Nikon 28-300mm Dialed In "AF fine-tune": Thanks ever so much to Erv for helping me "AF fine-tune" my Nikon AF-S Nikkor 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR lens. I had been considering making a...

CraigFair Loc: Santa Maria, CA.

Thanks ever so much to Erv for helping me "AF fine-tune" my Nikon AF-S Nikkor 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR lens.
I had been considering making a first class paperweight out of it. Erv did all the hard work for me.
But I am sure many others would like to know the correct procedures for doing it properly???
Craig
The buildings are 5 miles in the distance. Shot 15 min after sundown.
ISO 800
1/60 sec
f/11
300mm

Original

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200% Crop

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Before Mid Day

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Dan L Loc: Wisconsin

I have the same lens and this summer I took a picture of a grass hopper close up and focusing on the tail and the tail was out of focus when viewed on the computer. I back focused calibrated for that lens specifically and came in perfect, now I will need to test the long range focus and thanks for the idea!

CraigFair Loc: Santa Maria, CA.

Dan L wrote:

I have the same lens and this summer I took a picture of a grass hopper close up and focusing on the tail and the tail was out of focus when viewed on the computer. I back focused calibrated for that lens specifically and came in perfect, now I will need to test the long range focus and thanks for the idea!

Hi Dan, Can you tell me the process you used to calibrate it.
Thanks Craig

Dan L Loc: Wisconsin

When I viewed the picture of the grass hopper on my computer screen @x300% notice the focal point was out of focus and estimated 3 back setting and set it for that lens.
You can do a search on this topic in search with a lot of great information using a yard stick. Let me know if it works for you.

CraigFair wrote:

Hi Dan, Can you tell me the process you used to calibrate it.
Thanks Craig

Zaydewise Loc: Nashville TN

I have this lens but I don't understand exactly what you are describing. Can you add the original advice to your answer or a web site to get a better understanding of the issue.

Thanks

MW

Zaydewise wrote:

I have this lens but I don't understand exactly what you are describing. Can you add the original advice to your answer or a web site to get a better understanding of the issue.

Thanks

You need a body with AF fine tune capability such as D7100. The settings are different for each individual lens, hence your 28-300 might need a completely different setting if any.

Zone-System-Grandpa Loc: Springfield, Ohio

Zaydewise wrote:

I have this lens but I don't understand exactly what you are describing. Can you add the original advice to your answer or a web site to get a better understanding of the issue.

Thanks

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Below, I've provided a link for you which will show a kit that you should have for testing focus accuracy on any lens, but you must remember that the camera is where you make the adjustments, not the lens ~ which means that your camera must have a fine tune adjustment feature to make focus adjustment happen.

www.the-digital-picture.com/.../Datacolor-SpyderLensCal-Review.aspx

CraigFair Loc: Santa Maria, CA.

Zaydewise wrote:

I have this lens but I don't understand exactly what you are describing. Can you add the original advice to your answer or a web site to get a better understanding of the issue.

Thanks

Exactly the question I am asking. I assume you have a camera with the Menu / Setup Menu / 'AF fine-tune' at the very bottom above Firmware version.
It has a setup where you can change a focus value for any lenses 1-12. Erv has the lens and he gave me a value of +5 that he uses and I tried it and it works pretty good for me too.
I have no idea how he came up with it except trying one value at a time until he was happy.

CraigFair Loc: Santa Maria, CA.

Zone-System-Grandpa wrote:

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Below, I've provided a link for you which will show a kit that you should have for testing focus accuracy on any lens, but you must remember that the camera is where you make the adjustments, not the lens ~ which means that your camera must have a fine tune adjustment feature to make focus adjustment happen.

www.the-digital-picture.com/.../Datacolor-SpyderLensCal-Review.aspx

Thank you for that link it is very accurate for each item.
Do you have any experience with the AF fine-tune function on the Full Frame cameras.
I know you have 3 x 800s loaded for bear. Do you Fine-Tune the lenses?
Thanks Craig

nicksr1125 Loc: Mesa, AZ

A couple of days ago 1 of our group asked essentially the same question and somebody else provided the following link
http://regex.info/blog/photo-tech/focus-chart. This 1 is free & has the instructions available on the website. Not to take anything away from B&H but, this 1 is free. It only requires a little bit of work on your part.

CraigFair Loc: Santa Maria, CA.

nicksr1125 wrote:

A couple of days ago 1 of our group asked essentially the same question and somebody else provided the following link
http://regex.info/blog/photo-tech/focus-chart. This 1 is free & has the instructions available on the website. Not to take anything away from B&H but, this 1 is free. It only requires a little bit of work on your part.

Thank you very much Nick. I've already printed it out and am ready to take it for a test drive. I'll post some results later.
Now I'll have to come up with a method for focusing to Infinity. That's where I spend 90% of my time.
Craig

PAR4DCR Loc: A Sunny Place

Thanks Nick, I just printed mine.
Don

nicksr1125 Loc: Mesa, AZ

CraigFair wrote:

Thank you very much Nick. I've already printed it out and am ready to take it for a test drive. I'll post some results later.
Now I'll have to come up with a method for focusing to Infinity. That's where I spend 90% of my time.
Craig

I dropped mine off at Staples on my way home from work to have them put a comb binding on it. I printed out all 3 test charts and had them included. That way I can use it any time I have a GAS attack.

Dan L Loc: Wisconsin

Hi, here is the original post by dandekary on Oct-31-2014 posting "Lens Calibration Help Needed" Excellent post response and describes the Yard Stick method for calibrating the lens. Please use -search then enter - Lens Calibration Help Needed.

CraigFair wrote:

Hi Dan, Can you tell me the process you used to calibrate it.
Thanks Craig

CraigFair Loc: Santa Maria, CA.

CraigFair wrote:

Thank you very much Nick. I've already printed it out and am ready to take it for a test drive. I'll post some results later.
Now I'll have to come up with a method for focusing to Infinity. That's where I spend 90% of my time.
Craig

I think I'm pretty close -5? It focuses back and forth between the top and bottom edges of the Blog Sticker.
Craig

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