Remove Vignetting and Other Lens Defects with Lens Profiles 

Vignetting, chromatic aberration, barrel distortion, and other image distortions are lens defects found in every lens to varying degrees. While they aren’t obvious in some images, they are very noticeable in others. Fortunately, they can easily be fixed. All you need to do is learn how to use lens profiles. 

Each lens has its own lens distortion and optical lens defects. If you shoot in RAW, you can use lens profiles to automatically correct them.  

Lens profiles are tools that are used to correct lens defects. These profiles use various measurements that tell us which types of distortion a certain lens model exhibits. These then create “templates” of distortion and optical defects for the lenses. Lens profiles use these templates to automatically correct the lens defects in an image.  

Lens and camera profiles in Zoner Photo Studio X previously required the installation of the Adobe DNG Converter. The Adobe DNG Converter contains LCP profiles for lenses and DCP profiles for cameras. Now everything you need is built right into the program and there is no need to install anything. However, if for some reason the supported lenses and cameras in ZPS X are not enough, you can still download the DNG converter.

Optical lens defects

Vignetting—A reduction in brightness in the corners of the image as compared to the center. In most cases, it can be corrected during shooting by closing your aperture. However, sometimes this isn’t possible because the scene is poorly lit or you don’t want to close your aperture very much to get a shallow depth of field.

Color fringing, also known as chromatic aberration, is a common optical phenomenon caused by a camera lens’s inability to focus all colors of light to a single point. As a result, visible colored edges appear around objects, especially where dark and light areas of the image meet.

We could delve into the origins and effects on the final photograph in more detail, discussing axial, lateral, etc. However, for our purposes now, it suffices to know that it manifests as a color shift noticeable along contrast edges in the photograph. Typically, these are red, purple, blue, or yellow contours around the mentioned edges.

Spherical aberration—Straight edges bow outward and the image is barrel-shaped with a characteristic rounded curve toward the center, with pincushion or wavy distortion in the other direction.

How to correct lens defects

In order to correct for lens defects like vignetting, barrel distortion, or chromatic aberration, open the RAW image in the Develop module of Zoner Photo Studio X. In the right panel, click Camera and Lens (M).

Lens profiles are built into Zoner Photo Studio X. Just find the right lens profile for your model in the drop-down menu. By default, no lens profile is assigned. Click the drop-down and select No Profile. ZPS X selects the correct lens profile based on the EXIF data from your photos and applies the necessary corrections. 

Sometimes ZPS X can’t automatically find your lens. This is usually due to the lens not being correctly stored in the EXIF data of the photo. In this case, select the From List option and manually search for your lens in the list. ZPS X applies all necessary corrections and you don’t have to worry about anything else. 

If you can’t find your lens in the list, you can download the lens profile online. Choose the From File option in the drop-down and use the + icon to select it from your computer. 

Correct defects manually

To correct chromatic aberration, check the Chromatic aberration box. If you’re not happy after automatic lens corrections are applied or if the lens profile for your lens doesn’t exist (which can happen with older manual lenses), you have several sliders available to you. Use these sliders to manually fine-tune barrel distortion, vignetting, and chromatic aberration.   

The Set as Default button is used to automatically assign a select lens profile the next time  Zoner Photo Studio X opens. Making a lens profile default means you don’t have to worry about anything next time. 

Before and after applying lens profiles.