[Radiance-general] My first HDR probe - and some Q's

[Fitzsimmons, Rob]

List,

A while back I asked about digital cameras...
I ended up getting a 5 MP Canon Powershot A95
Seems to work fine, but autofocus gets funky with the small sphere

I have made my first HDR Probe
http://rastermon.com/rad/image/8amECrop.pic
and
http://rastermon.com/rad/image/8amNCrop.pic
These 2 HDRs ar approx 90 degrees offset - hence the N and E

My reflective ball is quite scratched, but I'm just practicing now.
BTW - here is a render with that HDR environment
http://rastermon.com/rad/image/cabintable_window.jpg
(the center ball is real -  Photoshopped into the CG render)

My question is on getting rid of the photographer and fixing the pinch point
on the opposite side of the sphere.
According to this tutorial,
http://www.cgtechniques.com/tutorials/getridof.php

PTools is a plugin for Photoshop to undistort the image
http://webuser.fh-furtwangen.de/~dersch/

I've downloaded it and put it in my photoshop - plugins - filters folder
But then I can't find it in Photoshop - Filter
(I'm wondering if it only works in OS 9 / Classic Photoshop)

Has anyone done this?
Can it be done after the HDR is compiled, or does each source LDR have to be
fixed before creating the HDR?
If so - doesn't that remove EXIF info that PhotoSphere uses for the response
curve?

Most Photoshop filters are inactive when the in 16 bits/channel mode..

BTW - I'm on a Mac, so I don't use HDR Shop (don't know if that has any
undistort filters anyway)

thanks, 
Rob F