backward? Plug-ins that never make the move to 64-bit will eventually die out unless you always want to run with very old and slow software.

You are saying that there is no advantage to working in RAW vs. working with a .tiff, for anything, really?

 

[thomas]

I see a HUGE difference between running photoshop on 2 gigs and 64 gigs of RAM.

me too. But 2 of my most important plugins are 32bit only at the moment: Alpa Lens Corrector and FocalBlade.

My question is still valid - why would they come out with brand new software that forces us to take a step backward?

Alpa Lens Corrector is not brand new. It was released prior to CS5.

You are saying that there is no advantage to working in RAW vs. working with a .tiff, for anything, really?

no. I am saying there is no difference with regard to geometric transformation resp. deformation (lens correction, scaling...).

 

[Tim Ernst]

And you still use CS4 most of the time? OK, you win, I give up. Wake me when they make this 64 bit so it can be really useful...

 

[thomas]

And you still use CS4 most of the time? OK, you win, I give up. Wake me when they make this 64 bit so it can be really useful...

there are still too much things unsolved in CS5 so actually it doesn't speed up things very much if you take the entire workflow into account.
For instance opening and saving a file still takes ages and in particular a refresh of the histogram on a layered TIF is still a joke. Open GL is much improved in the way it works (for instance it's actually usable for softproofing now) but still too slow with regard to the redraw when zooming (okay, there's no reason to enable OpenGL so maybe this doesn't count).
So all in all CS5 doesn't safe me a lot of time. It's only nice if you look at benchmark results...

 

[asf]

So Alpa has released the updated profiles - has anyone downloaded the new profiles and got them to work?
I keep getting an error message "No focal lengths defined"