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Matt, thank you so much for making this easy to follow video! I was able to make my own calibration target, and when I tested my Tamron 70-200, it was back focusing by a full centimeter! I had to save the value at -20 for it to be sharp, and now, wow! What a difference!
People asking about your specific camera AF tune ability - check your owners manual. For zooms check short, mid and tele ends if your lens - all should be the same, but make sure. As for the target itself - make one out of cardboard and an xacto knife. All you need to do is print out the checked target and ruler scale on paper and glue to the cardboard. Remember the scale part needs to be at a 45 degree angle for best precision. Lastly, this works better if you place camera on a flat table with the target the proper distance away.
Clinton Spindley I just checked on amazon.ca the cheapest one is $80 and the most expensive one is over $250. Ridiculous prices for a piece of plastic. So a do it yourself one is the only way to go for most of us.
it should be 20 to 50 x the focal length. At focus distance close to min focus distance the adjustment varies more and it stabilizes at focus distance at about 50x the focal length. For very long lenses (300mm+) 20x would do.
Problem is, that some lenses, for example my FA*24/2, need different compensation for different ranges. When I match focus at 40cm (*-6), then at 3m distance photos are fairly misfocused (needs *+8 to be sharp). It would be nice to have camera function which will do calibration semi-automatically using contrast-detect AF as a control mechanism to compare with phase detect AF results automatically and store them in camera memory for different ranges and different zoom settings also. Then all you gona need would be nice contrasty tagret to focus at and tripod :)
Hi, I would like to point out that camera focuses on a particular distance, NOT on a plane parallel to the image sensor. This is the basic concept upon which most cameras lock focus as far as I know. So, basically it focuses on an arch of a fixed radius (determined by the distance of the initial focus point and the camera). If we focus on this lens cap tool, and check the Autofocus shift on the scale so far off the center, it will always show a different result (specially with large apertures) as the vapor thin depth of field will cover an arch. Problems such as this are corrected in authorized service centers with a similar equipment, but with the focus lock are directly above the scale. And to make matters worse, the AF shift on almost every focus point is different, the center focus point being the most accurate. Just my 2 cents, but I'm not a professional photographer by any means. I might be completely wrong here.
Nice looking Spyder Lenscal kit. Very sturdy. Sony a99 does focus cal too, and it makes a HUGE difference with the fast primes, particularly for pixel peepers. It's really easy, especially with a good kit like the Spyder, and takes only a couple of minutes per lens. One thing you didn't mention Matt, make sure you're in your maximum aperture when you do the calibration, otherwise the depth of field won't be narrow enough to tell the difference.
I've found shooting down a tape measure on 45° while focusing on a number gives you a really good idea of the ratio of focus you have set, and allows you to tweak that focus how you like. Me I'm about 80% past the focal point on my 24to70 as it tends to front focus a bit for my tastes.
for the manual focus lens is depending on you eye or viewfinder not about AF focus calibration cuz it's non CPU lens. that function works for only autofocus ^^
Hey Matt, Front focus, back focus I think we all got the idea. I did noticed you gave your distance in centimeters and I had a hard time making this work for me. Of course I was trying to do it with a home made rig to see if the calibration was the problem. Further research gives me the impression the measurements should be in millimeters which could get me closer to the target and therefore make it easier to read the focus on the characters I was using. I was trying it with a 200mm lens on my d810 and while I did get it closer I might be able to nail it if the millimeter measurement is the correct one. I also ordered the spyder calibrator to try a more exact calibration.
this was much more useful than most of the crap i've found on stuff, thanks Matt. I bought a new Nikkor 85mm 1.4 recently, and it appears to be front focusing. The face and the eyes are not in critical focus, the detail in the eyes is especially telling.
A big mistake for a professional web-based instructor (if not photographer) which may leave a lot of people confused, and worse, putting the wrong correction data into their cameras! God help us all! No wonder he gives up showing us the correction shots eventually and goes on to a different lens.
Matt, SpyderLenscal instructions state the camera distance is supposed to be 25x to 50x the focal length. I know this video is old but might want to make that correction somewhere.
Matt Granger the nikon d7100a (Tina's camera is my memory is ok) has fine tuning, page 270 on the English Nikon manual. www.nikonusa.com/pdf/manuals/dslr/D7100_EN.pdf . Thanks for your time and dedication on these videos.
I could see what is necessary to calibrate your lens if you are using auto focus on the camera but if you use manual focus is not necessary because you don't rely on the camera neither the lens. If you are person that uses auto focus then it will be necessary to align (calibrate) your lenses. Old photographers and film camera were used more on manual focus than auto focus.
My D3s has always been spot on with focus - none of my lenses have required adjustment. However, my first D800E, the only lens that would focus accurately on it was a Tokina macro lens. All my Nikon lenses (24mm 1.4G, 50mm 1.8G, 85 1.4G, 24-70 2.8, 70-200 2.8 VR, 24-120 VR) were outside of the +/- 20 range of adjustment, and I had to return the camera for a replacement. Should be getting my second D800E on Monday, hopefully that one actually autofocuses properly.
It always amazes me how many people make derogatory comments about videos and complain about how the creator could have done it better, but yet I never see the troll that complains create a better video. What's that old saying....Oh yeah...."If you don't have anything nice to say about someone then STFU!" or something like that... :-) Thanks for the videos Matt!
Just a thought but... How else can a person get better. Not everyone knows everything so critic is a way for others to pass along information that maybe helpful. Key word (Maybe). Whether Matt choose to use it or not is up to him. But at least it is their for him to think about. Not everybody is as angry as you when they post comments. In fact I'm happy as Hell 😀😀😀 and liked the Video. And Psst guess what.. I would have liked to have seen the final focus on the second lens. Tyrion voice " I'm just pointing out a flaw".😀
This might be a silly question but... I've got a Canon which works perfectly with the Canon 70-200mm however images are out of proper focus with my Tamron lens... when calibrating for the Tamron, will it affect the focusing of my Canon lens then?
It will not do anything to the Canon lens. The Canon system also does the calibration by the serial number so doing a micro adjustment for one lens does not affect any other lens.
Not too sure about Canon, but with Nikon, you can save the calibration for up to 12 different lenses/brands, and when you mount that lens the camera remembers the calibration you set for that particular lens. I can't believe that Canon also does not have a similar method. Home this helps.
I don't care man; it's just about photography. Keep ur comments for yourself please. If you don't know whats photography is all about, stay with ur mum, darling... This was gross.
Matt, at 3:27 I notice that the "0" line isn't lined up with the center axis line for the target. Both should be on the same axis and appear aligned at any viewing angle. This probably explains the backfocus close to 0.45. I noticed this because I've built and debugged my own target (for under $10). Well, anyway...you got it right at 4:58, so no worries.
Because if Matt hadn't allowed her in a video for much longer, the photography villagers were going to chase him down with pitchforks and Molotov cocktails. Tina is awesome
Never used this function before, now I"ve see this very good explanation and know what the meaning and function is, I'm going to calibrate every lens I own, thank YOU Mat (and the beautiful girl) ;0
cool, missed tina. I only have older or lower end bodies, so I was surprised when was playing with my friends d800 that they allow this... I've played with this before by tweaking the af sensor manually though on my lower bodies I've fixed..
OR you can go CDAF and kiss those problems goodbye. Honestly, ever since shooting with m4/3 + eye detection, no problems. you can even specify right/left eye priority. Looking forward to when hybrid CDAF+PDAF becomes the norm on FF/APS-C and then this should (theoretically) no longer be an issue.
Clarification - this procedure makes the adjustment to the camera with a particular lens mounted. If you mount another lens, you have to readjust the camera for that lens. Does that mean that every time you mount a new lens, you have to readjust the camera? If this is correct, depending on the camera, is there a way to store the adjustments as a preset so that recalibration is not necessary every time you change lenses? Also, does this mean that those of us with cameras that do not have manual auto focus are out of luck and are stuck with out of focus shots?
the non cpu lenses has af fintune issues you cant save the adjusted data to the menu but set the af finetune to +10 as defoult for the lens, and if you forgeth to set it back to nautral again al the other pre adjusted lenses in the menu wil be +10 out of af fintune in the menu
Yes, you can. Put your camera on a tripod, put a large white paper/card on the floor. Take a marker and make a 3 inch or so line in the middle of the card from left to right. Turn on your camera, put the 3 inch line in the centre of the viewfinder. Set your focus to manual. Now turn the focus dial to make the scene out of focus. Switch to auto. Press whichever button you use to focus. Grab a big ruler with lines you can see clearly, perpendicular to the 3 inch line. Make and exposure. Enlarge to see if the number AT the line is sharp or not. Adjust accordingly with the fine tune function of the camera. Karl Taylor has a video which explains it.
I have just purchased a Lens Pyramid as it seems to do the same job and is about a third the price of the LensCal. Will see what the results are when it arrives.
great vid, i need to calebrate all my lenses now...after i get that Spyder Lenscal! :) thanks for all your videos Matt, i have learned a great deal from you!
i have a nikon D800 and trying to fine tuning a 20mm 2.8 so what about if i reach to 20+ and 20- and the lens still doesn't focus properly in the center (still off) but no problem focusing manually in the center. what is the next step to that?
Great video. I had a back focus issue on my D7000. I thought I was doing something wrong until I ran through a test. The camera ended up going in for repairs. Turned out this is a known issue on the D7000. There are printable focus test sheets that can be printed online. I used a ruler set at an angel with a note care half on a middle number for my tests.
p zagorchev The entry level cameras don't have this feature. Do you actually have this problem? If yes, send you camera back to Canon. Cannot do it yourself.
Peter Moeller I think i have the problem. When i shoot portraits i make 4-5 pictures and only one of them is on focus. But in manual focus i dont have this problem.
Very informative. All the while I thought that when auto focusing the sensor senses when the image is sharp then sends a signal back to the lens to stop turning. Just like when one is focusing manually the eye will reckon when the image is right on focus then sends a signal to the hand to stop turning. Thanks, Matt and please pardon my ignorance.
Hi Matt, I'm using LensAlign MK II and tried to calibrate all of my lenses using the combined software that comes with it. The problem that calibrating a 50mm lens according to Nikon standards (5 to 10 times range) is perfect BUT when calibrating according to the distance I usually photograph, the lens needs over +20 in AFA value. Nikon service centre (Sydney) refuses to calibrate 50mm 1.8D type lens. So photographers need to pay attention more to how a lens performs as they use it rather than Nikon distance recommendations.
Once we calibrate the lens, the camera remembers it or we need to remember the level of fine tuning? Also, is this applicable only for AF or manual focus too?
With my 100mm macro and 70-200 I was always having problems with photos not that sharp. I though it was maybe my technique and not holding it steady enough. Bought the Spyder LensCal and one lens was front focusing and the other back focus. Been getting much sharper images.
+Matt, would like to confirm something, a D7100 has the capability to store 12 different lens data. You indicated that these are recorded by serial number. My question is, as you change lenses, will the camera automatically recognize the replacement lens and automatically apply the correction(s) for each?
Hi Matt, Thanks for making this tutorial :) about AF micro adjustment . Gear info I shoot at the moment with a Nikon D7100 and have the 70-200 VR1 and the TC 1.7 II as main lens to shoot birds .(saving up for a 300/F2.8 or 500/F4). Question When i calibrate my Micro AF with Spyderlenscal must i do this with or without the TC ,Datacolor/Spyderlencal doesn't give any information about that on there site. Greetings Danyael
Hi Matt, just wondering if you have ever used any Software to calibrate AF fine tune. I have come across Reikan Focal it runs the tests tethered through live view and generates reports on sharpness, f stop sweet spot, camera consistency and I believe it can set the af fine tune for you. I haven't bought the software yet but at near a 1/3 of the price of the product in your video I'm tempted to take the risk. Just wondered if you had any thoughts on this process vs the DIY method. I'm a big fan I your RU-vid channel, keep up the good work! Tony
Yea that’s just a ruler and a piece of paper. It shouldn’t cost more than $2.50 since dollar tree is up to $1.25 an item now. Ouch. Focal pro is free online if you know where to look.
I have a Nikon D3200, with a 35mm and a 50mm. The 50 mm isn't focusing correctly. With the 35mm the pictures look really sharp, but with the 50mm they look blurry. My camera doesn't have AF fine-tune. Is there any other way I can calibrate my 50mm? Or should I wait until I have enough money to buy a new, better camera?
Gia Ly pointed out something very important. From what I've read in many photography manuals, depth of field is not 50-50 from the subject but rather 1/3 front and 2/3 back. How do we reconcile this?
My understanding (which could be way wrong) is that the near-to-far ratio of depth of field varies with lens focal length. A wide angle lens may closely follow that 1:2 (1/3 in front and 2/3 in back) ratio. But as lens focal length increases, the ratio moves closer to 1:1. For portraiture using lenses in the 70-200mm focal length range, the depth of field ratio in most instances is going to be very close to 1:1. In other words, the depth of field will be equally distributed towards the camera and away from the camera with respect to the focal point.
Bill Ferris Quite correct Bill. The 1/3-2/3 focus rule is not fixed but varies with focal length, lens aperture and camera to subject distance. Check the 1/3-2/3 rule details on web site cameradojo.com using their fcalc .xls spreadsheet for various lenses. Most dof distances fall in the range from 2/5-3/5 to 1/2-1/2 [i.e. 40:60% to 50:50%].
