Screamin Scott Loc: Marshfield Wi, Baltimore Md, now Dallas Ga

Anyone else with a Nikon D610 that had to do AF fine tune for back focus issues....Mine was off quite a bit. Neither my D300 or D7100 had that issue.

romanticf16 Loc: Commerce Twp, MI

Welcome to mass production. That is why a way to adjust is built into the camera, eh?

clickalot Loc: Chicago area

I have a D610 and use a variety of lenses (many older prime lenses) and AF lenses. For example, the Nikor 60mm f2.8D AF which I consider my walk around lens, is right on for auto focus without any fine tuning AF in the camera at least for this lens. I can blow up an image of a person where I have focused on the near eye, at say f4, until I see individual pixels on the back of the camera screen and the focus is sharp.

What lens combination was off focus? Was it a zoom lens?

Screamin Scott Loc: Marshfield Wi, Baltimore Md, now Dallas Ga

Yes two lenses, both older AF zooms. A 35-70 F2.8 Nikkor & an 80-200 F2.8 Nikkor. Both back focused.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I've never done that fine adjusting. I'm afraid that once I started, I'd keep messing with it till the focus was completely messed up.

RRS Loc: Not sure

How much is quite a bit?

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

More than a bit.

RRS Loc: Not sure

Thanks Jerry but since you have not done this as you have said there are numbers from -20 to +20 and I am wondering how much off center was needed to correct the AF. It's really so easy to do and if you screw it up you can always set it back to 0, factory setting. Some people feel that a -5 or a +5 setting is considered way off, but it isn't.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

From the D610 manual, page 259:

"Fine tune focus for up to 12 lens types. AF tuning is not recommended in most situations and may interfere with normal focus; use only when required."
"The camera may be unable to focus at minimum range or at infinityh when AF tuning is applied."
"Only one value can be stored for each type of lens. If a teleconverter is used, separate values can be stored for each combination of lens and teleconverter."

While a bit vague, speaking with the techs at Melville, NY, the consensus is not to use AF Tune. They do suggest if there is back or front focus issues, there are parameters that are accessible to technicians that can fix those issues much more effectively than a simple AF fine tune adjustment.

Besides, if you have a zoom lens, a single value for a single focal length at a single distance is not sufficient anyway.

RRS Loc: Not sure

Thanks Gene, the manuals that I bought for each Canon body says almost the same thing, don't mess with it but why is it put into the body if it won't work? My newer two bodies have two settings for zoom lenses that can be set and I micro adjust all my lenses and find it very easy to do and there is a big difference when shooting prime lenses wide open. If you don't use Fine Tune and you have 4 or 5 lenses it can get pretty expensive shipping and then paying for each lens to be adjusted to match the camera and do you have another body as a back up? You'd think for what we pay for these things that they should work right out of the box, sometimes they do but not always, you can always stop down to f/8.0 or f/11 and maybe you won't see the OF because of an improved DOF.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

I think they include it because things can happen in the field. The AF Tune allows you to make a quick, temporary adjustment, but it is not intended to permanently "fix" a back or front focus issue.

Bill_de Loc: US

I read that once, and once was enough. I would not hesitate if I had a real problem, but so far so good. From reading a lot of posts on the subject I think some people made adjustments just because they could, not because it was needed. If I get some out of focus images the first thing I do is look in the mirror and ask the guy looking at me what he did wrong.

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martinfisherphoto Loc: Lake Placid Florida

Hey Scott, I have the D600 and I have to fine tune only one lens that I have, the others work great.. So my question is All of your lens off or just Two older style lens. Sounds like the Two older style have a problem and not your camera????

RRS Loc: Not sure

Gene, when I bought a new 300mm f/2.8 it front focused. I made the adjustments (Lens Align) in the body and that was almost two years ago and it has been right on ever since. I would have had to send it and four bodies that I use to Canon as I got different results on each body. I also use a 1.4 extender and that too would have to be figured in. Now I have a 600mmf/4.0 and I would be forced to do it all over again. Lots and lots of money! Maybe quality control isn't what it used to be. There are tolerances built into both the body and lenses with Nikon (Fine Tune) and Canon (Micro Adjust). They are both the same thing with a different name. The Canon's can register the adjustment for up to 40 different lenses. If I only had one body and lens I could send it in and have both pieces set at dead center and as long as I never added an extender it would then be perfect. Look up Lens Align on line and let me know what you think. I also use their "Focus Tune" and run it through my computer and it shows you a bar graph of where your focus is. It got me real close and I made the final adjustment by shooting bird seed in good light at the distance that I usually shoot at. If I dropped the lens, body or both and it was way out then I'd send it in to Canon or Nikon but other then that I'm very happy with how I have set up my AF.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

My experience is that if both the lens and the body are in spec, then there are generally no issues. I've had a D70S, D200, (2) D300S' (2)D700s, D3S, and now (2)D800s. Of all of those cameras, only one of the D800s was out. I brought it to Nikon in Melville twice. First time they said it was fixed - I asked specifically what they did and they were not specific in their response. Took it out to the parking lot, compared contrast detect focus to phase detect, it was still out on all four lenses I had brought to test. I calmly explained that there was still a problem, with all lenses, and that it was worst with the 600F4. They asked that I leave the body and the 600 for them to test and try and figure out what the problem was. The following day they called me for authorization to "refurbish" the 600F4, and that this would help the AF issue. I insisted that the lens (or any other lens) was not the problem and that the issue was entirely within the body, and that they should not touch the lens. Reluctantly they agreed to fix it. The following day they called and said that it's all fixed. Again I asked what they did - she mumbled something about AF parameters, so I am assuming that it was software (or possibly mechanical) in nature. Anyway, it is now identical to the other body, and I get excellent focus regardless of whether I am 20 ft or 300 ft away from the subject with the big lens, and similar with all my other lenses, including the zooms. I was never a fan of fine tuning a lens because of the limitations, especially with zooms, and the pitfalls of adjusting it for one condition and losing accuracy in other conditions. The trip to Melville to ensure that the body was in spec was worth it.