I greatly appreciate your offer. I will attach a .jpg of a downtown shot I took between two tall buildings. There is extreme bending. But even as I do that, I'd like to ask you for information about EXIF metadata. I've never heard of that before. When I attempt to use their "Distortion" tool, it quickly tells me that my image has no EXIF data. What am I missing? I always shoot RAW with my Canon 5DII. Then open it in Affinity Photo, where the file is 'developed', hence making it possible for me to save it as a .jpg to the desk top. And that is the file I open in Viewpoint3. What did I do wrong to have lost the EXIF data?

The viewpoint 3 does seem to do a good job correcting 'lean' from vertical. But the lines must be straight lines, do you agree?

I was hoping to find their software help me correct curved lines, like being between two tall buildings.

So do I understand that if I have an image with serious bending with an 8mm lens, that I can expect to "unbend" them DxOViewPoint3? I'll attempt to include a sample of the kind of image I'd like to 'straighten out'.

Does anyone here use this software for making corrections, as needed with a super wide angle lens? I'd like to 'pick your brain'. lol

Bill

It appears to me that the advent of 'home theater systems', complete with sound bars and amplified subwoofers, as you see them advertised by Best Buy and others, is actually the precursor to the return of serious sound systems.

Don't toss any of that away. And you are correct in that not all LPs have been made into CDs. I suspect it's because of 'lack of demand'. But be patient, that demand will return. And a direct drive turntable? My students would love to get their hands on one of those.

Here in St. Louis, there is a store dedicated totally to LP record sales and turntables too. They even have a unique section by their front door of -only- new LP releases.

Since there was a discussion earlier today about a new Window's OS required a member here to purchase a new video card, so I felt compelled to my fellow members to share some thoughts about ... maybe we don't have to toss our hardware into a landfill if it, and its software, serves us well.

Let me share more 'food for thought', coming from my own students, and from my regularly listening to a radio station from London. Here it is:

Remember how, who, sales people? marketing departments? All those people?? Remember how we were "told" to toss all our vinyl records into the trash? DVD and BluRay movies? Compact Discs? And along with those pieces of 'software' (e.g. LP records, movie discs, and CDs), also toss CD players into the landfills, along with DVD/BluRay players, turntables/cartridges, etc. We were ""told"" toss all this into the trash and join the "new era of media"?? Remember that over the past 10 or 20 years?

In all fairness, I must say there are some advantages of being able to access a movie or digital book, literally, anywhere. But, all that stuff we were "told" to toss in the landfill?

Well, here is a reality update. My college students are purchasing LP records every day of the week, and turntables too. They've been doing this for more than the past ten years I've been teaching. Audiophile magazine shows ads for dozens and dozens of turntables and cartridges, some with shocking prices. Turntables and LP records are not gone or even going away ... they are on their way back, and doing quite well. As I listen to my favorite radio station from London, I'm hearing the artist there are insisting that their new music recordings must be delivered not only on the (1)Internet as downloads, but are insisting they they are also made available as (2) CDs and (3)LP records. I'm even hearing the there is a market for cassette recordings. I'm shocked to hear that, but apparently in middle European cities, they are available there.

So, my fellow members, don't be pushed so easily with the philosophy of "toss away everything you own, and replace it with what sales people say we should be purchasing".

I thought you'd like to know, I thought you 'should know' about how LP records and turntables are very much alive. And after studying this typic of Dynamic Range, for anyone who would like to experience Concert Hall Realism in their own home, the only media to deliver that is a compact disc.

I thought you would like to know all this.

I wish it were that straight forward. Now I'm going to sound like I'm attaching Apple, but I think they are nearly as irresponsible as MicroSoft writers. Consider this. When I replaced a 4 year old iMac with this one, at the time of the replacement, I had been using a Canon scanner, a Cannon large format printer, and (this one really angered me) a Wacom tablet. Overall, purchasing a new computer within four years of the "older one" (with scanner, printer, and Wacom tablet) cost me about $1,000. That should never have happened, not over a period of just four years, on an OS four years older than the """"new"""" OS.

And before you ask, yes, the software on my computer does everything I want. So I see no need for me to upgrade any operating system.

One final note: A fellow professor of mine where I teach college physics, he loves Apple computers so much that he has nearly everyone for the past twenty years, and they all continue to work. Can he use PSCC or Affinity Photo on a twenty year old iMac? I'm sure not. That's not my point. Here IS my point. The "old iMac hardware", the 5, 10, 15 year old computer continue to work. I've never had that luck during my PC days. So since he has a Photoshop version from 2005 on his computer and continues to function properly. I have PSCS5 on this computer, along with Affinity Photo. They both function perfectly (especially the Affinity Photo), and from my colleague's experience, I trust I'll still be using this computer, with all my hardware, 10 years from now, maybe 15 years from now .... so long as I do not """upgrade""" the operating system.

I'll now kick my soap box aside, and thank you for the reading. All I want to do is give encouragement to those who are happy with what they can do --> today <-- , with their computers and hardware, and not feel compelled to toss their computer into a landfill feeling that is what they must do.

Wouldn't that be a shame?

I just suppose ... and this includes Apple since I'm an iMac user ... why those genius upgrade writers can't accept the responsibility to see that software and hardware, currently being used, won't be kicked to the trash piles since they will no longer work? Of course I'm referring here to the hardware. But it seems to be so true, even in my world of Apple computers and OS, when an upgrade comes along, you typically will lose hardware ... like a printer, or a scanner, or more. So far, three printers and two scanners had to be trashed. That is just irresponsible.

But as I watch and read what is posted here, I always read of 'what software no longer works', or 'what hardware no longer works'. Is that a real good and responsible plan to mandate?

I like the accuracy with which you describe the business plan. They win. We lose.

I have a curious question. What is all gained by constantly ""upgrading"" an operating system?

On a similar but not identical note as these, I've just begun to use my new Sigma 8mm. Yes it is a fisheye, and I'm definitely looking at a strong learning curve in front of me. But I've even found that when I enter the image into Affinity Photo, and crop my 16:9 image, the largest possible while staying inside the circle, I'm still finding that I can capture an amazing wide angle image.

I've also downloaded DxO Viewpoint 3 software, Trial Verson, designed to work with ultra wide images, and I'm hopefully this will open a new door of photography for me. Just a thought.

Let me add this absolutely true thought. If/when you purchase from your local camera store, used can be as good as new. And should you find it flawed, during its "trial time", they will kindly take it back.

Schiller's Camera Store here in St. Louis is a living example of that.