jeep_daddy Loc: Prescott AZ

You only need to do a micro adjust if it is very obvious that the lens in question is off.

Bill Emmett Loc: Bow, New Hampshire

I bought the program FoCal. You aim the camera to the target with the lens, once the lens is centered on the target it snaps a photo, makes adjustments, snaps another photo, after a series of photos the program suggests the front/back focus point of that lens. On the 50D, and 7D, these adjustment numbers are very different. I did all my lenses on both cameras, and when I acquire a new lens, it goes on FoCal before I take one photo. Amazingly, my new Tamron SP 24-70mm VC USD had a very low adjustment number on both cameras, right out of the box. But, the EF 70-200 f4L IS USM, was almost +14 on the 7D, and +10 on the 50D. The program also measures distance from the front elemsnt, so to check it you must measure the distance from the front element to the center of the target. Once you see the difference between your shots, you'll certainly want to check, and adjust all your lenses.

CSI Dave Loc: Arizona

What are you talking about? The manufacturers are the ones putting that feature in the cameras in the first place. Maybe they don't recommend tweaking it unless you know what you're doing.

As discussed, some lens/camera combinations might not benefit from the fine tune, and it sounds like this was your experience. However, my experience is that many lenses will benefit from tuning. While not strictly necessary, I've been using Reikan FoCal software to make the job much easier.

GSP77 Loc: Danville, CA

Very interesting. I'll have to follow this and check this out.

BobHartung Loc: Bettendorf, IA

Considering the number of fine-tuning focus accessories on the market, I do not think that it is uncommon to have focus disparities. These are mechanical devices that are mass produced, and not in matching pairs. Thus, no two lenses will probably focus exactly the same. At least we can tune the focus up without having to ship everything back to the Manufacturer's depot for adjustment.

Double check the snugness of the camera-lens connection. I have had to have two of my lenses mated to my D800E due to a little "wobble".

HTH

acomanda

WOW - Never thought of this. I will check them all for wobble!

sirlensalot Loc: Arizona

Haven't caught up with that technology. Sounds like a great option.

coco1964 Loc: Winsted Mn

My guy at National Camera said don't mess with it unless you see obvious out of focus problems on a lens consistently and then if I want I can bring it in and their Nikon tech would do it free of charge. Nice thing about having a hometown camera store that you're used to doing business with. I have Nikon and Tamron lens and have never had them tuned---photos look sharp to me and others tell me they're sharp. So I guess I'm going to go with the old saying "If it isn't broke, don't fix it"......

georgevedwards Loc: Essex, Maryland.

I have seen the menu adjustment feature which sounds good, I had been investigating this before and the articles I found described certain cameras where you removed the lens and did a manual adjustment with a screw in the camera or something. I do not think my D5200 has this feature although the D7100 series does. apparently the menu adjustment method is a good way to do it, I wouldn't want to mess around with a screwdriver. I did a similar test using a screwdriver pointed at a ruler notch and taking a picture at a 45 degree angle. It consistently showed a back focus problem, but I have no way to adjust it. I do feel the camera has sometimes an auto focus problem mainly due to poor lighting and contrast. When the light is good I can see the eyelashes and skin pores in detail, other times like low light the auto focus just fumbles back and forth and I have to focus manually, but I feel my eyes are not that sharp. I do have one question: can I zoom in on a subject to get the manual focus dead on and then zoom back out to take the picture? Or do you have to focus separately for each mm(50mm, 70mm 200mm)?

RRS Loc: Not sure

What people seem to forget or just don't know is that all you are doing with "fine tune or micro adjust" is tuning an electronic circuit that runs the motor to focus your lens. It's only the AF that is affected. If you want to just go to manual focus all should be well and if it's not now you need help and it's time to send it in for professional care. In the old days of film we didn't have those problems but what we pay for cameras and lenses you'd like to think that they would work right out of the box. If you try it and it doesn't seem to work ask for help, there are lots of people that know what they are doing and if that doesn't work either you can always go back to the setting of "0" where you started.

jr168

georgevedwards If you manually zoom in and focus, then zoom out, your image will be out of focus. What I have done is compose my image, then go to live view and zoom in with live view to focus manually, then get out of live view and snap the picture. Works great.

CSI Dave Loc: Arizona

True, it calibrates the AF motor system, it has no effect on focus using live view. As jr168 mentioned above, live view is a good way of obtaining focus, it's just not something I normally do. I bet even "in the old days of film" any of the autofocus cameras could have benefited from fine tuning. It just would have been much more difficult to implement, since there was no live view sensor reading to compare focus with.

joer Loc: Colorado/Illinois

Tried it today on my D7100 and Sigma 300mm 2.8. Its easy enough and takes about 15 minute.

Ended up at -6. Took some test shots and the result were not very sharp. Went back to my zero setting. Go figure.

aammatj Loc: Zebulon, NC / Roscoe, Ill

I fine tuned all 5 of my lenses with my D800 and saw marked improvements. Adjustments ranged from +4 to -14 (out of 20). It's really pretty easy to do and, in my case, worth the time.

jr168

Since most of my shots are done with longer glass and/ or with wide open apertures of f/1.4 to f/2.8, fine tune adjustments are almost a necessity because the depth of field is so shallow. If you are shooting at f/4 and above, it might not be as important.