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DxO ViewPoint 4 review

October 17, 2022 by Rod Lawton

DxO ViewPoint 4
Image credit: Rod Lawton

DxO ViewPoint 4 verdict

Rod Lawton

Features
Results
Usability
Value

Summary

DxO ViewPoint 4 is a very powerful solution to a problem you might not have. It takes distortion and perspective correction to a new level, with Volume Deformation correction, a new ReShape local warping tool and more, but its core perspective correction tools will likely already exist in any host application you choose to launch it from. For ultimate perspective and distortion control, it’s hard to fault – as long as you do actually need what it does.

3.8

For

+Excellent auto/manual perspective correction
+Unique Volume Deformation correction
+Straightforward interface
+Standalone and plug-in use

Against

-No RAW support in standalone mode
-Your host application probably has perspective correction anyway
-Volume Deformation correction introduces distortion

  • Key features
  • Interface and usability
  • Results
  • Verdict

DxO ViewPoint 4 is a program devoted specifically to lens and perspective corrections. It uses DxO’s lens correction profiles to automatically fix lens distortion, as required, but its main trick is to straighten horizons, fix converging verticals, correct horizontal convergence and – in this latest version – apply local geometric corrections with a new node-based ReShape warping tool.

ViewPoint 4 can be used as a standalone application, but also integrates with DxO PhotoLab 6 to add a whole new panel and bring its geometric corrections into PhotoLab’s non-destructive workflow.

DxO ViewPoint 4
ViewPoint 4 can be used as a standalone program, complete with its own image browser, but it can only work with TIFFs and JPEGs, not RAW files. Image credit: Rod Lawton

ViewPoint 4 also works as a plug-in for Photoshop, Photoshop Elements and Lightroom Classic. It can also be used as an external application with Capture One and other photo-editors that support ‘round-tripping’ with external editors.

Key features

Hold on, though. Anyone who uses any of these programs already mentioned (apart from Elements) will already have perspective correction tools in their host software. Even DxO PhotoLab 6 now has these as standard. So why would you pay extra to get software that does a job you can do already?

There are two answers. One is that ViewPoint 4 just might do a better job. The other is that it does other things that these programs can’t do.

DxO ViewPoint 4
ViewPoint 4’s automatic perspective corrections are excellent. It corrected both the horizontal and vertical perspective in this photo with a single click. Image credit: Rod Lawton
DxO ViewPoint 4
As well as simulating the effect of perspective control (‘shift’) lenses, ViewPoint 4 can also simulate the shallow depth of field ‘miniature’ effect of a ’tilt’ lens. Image credit: Rod Lawton
DxO ViewPoint 4
With the new ReShape tool you can correct perspective issues in smaller details using a grid of movable control points. Image credit: Rod Lawton
DxO ViewPoint 4
ViewPoint 4 tackles an issue specific to ultra-wide lenses – Volume Deformation – correcting the artificial elongation you tend to get with objects near the edge of the frame. It’s especially noticeable with people and faces. Image credit: Rod Lawton

The perspective correction tools will be familiar from other programs, with a vertical convergence tool, a horizontal convergence tool and a square tool for correcting rectangular objects and – plus an 8-point tool for making verticals and horizontals parallel for subjects that don’t have a conveniently rectangular outline.

The first of ViewPoint’s unique features is its correction of Volume Deformation, a feature of ultra-wide ‘rectilinear’ lenses. These lenses render straight lines as straight, but artificially elongate objects near the edge of the frame, and this is especially noticeable with human faces and figures.

The next unique feature (within a set of perspective correction tools) is the digital equivalent of the ‘tilt’ function of a perspective control lens. This creates a narrow plane of sharp focus with blur above and below. It makes real world scenes look like miniature models, though your viewpoint and subject need to be right for the illusion to be complete.

There’s a third feature, which is new in ViewPoint 4 – a ReShape tool which enables you to make localized geometric corrections by moving the nodes of a mesh overlay. It’s not unlike Photoshop’s Liquify tool.

Other new features in ViewPoint 4 include the ability to flip and rotate images, and the crop and rotate functions are now combined for easier operation.

Interface and usability

DxO ViewPoint 4
ViewPoint 4 integrates seamlessly with the PhotoLab interface. In fact using it within PhotoLab is the only way to use it non-destructively. Otherwise, it makes permanent changes to your images. Image credit: Rod Lawton
DxO ViewPoint 4
This is the Miniature tool used within PhotoLab. The difference with this workflow is that you can go back later and make changes. Image credit: Rod Lawton

ViewPoint 4 is very easy to use, whether you launch it in standalone mode or as a plug-in. The only difference is that the standalone mode displays a folder directory tree in the left sidebar so that you can locate and browse the images you want to adjust.

But there is a somewhat unwelcome surprise waiting here. ViewPoint 4 can only open JPEG or TIFF images. It can’t open RAW files (nor indeed iPhone HEIC files). It seems pretty unlikely that anyone who needs ViewPoint 4’s advanced corrections will be working with JPEGs, so this program makes much more sense as a plug-in or external editor for software that already takes care of RAW processing.

Other programs have auto perspective correction buttons, but ViewPoint 4’s auto adjustments are the best I’ve yet encountered, with a far higher success rate of instant fixes and far less need to make manual adjustments to perfect the results.

DxO ViewPoint 4
Here’s ViewPoint 4 in plug-in mode, launched from Lightroom. The interface and tools are just the same as in standalone mode but without the folder sidebar. I’ve used the 8-point tool to straighten this wall-mounted map. Image credit: Rod Lawton
DxO ViewPoint 4
The bottom right corner has a slight upward twist which I’m correcting with the ReShape tool, which does require a little more time and judgement. Image credit: Rod Lawton
DxO ViewPoint 4
But is the result any better than I can achieve with Lightroom’s own perspective correction tools? In this case, I don’t think so. Image credit: Rod Lawton

The same goes for the Auto Horizon option, and the Miniature effect is very convincing (with the right subject) and very easy to apply.

The ReShape tool is a little less simple, and it’s a good idea to display the main grid (there’s a button on the toolbar) while you’re moving the nodes, because the node grid does not reflect any perspective adjustments already made – you can’t use it to judge horizontals and verticals.

Volume Deformation correction is easy to apply, though it’s not necessarily easy to choose between the left/right and diagonal correction options.

One point definitely worth making about ViewPoint 4 is that its adjustments are ‘destructive’ and permanent and saved back to the original image (or a copy). It’s not a non-destructive tool like the perspective tools in Lightroom, Capture One and others are. You can’t go back later. The only exception is if you’re using it within PhotoLab 6.

Results

DxO ViewPoint 4
This image relies completely on utterly straight perspective, and ViewPoint 4 has delivered a perfect result (right) with just a single click on the Auto button. Image credit: Rod Lawton
DxO ViewPoint 4
The Volume Deformation tool does a great job, but not without drawbacks. The diagonal correction tends to re-introduce lens distortion while the horizontal correction used here has changed the image aspect ratio and crop. Image credit: Rod Lawton

ViewPoint 4’s perspective corrections really are very good indeed. Its auto adjustments are very reliable – more so than those in other programs I’ve used – and the manual adjustments, if you need them, are simple to apply. My only observation is that the vertical and horizontal convergence buttons in the panel appear to be the wrong way round – clicking the ‘verticals’ button displays horizontal guides and vice versa.

The Volume Deformation correction is also very effective, though there is a drawback – you seem to lose some of the rectilinear correction of the lens, so that while shapes at the edge of the frame regain their natural proportions – or at least you do with the diagonal adjustment. The horizontal/vertical adjustment seems to get round this, but you still end up with a substantial crop – you can ‘uncrop’ the result with the crop tool, but then you get an image with a different aspect ratio to the one you started with. These optical corrections are not as simple as they appear.

The ReShape tool can be tricky to use too, not least because you have to try to match the grid/node spacing to the level of detail you’re working at, and because it’s quite an art knowing how to nudge adjacent nodes to maintain straight lines and not create unnatural ‘bulges’. My greatest issue was finding images that needed this kind of local correction.

Against that, I really do like the tilt effect. It simple to apply and creates a convincing defocus blur.

Verdict

DxO ViewPoint 4
DxO ViewPoint 4 is a terrific tool for architecture and interiors, but for many images it simply improves on tools you may have already. Its unique features – the ReShape tool, Volume Deformation correction and Miniature effect – are very effective, but probably not things you are likely to need every day. Image credit: Rod Lawton

ViewPoint 4 works very well, but it reminds me of DxO FilmPack 6 – it does a job that your regular software probably does already, at least partially, and perhaps well enough for your needs.

I can see it being useful for architectural or interior photographers who need a level of control and finesse they can’t get from regular software, and if you shoot environmental portraits in confined spaces with wide lenses, then its Volume Deformation correction could prove useful, even vital.

But it is a specialized tool and, I have to say, a somewhat expensive one. I think its greatest value is perhaps as an add-on for PhotoLab 6. Capture One, Lightroom and Photoshop might not be quite as good as ViewPoint at precise perspective corrections, but for many photographers they might be quite good enough.

And there’s another thing. Much of what ViewPoint 4 does is already in the Perspective Efex plug-in in the Nik Collection 5. DxO is offering users multiple software choices and workflows, which is great, as long as it doesn’t bring confusion with it.

  • DxO PhotoLab 6 review
  • More DxO PhotoLab articles
  • DxO Nik Collection review
  • DxO FilmPack 6 review
  • DxO PureRAW review

DxO software downloads and pricing*

DxO PhotoLab 6 Elite: regular price $219/£199
DxO ViewPoint 4: regular price $99/£89
DxO FilmPack 6 Elite: regular price $139/£129
DxO PureRAW 3: regular price $129/£115
DxO Nik Collection 5: regular price $149/£135

• 30 day trials are available for each product and bundle deals are available.

*Check for the latest offers at the DxO store

DxO store

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Filed Under: Best software, Featured, PhotoLab, Reviews

Life after Photoshop is owned and run by photographer and journalist Rod Lawton. Rod has been a photography journalist for nearly 40 years, starting out in film (obviously) but then migrating to digital. He has worked as a freelance journalist, technique editor and channel editor, and is now Group Reviews Editor on Digital Camera World. Life after Photoshop is a personal project started in 2013.

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