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Lens Calibration
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Apr 14, 2019 20:23:35   #
TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC
 
CamB wrote:
This is probably a good idea, but of course you will just find nine pages of yes/no. There is no one answer for all.


You are correct. A person contemplating using it can always try it and see if they see improved results. If not, they can disable it with a menu entry in seconds.

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Apr 15, 2019 05:19:26   #
catchlight.. Loc: Wisconsin USA- Halden Norway
 
jeep_daddy wrote:
It's probably worth it when you have 3rd party lenses, but if you have OEM lenses then I've never found it necessary to calibrate. They've been spot on. I have read that a lot of people find the Tamron and other 3rd party lenses to be off a little and that they front focus quite a lot.


Not necessarily true,

Some of the most in need of calibration have been my Canon lenses. My 50mm f/1.2 needed the most correction. I used two 5D mk4 bodies.

Calibration is simple, even with a home made target. It is built into the menu and explained well by manufacturers. I think the question is mostly asked when someone new to the method becomes aware.

Definitely check and calibrate all lenses. The program is there for a reason.

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Apr 15, 2019 06:31:58   #
billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont
 
hogilbert wrote:
How important is it? What is the best method? DIY or camera shop? Is it worthwhile to calibrate a zoom lens? If so what focal lengths? Example: Tamron 70-200 2.8 G2


Nikon advises against folks doing their own calibrations, I wonder why that is?

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Apr 15, 2019 07:31:26   #
camerapapi Loc: Miami, Fl.
 
I have been shooting for more than 50 years and I NEVER was in need of calibrating any of my lenses. If the opportunity comes that any of my optics need calibration I would prefer a professional to make the adjustments but that is me.
Modern lenses are of excellent quality and they come adjusted from the factory for use in a specific camera or system. If the results you are obtaining are not to your liking it is either you not using AF the right way or the camera or the lens.
Notice I put you before the others.

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Apr 15, 2019 07:33:43   #
baygolf Loc: DMV
 
hogilbert wrote:
How important is it? What is the best method? DIY or camera shop? Is it worthwhile to calibrate a zoom lens? If so what focal lengths? Example: Tamron 70-200 2.8 G2


I use FoCal software to calibrate all my lenses. Certain Canon camera allows for micro adjustments to both wide and tele end of zoom lenses. I also have a Tamron Tap-In console which allows me to input adjustments into the lens as opposed to the camera body for Tamron lenses. However, I have multiple camera bodies and use my Tamron lenses on both cameras, so I do input micro adjustment into the lens only the body.

FoCal works well for me!

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Apr 15, 2019 07:38:46   #
mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey
 
billnikon wrote:
Nikon advises against folks doing their own calibrations, I wonder why that is?


There's a simple answer to that one. To suggest the lenses need calibration would imply that their products are somehow faulty which could be troubling to potential customers of cameras that do not provide focus adjustments. Second, the effort and knowledge to make effective focus adjustments precludes most casual shooters doing it properly possibly resulting in poorer focus rather than better. So in the end, even though they provide the function on professional level cameras rather than entry-level cameras, they push the idea that it isn't necessary. Many, if not most professionals however have read between the lines and know better. Even though most people think their lenses don't need calibration to the bodies they are mounted on, in general it is a relatively rare circumstance where a lens can't be made to work better to some degree.

The need for lens calibration is generally a result of differences in normal manufacturing tolerances rather than lens defects. That's why a lens may work slightly differently on two different copies of the same body, and why two copies of the same lens may work slightly differently on a single body. The adjustments needed in both situations are, more often than not, different.

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Apr 15, 2019 08:08:44   #
OnDSnap Loc: NE New Jersey
 
Gene51 wrote:
Ok, here goes nothing. The only problem I've ever had was with a Nikkor lens on a Nikon D800. All my other lenses - including manual and autofocus Nikkors, Sigmas (5), Tamrons (3), Tokina (1) have NEVER needed any autofocus adjustment. The most comprehensive method is to figure out which is out of whack, and send it to that manufacturer's repair facility. There is a lot of urban mythology about auto focus fine tune - but the facts are as follows:

In camera, user accessible autofocus tuning is a)a simple focus offset, affecting all focus performance, b)a poor substitute for proper tuning - where lenses/cameras are adjusted at multiple distances/focal lengths.

Focus issues are rarely linear in nature - and if you fix, for instance, back focusing at one distance and/or focal length, you will likely create front focusing at other distances/focal lengths. But don't take my word for it - speak to a tech - I got my info from a tech at Nikon in Melville, NY.
Ok, here goes nothing. The only problem I've ever ... (show quote)


Actually the facts are: Every camera and every body never meet till you join them. Every camera is supposed to be shipped within manufacturing/quality control specs/tolerances as is every lens. Just because both are within tolerances doesn't mean they work well together. I was a QC manager & ISO 9000 auditor for 12 years and while two parts were within tolerances, temperature alone could wreak havoc on two parts of the same material that fit during manufacturing didn't fit at it's final location. Usually do to size and density. So tolerances had to be adjusted (tweaked). Shipping and handling can knock things out of tolerance. Parts can be at the extreme opposite ends of the tolerance scale from the get go, causing undue ware and early failure. Just to many variables. The only way to know is to mount a lens and try it. If you'r not happy and can't tweak it, send it back. I purchased three Nikon 70-200mm 2.8's and returned two till I got one that I was satisfied with. I own 8 Nikon pro bodies and more than a dozen gold band lenses. For the most part, thankfully most were exceptable to spot on, some of them have benefited from a bit of tweaking. The primes are easy as there is one focal length, zooms you have to pick what you use most and live with it. I've yet to find one that suffered from near focusing problems, all were back focusing if not spot on, and yes it does happen.

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Apr 15, 2019 08:20:32   #
jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY
 
I haven't seen a need for it - yet. Maybe during my next fifty years of photography I'll find it necessary to calibrate a lens.

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Apr 15, 2019 08:29:30   #
mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey
 
OnDSnap wrote:
Actually the facts are: Every camera and every body never meet till you join them. Every camera is supposed to be shipped within manufacturing/quality control specs/tolerances as is every lens. Just because both are within tolerances doesn't mean they work well together. I was a QC manager & ISO 9000 auditor for 12 years and while two parts were within tolerances, temperature alone could wreak havoc on two parts of the same material that fit during manufacturing didn't fit at it's final location. Usually do to size and density. So tolerances had to be adjusted (tweaked). Shipping and handling can knock things out of tolerance. Parts can be at the extreme opposite ends of the tolerance scale from the get go, causing undue ware and early failure. Just to many variables. The only way to know is to mount a lens and try it. If you'r not happy and can't tweak it, send it back. I purchased three Nikon 70-200mm 2.8's and returned two till I got one that I was satisfied with. I own 8 Nikon pro bodies and more than a dozen gold band lenses. For the most part, thankfully most were exceptable to spot on, some of them have benefited from a bit of tweaking. The primes are easy as there is one focal length, zooms you have to pick what you use most and live with it. I've yet to find one that suffered from near focusing problems, all were back focusing if not spot on, and yes it does happen.
Actually the facts are: Every camera and every bod... (show quote)

Absolutely agree. It is all about manufacturing tolerances. I've been saying that for years, but few people want to listen.

For those that say 100% of their lenses are always spot-on I would suggest they may be getting very good results from their lenses as is, but probably don't realize they could be getting better results from some of them. I know I thought that way for a long time years ago until I started calibrating my lenses and saw the thin veil lifted from many of my images

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Apr 15, 2019 08:34:35   #
lamontcranston
 
billnikon wrote:
Nikon advises against folks doing their own calibrations, I wonder why that is?


What's that old saying, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

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Apr 15, 2019 09:25:54   #
OnDSnap Loc: NE New Jersey
 
lamontcranston wrote:
What's that old saying, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."


So they can charge you to do it...what's that ole' saying... Money is money

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Apr 15, 2019 09:27:04   #
OnDSnap Loc: NE New Jersey
 
jerryc41 wrote:
I haven't seen a need for it - yet. Maybe during my next fifty years of photography I'll find it necessary to calibrate a lens.


Some are just satisfied with what they get and not what may be possible.

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Apr 15, 2019 09:27:46   #
OnDSnap Loc: NE New Jersey
 
mwsilvers wrote:
Absolutely agree. It is all about manufacturing tolerances. I've been saying that for years, but few people want to listen.

For those that say 100% of their lenses are always spot-on I would suggest they may be getting very good results from their lenses as is, but probably don't realize they could be getting better results from some of them. I know I thought that way for a long time years ago until I started calibrating my lenses and saw the thin veil lifted from many of my images


yup, I would say most think, well it's brand spanking new it has to be right. Like my 2015 HD Road King, brand new out of the show room, needed valve replacement from day one. Took 1,200mi of riding to convince them it wasn't a breaking in issue. (such BS out there)

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Apr 15, 2019 09:47:49   #
abc1234 Loc: Elk Grove Village, Illinois
 
An open question. For those of you who said your lenses have not needed adjusting, what did you do to conclude that?

And for those who might want to test and adjust... I found the various targets a complete waste of time. Finding the sharpest focus was subjective at best, arbitrary at worst. Reluctantly, I bought the Reikan FoCal. It performed pretty much as claimed for my professional lenses (Sigma, 24-70, f/2.8 ART; 70-200, f/2.8; 150-600 C). With my 18-300, it failed at 300 so I calibrated at 200 and extrapolated to 300. I had to relocate my computer because I needed up to 40' for the longest lens. Between setting up everything properly and the actually testing, I still needed about six hours but FoCal did the hard work of adjusting the lenses properly. If you want to adjust your lenses yourself, FoCal is the best way to go.

Had I wanted to send my camera and lenses to Sigma, they would have charged $160 per lens. This was not in the budget. Furthermore, I can retest whenever I want.

My next project is to interpolate the microadjustments for my ART and C lenses and plug the values into the dock for fine-tuning.

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Apr 15, 2019 09:52:39   #
TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC
 
camerapapi wrote:
...Modern lenses are of excellent quality and they come adjusted from the factory for use in a specific camera or system. If the results you are obtaining are not to your liking it is either you not using AF the right way...


I have also been shooting for more than 50 years, and I calibrate all my lenses. The fact is that before the advent of AF, there was no reason or need to calibrate lenses. I would just add that modern lenses do NOT come adjusted for a specific camera unless you send both pieces (of the same manufacturer only) in and have them calibrated together. That, of course, makes the lens out of calibration for any other body - a situation that was exactly described by a previous poster.

Finally, almost every anti-calibration poster has mentioned that they have been shooting forever and none of their lenses have needed calibration. To which my response is: if you’ve never calibrated them, how do you know (if your focus could be more accurate and your shots sharper)?

Btw, the best way I’ve found to answer that question as well as other characteristics about your lenses (sharpness vs aperture, AF accuracy and repeatability, etc) is Reikan’s FoCal SW - it removes the subjective judgements and inaccuracies of most other methods.

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