DxO ViewPoint 3 is the latest perspective correction software from DxO Labs. This is a a highly specialized image processing tool which is designed to correct distortion causes by perspective and optical distortion.
Being designed to perform a number of loosely related image manipulation, it provides a minimalist user-interface which can show every tool at one. Any number of tools can be used on a single image. Version 3 adds a number of automatic correction which attempt to compute the right amount of correction needed for perspective, horizontal tilt and cropping.
DxO ViewPoint 3 is available directly from DxO for $79 USD. It supports 64-bit versions of Microsoft Winwows 7 Service Pack 1 or newer and Mac OS X 10.6 or later. The software needs at last 2 GB of RAM and 400 MB of disk-space, although 4 GB is recommended for Windows and 6 GB for Max OS X. ViewPoint 3 works as a stand-alone application or integrated with Adobe Photoshop CS3+, Adobe Photoshop Elements 9+, Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3+ or Apple Aperture 3. DxO offers a generous license which allows users to install ViewPoint 3 on up to 4 computers.
DxO told us the name has a double meaning reflecting the changes the software can make to an image. The first meaning of ViewPoint is the meaning of a photo. The second meaning is the photographer. DxO ViewPoint 3 is the latest perspective correction software from DxO Labs. This is a a highly specialized image processing tool which is designed to correct distortion causes by perspective and optical distortion. DxO ViewPoint is a software tool which can be used in order to correct distortions that might have occurred when taking pictures. The installation process is fairly typical, and upon completing it, you come face to face with a modern-looking and intuitive UI. The advantage of DxO ViewPoint is the ability to be used seamlessly as a plugin within DxO PhotoLab. The advantage of Perspective EFEX is being installed alongside all other Nik plugins and making Nik Collection by DxO a comprehensive suite of plugins. Share how you are using ViewPoint on your wide-angle photos. Discuss DxO FilmPack and your creative techniques. Forum Management.
Dxo Viewpoint
DxO ViewPoint 3 offers a simple and elegant interface with just two modes. One is there to select an image to work on, the other shows all the tools and a display of the work in progress. The File Open mode shows beautiful and large thumbnails making it easy to choose an image among many. The *Working* mode offers several viewing modes along with a stack of collapsible tools. The entire interface is dark grey to minimize interference with color and contrast perception.
There is both a standard menu bar and iconic toolbar at the top of the window. Both offer a minimal set of options with clear tooltips for each icon in the toolbar. A panel on the right holds all the tools. One can open or close any tool, as well as reset it to its default no effect state. The entire stack of tools can also be reset at once.
Dxo Viewpoint Tutorials
The first tool corrects for optical distortion. The Auto option reads the EXIF to determine what type of correction is needed. In order to use that, you must be working with an original file or one which is exported with intact EXIF information. Working on a cropped image is a bad idea since correction may be off-center compared to the optical axis. Manual correction can fix various degrees of Barrel, Pincushion and Fisheye distortion. Fisheye distortion in particular can be extreme and rather difficult to correct, so this tool was tested on an image produced by a full-frame fisheye lens with a 180° diagonal angle-of-view:
The result is quite impressive. In this image of La Basilica Del Voto Nacional in Quito, Ecuador, the original shows severe curvature of the sides of the church and moderate bending of its base. After applying automatic correction, the horizon is stream and the sides of the basilica are no longer curved. One can of course still notice the upward perspective of the shot yet it appears much more natural and proportional.
Dxo Viewpoint 3
Dxo Viewpoint 2
The second tool is really unique to DxO ViewPoint and is called Volume Deformation. It is meant to make an image look more natural due to a certain type of distortion which causes objects near the edges of images to appear wider than they should. Below, it is the core function of this software: Perspective Correction. This one also has an Auto mode and can correct, either automatically or manually, for four types of perspective distortion: Vertical Perspective, Horizontal Perspective, Four-Point and Eight-Point perspective.
Dxo Viewpoint 2
Both Horizontal and Vertical Perspective correction work similarly by providing two guidelines which the software will render parallel. Take a look at this photo taken with an extremely wide 10mm lens on a camera with an APS-C sensor for Vertical Perspective correction:
At an equivalent of 15mm on a full-frame, such lens shows dramatic perspective distortion. Correcting for Vertical Perspective using the outer edges of the building produces a corrected image such as this one:
The building now looks much more straight and imposing. DxO ViewPoint 3 did an excellent job at warping the image such that it looks natural. Sharpness is also reasonably well-maintained but there is, understandably, a loss of definition towards the top of the building which more stretching occurred. What happens though, which is entirely expected, is that the building gets cut off at the top to maintain its aspect while being straightened. ViewPoint 3 though offers a clever option to distort the rendering artificially such that the building - in this example - remains straightened but is made shorter so that it does not get cropped after Perspective Correction is applied. Performing a 4 or 8-point correction works similarly yet considerable exaggerates the issue.
Any time more than slight Perspective Correction needs to be applied, framing of the original uncorrected image cannot be tight. Above, the image of the historic Bank of Montreal looks natural while remaining relatively well-framed compared to the uncorrected image shown in the screenshot at the top of this review. Expect no miracles but the rendering quality of DxO ViewPoint 3 is top-notch. Smaller corrections result in better image quality which is completely normal.
DxO ViewPoint 3 turns out to be an excellent and extremely easy-to-use software which produces quality output very quickly. It accomplishes its goals with easy and elegance.
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| Topic | Replies | Views | Activity |
|---|---|---|---|
| About the DxO ViewPoint category | 0 | 949 | January 12, 2018 |
| Distortion vs. perspective corrections | 2 | 212 | July 27, 2021 |
| RAW Files (DNG) | 3 | 283 | January 4, 2021 |
| What are the new features in Viewpoint 3 compared to Viewpoint 1? | 5 | 375 | November 20, 2020 |
| Request: Fujifilm X100S/X100T/X100F lens support | 1 | 302 | October 29, 2020 |
| Can't see magnifiers in VP within PL3 | 22 | 684 | September 19, 2020 |
| Perspective Correction Controls and Drawing Lines | 0 | 249 | September 15, 2020 |
| Is there a method to 'home bake' a lens profile? | 27 | 1047 | September 1, 2020 |
| Pricing of viewpoint for owners of Perspective Efex (in Nik collection) | 2 | 296 | August 8, 2020 |
| Changed from Mac to Windows --> Viewpoint is different! | 5 | 389 | July 7, 2020 |
| What is the ket difference between Perspective Efex & Viewpoint | 4 | 591 | June 15, 2020 |
| Drifting cursor in macOS 10.15 (Catalina) | 1 | 329 | May 13, 2020 |
| Integration w/ PL | 7 | 458 | May 5, 2020 |
| Nik lab & Aperture | 2 | 386 | April 6, 2020 |
| Dxo View point et Lightroom | 2 | 370 | March 24, 2020 |
| refuses to close | 0 | 275 | March 5, 2020 |
| ViewPoint and Affinity Photo | 4 | 689 | March 4, 2020 |
| ViewPoint crops image in PhotoLab | 3 | 389 | March 4, 2020 |
| Viewpoint 3 - Image file cannot be loaded | 5 | 689 | February 21, 2020 |
| Local adjustments for ViewPoint | 4 | 421 | January 1, 2020 |
| VP and its use in unintended ways? | 8 | 578 | December 5, 2019 |
| ViewPoint in HDR workflow? | 2 | 402 | December 4, 2019 |
| VP Help link to User Guide points to incorrect page | 0 | 345 | December 4, 2019 |
| VP and RAW file handling | 5 | 547 | December 3, 2019 |
| Loupe in ViewPoint used within PL3? | 2 | 413 | November 29, 2019 |
| VP3 not recognising files in Pictures folder | 4 | 487 | November 29, 2019 |
| Most used tool: Rectangle | 3 | 1140 | March 1, 2019 |
| Any deals at the moment for ViewPoint 3? | 0 | 696 | January 16, 2019 |
| Irix 11mm/f4 - How to build a correct profile? | 1 | 947 | January 16, 2019 |
| Viewpoint - Version d'essai Mac | 4 | 806 | October 24, 2018 |
