Distortion correction app DxO Viewpoint gets new features, greater stability

Last fall, French software company DxO Labs debuted a new app called DxO Viewpoint, aimed at quickly and easily correcting distortion in images. Viewpoint can level horizons, fix keystoning (converging vertical or horizontal lines in images shot off-axis), and correct volume anamorphosis (stretching towards the corners of wide-angle photos. It can also be used to induce these distortions for artistic effect, and operates very quickly and simply with just a few clicks in the image.

Today, DxO has updated Viewpoint to version 1.2, with several new features and bug fixes. The latest release is available free of charge for existing Viewpoint owners, and has three main feature additions. Perhaps most importantly, you can now save corrections from one image, and apply them to other images shot in the same condition, saving yourself from recorrecting the wheel, as it were.

Viewpoint 1.2 also now ships with sample images and example corrections that help users understand the app and its capabilities, and the app provides access to DxO Academy. The latter offers more tutorials and webinars, and serves as a repository of knowledge about DxO's various apps.

DxO also states that it has fixed various stability problems with Viewpoint, although the company doesn't state precisely what these are.

DxO Viewpoint operates either standalone, or as a plug-in for Adobe Photoshop and Photoshop Lightroom. The app is compatible with Photoshop CS3+, and Lightroom 3+. Pricing is ordinarily set at US$80 or thereabouts, but the app is currently available at the discounted price of US$50. More details on the DxO website.