abc1234 Loc: Elk Grove Village, Illinois

Richard, you completely miss our points and I simply cannot understand why without getting personal which I will not do. You keep on bringing up irrelevant points. We did not say and would not consider your lenses, cameras or skills mediocre. All we are saying is that even the best lenses should be checked for focus. If you do not want to and are satisfied with your results, fine. However, do not criticize or demean those of us who would rather know than assume. We do not criticize you for not wanting to do so. We just criticize your assertion that it is not necessary.

If the manufacturers did not know that lenses do need checking, then why would they have cameras with micro-adjustment, advise you to do so with instructions on how to, and offer that service?

frankraney Loc: Clovis, Ca.

frankraney Loc: Clovis, Ca.

Richard, no one is saying you are wrong. What's everyone is saying is manufacturers manufacture things/cameras within a certain tolerance. that tolerance is acceptable to most and gives an acceptable image. that does not mean that for those that want to, can microtune it to make it better. with the tolerance that's acceptable some lenses maybe spot on some me the slightly off forward or backward.

I used to be in the calibration business, not lenses but something else. My tolerance was 5%. Working side-by-side with other techs, we used to tease each other, by saying okay if that's as good as you can get it, which was a challenge to make it better but the time did not always allow that to happen. I'm sure it's the same in the lens industry.

Bottom line if you're happy forget it, if you're not adjust it.

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

Not even close to the end of this story. I do not need to know because those lenses do not need testing. If they are already tack sharp they DO NOT need testing. How do you improve TACK sharp with testing? And THAT is the end of this story.

abc1234 Loc: Elk Grove Village, Illinois

And you miss the point. I too had a lens I thought was tack sharp and could not be sharper. That is, until I tested it and made it even sharper.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

Richard, I don’t consider Canon L series lenses mediocre (I have 5), and that was not my point which I believe/hope you know. That said, 4 of the 5 were improved with calibration, which you can see and judge for yourself if you check the link I posted. AND the improvement was even more noticeable when I added a Canon 1.4x extender to the 135 f2L and the 100-400L, which is perfectly understandable because you have added one more component with another set of tolerances to the stack up.

Again, as I just posted, I don’t think you or Bill will change your mind, and having tested, I’m certainly not changing mine, so let’s agree to disagree and leave it there.

Cheers.

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

Nothing will convince me.IF IT'S NOT BROKEN, DON'T FIX IT.

RRS Loc: Not sure

I bought a brand new Canon 300mm f/2.8 and bought it for the fast lens and low light capability but much to my dismay the image was soft and I was shooting off a tripod. I sent it and a 7DMK2 to CPS and got it back saying that both the camera and lens were within specs. I'd bet that today , now out of warranty, that it would need an alignment. I bought Lens Alignment with the long ruler and now it works so much better. Just returned from Yellowstone and was shooting Red-tailed hawks across a canyon with a different body then I normally shoot with and noticed that it was front focusing. Checked and the menu showed a +3, being very familiar with the process I took the alignment to +6 and the shot was now dead on. I'll now take the time on the shooting range (camera) that I have set up here ay my house and recheck that combo. Point in case, I got the shot. I was shooting the 600mm f/4.0 on this shot. Once you understand how simple all of this is, at least to me, I do what ever it takes. If this is not needed then why do the camera manufactures include (Nikon) Fine Tune and (Canon) Micro-adjust with all of their higher end cameras. As TriX has said, if your shooting at a smaller aperture then wide open you most likely will never see any problem, however if shooting wide open at least my experience with long prime lenses if not right on you will not get the best your camera/lens is capable of producing. If you have an open mind at least a test could be done, if no difference is seen then you were right at least with your set-up, if you seem to have a problem as has been said all you have to do is to reset to "0" and you are right back to where you started. All of this reminds me of the Straight out of camera concept, if it works for you ,great, but for me PP is half the fun of this fine "sport". Each to their own, have fun!

RRS Loc: Not sure

So true! Drag racing, your car ain't broken and is running great but I'll spend the extra time and fine tune mine and will blow you away! It may only be as much as 1/100 of a sec, but there can be a slight difference. Some people are not technically capable of doing such procedures and as has been said could screw it all up and not even know how to get back to square one, so yes leave it alone. The same thing is true for cleaning the camera sensor, some can and do and others should leave it up to the professionals. You said it all when you make the statement" Nothing will convince me". I try to always keep an open mind.