nikonlad Loc: Venice, FL

This post could apply to any telephoto zoom lens.

My D7000 has a function to fine tune a lens; i.e. to compensate for either front focus or back focus. I own a LensAlign tool for this purpose.
I would like to know how one would go about fine tuning a telephoto zoom such as the Tamron 150-600mm.
How far away should the target be?
At what focal length should the lens be set to, 150mm, 400mm, 600mm?

Thanks

Russ1700

What distance will you be shooting at most of the time? This is the focal length you should set your lens at.

Erv Loc: Medina Ohio

If you are like me, I would do it for 600.:) I have a 28-300 and did it for 300. I have checked the others and they are all still pretty good focus wise. You just have to play and see where you set it 90% of the time. And I bet it will be 600.:):) That is my next lens I think. Or the 80-400 they came out with.
Erv

liv2paddle Loc: Wall, NJ

I have the lens too..I have not noticed any front or back focusing problems ..I would be interested in knowing your results. I have the D7100 and find the lens extremely sharp at F8 and good light.

oldtool2 Loc: South Jersey

Unfortunately his results are going to be of no use to you. Every camera and lens combination is going to be different. I own two 7D's and, with the same lens, found the results can change quite a bit.

Jim D

nikonlad Loc: Venice, FL

I'll take yours and Russ' advice and adjust at 600mm; makes sense. I'm on a waiting list, so I'll have to wait. Hopefully, no problems.

Bill Emmett Loc: Bow, New Hampshire

I use the program FoCal, and shoot a rather strange target when setting up the lens. I actually tried to set the lens up for 400, 500, and finally 600mm. I had to use the entire distance from my garage door through the kitchen into the living-room. The actual settings were really pretty close on the Canon EoS 6D, but the range on the 7D was longer and difficult to average. I set the 6D, to +4, and the 7D to -8. But, both cameras shoot at about the same focus level when I pixel peeped the final shots. Keep in mind every body will be different, and also every lens relative to the body will be different, so you cannot compare. I would just do the alignment, check the focus change, and check again at a later date. I do all my lenses on nice Winter day, when the weather is bad. I just finished my new 16-35mm f2.8L USM lens, and the suggested adjustment is so small it is hardly worthwhile, but FoCal did it for me internal to the camera.

B

Caysnowman Loc: MN & SC

There is a discussion on the Fred Miranda & I think the Nikon forums about a technique for lens alignment that does not require the "calibrated eye-ball" the the Lens Align technique does and is cheaper than FoCal; it is called Dot-Align and it's free.

Link to Miranda's site is http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1187638/0. Most of the comments seem to agree that the results of any of these calibration methods are very close.

Bill

Bill Emmett Loc: Bow, New Hampshire

The action word of your post is "cheaper". FoCal has just updated it software, and again stated "once bought" updates are free. I like to buy the best possible the first time around. I had a demo of the FoCal software prior to purchase, and was very satisfied with the results. That is just me of course. I waited for years before buying Lightroom.

Caysnowman Loc: MN & SC

No, I just meant to provide another option that users have reported worked virtually as well as the other two. Free updates are great but my choice was either £20, £40 or £70. I felt some of us would be interested in different techniques and their relative values.

FoCal does look like an interesting piece of software. I'd like to experience a demo of FoCal but I have not found one around this neck of the woods.

Bill