Adobe Systems Inc. has now released its Lens Profile Creator utility, which can be used to make lens correction profiles compatible with its just-shipped Adobe Photoshop CS5 application, as well as the upcoming Camera Raw 6.1 and Photoshop Lightroom 3 releases.

Available to download immediately from Adobe Labs, the Lens Profile Creator is designed to make it comparitively easy for end users to create profiles, with no requirement for precision lighting and setup, and using calibration charts printed at home. The Lens Profile Creature can automatically extrapolate much of the data from a relatively small number of shots. Source images can be imported as DNG Raw, TIFF, or JPEG files, with DNG files being the recommended format.

Depending on the lens type, Adobe Labs recommends users at least capture shots at two focus distances for primes, three focal lengths for telephoto zooms, and more for wide or fisheye zooms. For each position, the process requires nine shots with the calibration chart positioned in the center, edge centers, and corners of the image. More advanced photographers are recommended to capture as many as 12 image sets for primes, 36 image sets for zooms, and 72 image sets for wide angle / fisheye zooms, with the same nine images per set.

Once captured, the image sets are loaded into the Lens Profile Creator,and information on the lens and chart type supplied, as well as making a measurement from one of the source images. You can also opt for which correction types a profile should contain, with options being geometric, chromatic, and vignetting. All being well, the profile is then automatically generated at the click of a button. The profile can then be saved for use in Adobe Photoshop's lens correction tool. Once Adobe ships Camera Raw 6.1 and Photoshop Lightroom 3, the same profiles will also work for correction with those programs, as well. The profiles can also be shared with other photographers using the same lenses, regardless of whether they're using the same camera body (although it's strongly recommended that full-frame lenses are calibrated on a full-frame body, unless the profile will only be used with other APS-C bodies).

For more details, and to download the Lens Profile Creator, visit the Adobe Labs website. Further information is available in the Lens Profile Creator user guide, Quick Start Calibration Chart Shooting Guide, and full Calibration Chart Shooting Guide. Details about Photoshop CS5 can be found in our recently published Photoshop CS5 preview.