Did film photography have lens correction counterparts?

Question

Were there ever any tools to correct for lens distortion in the film-only era? I'm thinking a device that contained a lens system that you could alter, or a soft workable lens that you could fine tune, to transform the distorted image back again. Or maybe even something as easy as not resting the photo paper on a flat surface during development.I haven't heard of anything like this but I'm sure that it was something photographers in certain situations wanted to do.

Answer 1

Film isn't processed or viewed the same way photos are. If there is distortion on 1 picture....that's only 1 frame. Movies play 24 frames per second, and in movies like Avengers Endgame....there are close to 260,200 individual frames playing....doesn't seem worth it to correct that 1 image that goes by so fast you can barely notice it.