Abstract: A system and method for correcting automatically the distortions in electron background diffration (EBSD) patterns which result from magnetic fields produced by some scanning electron microscopes (SEMs) used for collecting such patterns from polycrystalline sample materials. The method may be implemented as a software program running on a computer which is part of a conventional system for obtaining and analyzing EBSD patterns to obtain crystallographic information about the sample material. The method includes a calibration procedure and a correction procedure. In the calibration procedure, a distorted EBSD pattern obtained from a calibration sample is displayed on an operator display and user interface. Using an input device, an operator defines segment endpoints along a Kikuchi band in the distorted EBSD pattern image. From the user defined segment endpoints, correction parameters are calculated based on a mathematical curve (e.g., cubic spline) fitting the endpoints.