Filter/Correct Camera Distortion/Straightening Tool

Question

Having recently purchased Photoshop Elements 2021, I am surprised to discover that it contains the same bug as Elements 13.

In the workspace on the right of the Correct Camera Distortion tool, there is a button to rotate images right or left, calibrated in degrees. Not unreasonably, the subdivisions are not minutes, but are decimal and are in increments of 0.06 degree. So the incremental series turning clockwise is 0.06 of a degree, 0.12, 0.18, 0.24, 0.30 etc.

So far, so good. The problem arises when wishing to rotate anti-clockwise, when the corresponding series should be 359.94, 359.88, 359.82, 359.76 etc. Unfortunately, someone at Adobe has not heard of the 359th degree and rotating anti-clockwise produces a jump from 0.00 directly to 358.94 and then onwards to 358.88, 358.82, 358.76 etc. This makes fine anti-clockwise straightening impossible, the only solution being to leave the Correct Camera Distortion page and improvise on a trial and error basis with the horizon correcton tool in the Expert section. This is above all less than satisfactory when wishing to ensure that the centre line of a building, say, is perfectly vertical.

Could Adobe please issue an upgrade to apply a patch to the programme which would rectify this very obvious bug?

Andrew George, Brussels, Belgium

Phil Pickering · Answer

Hi Andrew,

Not sure why you think this is a bug? It's more of a UI issue, in that using a mouse or a trackpad to finely tune the rotation of an image using what is essentially a dial control is a pretty blunt instrument when used on its own. It's OK for getting a rough idea of the angle but it's not very precise.

For finer control, you can use the direct input box to the right of the dial control, or my preferred method (the scrubby slider), where you click and hold on the text label Angle, then drag with the mouse left or right to adjust the rotation angle. You can get the fine-tuning down to 0.01 steps with that method. Want bigger increments? Hold down the shift key while dragging and the angle will change in increments of 0.10.

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