Neil Blanchard wrote:The GIMP -- does anybody know if it "does" barrel and/or perspective correction? (It is free!)
I recall from a thread on a photographic forum that it does not, but it is going to cost you nothing to find out.
I nonetheless submit the first thing you should do is consider whether you really need this stuff - and the absurdity of paying $300 for it.
When I got my Olympus 5060, you may recall from previous discussion the main criterion was the 28mm lens. There is some barrel distortion @ wide angle, but you have to loook for it. I have used a software fix, twice, both times just after I got the camera, both times merely vicariously, and I already had the software. I have never bothered to set up the latest version of PSP.
If you feel the professionally-driven need to really fix a real problem, you've got the wrong hardware. The worse the problem, the more true this is, and you will be better off getting a proper lense more suited to the job in the first place. This is not hard to do with a DSLR and it would cost you less than $300.
When I really want really wide wide angle I use a 20mm Krasnogorsk on 35mm film. The edges are as straight as a ruler - a proper lens for the job. Local DCadder Mel admires the 20mm so much he recently got a 14mm Sigma for his Pentax digital. It has much the same coverage, works just as well, and cost about $300.
The Sigma appears to do a great job on film too!
It's Christmas Day - and the surf down the hill beckons........