Today’s Question: What is your opinion on using lens correction in Lightroom? Do you think it squishes the pixels around enough to have an effect on an images? I use it many times and have not seen any degradation in sharpness when using it.
Tim’s Answer: Overall I would say the various Lens Corrections adjustments in Lightroom’s Develop module (and the exact same adjustments in Adobe Camera Raw) produce excellent results that can greatly improve the overall appearance of a photo.
When it comes to the various perspective correction options, there’s no question that a close examination will show some degradation in overall image quality. You’ll generally see, for example, a slight reduction in sharpness in the areas that have been reshaped most significantly.
However, in my view, the very minor degradation in image quality is more than made up for by the benefits provided by the Lens Corrections adjustments. The chromatic aberration removal offers a tremendous improvement for images that need this work, the Upright controls can quickly straighten out an image that exhibits barrel distortion or perspective issues, and the Manual set of controls allow you to fine-tune the image to perfection.
In short, the various Lens Corrections controls can be invaluable when it comes to improving the overall look of a photo, and the problems they solve can represent significant issues for a photo. I never hesitate to make use of these various adjustment options for images that need the improvement.