7D AF-MA Firmware 2.x with Reikan Focal SW

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Alek Komarnits
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p.1 #1 · 7D AF-MA Firmware 2.x with Reikan Focal SW

[NOW UPDATED WITH RESULTS - nutshell difference is no significant changes in AFMA]

So I finally took the plunge and bought a (PRO) copy of Reikan's FOCAL AutoFocus Microadjust (AFMA) software - pretty nifty package especially for a gadget guy like me.

I've used various other techniques (such as the Moire approach) to calibrate my 7D's and lens. And since I haven't upgrade my 7D's to firmware 2.x, I thought it would be interesting to get some repeatable numbers using the FOCAL software with 1.x, and then see how/if they change with 2.x as others have reported. ANY SUGGESTED ADDITIONAL TESTS BEFORE I UPGRADE TO Firmware 2.x? I'll update this post when I have those numbers.

Canon 7D #1 - serial number 02710102xxx - i.e. a very early one.

                          Firmware 1.2.5                        Firmware 2.0.0 

Lens-Zoom            Distance     QoF     AFMA             Distance     QoF     AFMA   

70-200F2.8v2@70          3.6m     97%     7/8                  3.8m     98%     7/8     

70-200F2.8v2@200        10.0m     99%     4/6                  9.4m     99%     6

55-250@55                3.5m     99%     -1/0                 3.7m     98%     -1/0

55-250@250               9.8m     98%     5                    9.3m     99%     4

18-200@18                1.8m     99%     0/1                  2.0m     99%     1

18-200@200              11.3m     98%     0/1                 10.9m     99%     1/2

17-55@17                 1.2m     95%     2                    2.0m     97%     0/1

17-55@55                 3.9m     95%     4/7                  4.2m     97%     5/6

10-22@10                 1.2m     99%     -4

10-22@22                 1.7m     99%     -4                   2.0m     98%     -6/-7

QoF: Quality of Focus as expressed in percentage from 10 shots using FOCAL Software
AFMA: Recommended micro-adjust setting - saw very slight variance between runs

BTW, I was puzzled initially why at the end of my testing that the camera would take "long exposures" ... but what happened was Custom Function III.13 - Mirror Lockup was enabled. Just an FYI in case happens to anyone else.

Canon says Firmware 2.x improves the buffer depth ... so lets test that too! [RESULTS POSTED]
Frames shot in 5 second burst and total time to write to Compact Flash Card - more info

                                 Firmware 1.2.5        2.0.0

Lexar 600X-16GB Rawonly 	        28f/12s      32f/13s

Lexar 600X-16GB RAW+JPEG		20f/11s      22f/15s

PhotoFast 533X Plus-16GB RAWonly        28f/12s      32f/13s

PhotoFast 533X Plus-16GB RAW+JPEG       20f/11s      22f/15s

Edited on Aug 28, 2012 at 03:21 PM · View previous versions

Aug 24, 2012 at 07:49 PM

Hank Endzelis
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p.1 #2 · 7D AF-MA Firmware 2.x with Reikan Focal SW

Just wondering why you chose different target distances with 2 lenses at 200mm, i.e., the 70-200 was at the suggested 10M and the 18-200 was at 11.3M, and the 55-250 at 250mm was closer at 9.8M.

Aug 24, 2012 at 08:56 PM

NormanPCN
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p.1 #3 · 7D AF-MA Firmware 2.x with Reikan Focal SW

You might try some closer focus distances than your 50x to see what differences you get if any. After all, getting critical focus accuracy means more at closer focus distances where your DOF is more shallow.

Aug 24, 2012 at 09:48 PM

Alek Komarnits
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p.1 #4 · 7D AF-MA Firmware 2.x with Reikan Focal SW

Hank: The distances were basically where I ended up in the hallway ... and since I was moving around with the all the lens, I wasn't as consistent as I should have been. They are actually as reported by the software and I saw some variance from the same distance with different lens ... but was pretty close.

Norman: I did some other testing from different distances and was happy to see similar AFMA numbers ... and yea, I hear 'ya on DOF is more critical close in ... plus the 18-200 is actually a poor-man's Macro lens as it can get pretty close. Having said that, I'm reluctant to calibrate super close (didn't test) since if that number is different, I don't really do that much shooting super close.

Aug 25, 2012 at 07:26 PM

Suresh T
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p.1 #5 · 7D AF-MA Firmware 2.x with Reikan Focal SW

I'll also be MA'ing a new 7D shortly (presumably with FW 2.0). I'm curious what AFMAs you'll get with FW 2.0. It shouldn't make any difference, right?

I'm also curious about AFMA consistency/accuracy from FoCal 1.4 to 1.5, I might try that for one of the lenses I've already MA'ed with FoCal 1.4 to see if it MA's the same.

Aug 25, 2012 at 10:15 PM

msalvetti
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p.1 #6 · 7D AF-MA Firmware 2.x with Reikan Focal SW

My experience with the Pro version and firmware 2 has been terrible.

With the earlier firmware, I was able to get consistent and repeatable MA results with my 70-200II and 100-400.

The 70-200 had been -3 at 70mm, -5 at 135mm, and -4 at 200mm.
The 100-400 was -5 at 100mm, -3 at 200mm, -1 and 300mm, and 4 at 400mm

After the upgrade to FW2, I got these results:
70-200: -14 at 70mm. -14 at 135mm, and -10 at 200mm. I repeated, and got -10, -9, and -11, respectively

100-400: -13 at 100mm, -2 at 200mm, 2 at 300mm, 5 at 400mm.

The weird part is the FoCal reports show that the target was sharpest at those new MA settings. But when I disconnected the camera from FoCal and the laptop, and shot the target handheld, it was obvious the old settings were much better.

Then I tried my 24-105, which I had not previously MA'd with FoCal. It came up with -10 at 105mm, but it couldn't MA 24mm. The image was completely blurred, and it didn't matter if I was at -20, 0, or +20. Even disconnecting the camera there was no way to get 24mm to come to focus. I thought the lens was going to have to go in for service.

I went back to play around with one of the other zooms, then when I put the 24-105 back on, the lens seemed to have reset. I could focus 24mm. Then I tried -10 at 105mm, and once again it was clearly a bad setting. The lens is much better at 0 MA.

I also frequently got errors that the software couldn't communicate with the camera, and I had to restart FoCal several times. This seemed to happen most with the 70-200.

So I'm not sure what to do. I haven't had time to try again. I'm just using the lenses at the MA settings I got with the old firmware, and everything seems fine.

If you update to FW2, I'll be really interested in seeing how well FoCal works for you.

Mark

Aug 25, 2012 at 11:29 PM

Chris Ventura
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p.1 #7 · 7D AF-MA Firmware 2.x with Reikan Focal SW

I just logged on here 2 minutes ago to specifically ask if FoCal works on the 7D with Version 2.0 firmware. Mark, have you heard of this issue from others?

Aug 26, 2012 at 12:12 AM

msalvetti
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p.1 #8 · 7D AF-MA Firmware 2.x with Reikan Focal SW

Chris Ventura wrote:
I just logged on here 2 minutes ago to specifically ask if FoCal works on the 7D with Version 2.0 firmware. Mark, have you heard of this issue from others?

No, but to be honest, I haven't spent a lot of time researching it, and I haven't contacted the vendor. I mentioned it here in the "7D 2.0 Problems?" thread, but nobody else acknowledged it:
http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1138549/3

And I asked in the Mustang Air to Air thread, but I don't think any of the 7D owners over there use FoCal.

I want to try it again in case I was doing something stupid, but I'm pretty busy so it won't be for a while. Meanwhile I'll keep my eyes open for similar problems.

Mark

Aug 26, 2012 at 02:08 AM

Hank Endzelis
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p.1 #9 · 7D AF-MA Firmware 2.x with Reikan Focal SW

Chris Ventura wrote:
I just logged on here 2 minutes ago to specifically ask if FoCal works on the 7D with Version 2.0 firmware. Mark, have you heard of this issue from others?

msalvetti wrote:
No, but to be honest, I haven't spent a lot of time researching it, and I haven't contacted the vendor. I mentioned it here in the "7D 2.0 Problems?" thread, but nobody else acknowledged it:
http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1138549/3

The OP has another thread in DPR which has received a few responses that may be of interest.....
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1019&message=42332451

Aug 26, 2012 at 02:55 PM

markdh
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p.1 #10 · 7D AF-MA Firmware 2.x with Reikan Focal SW

msalvetti wrote:
My experience with the Pro version and firmware 2 has been terrible.
.
.
.

Then I tried my 24-105, which I had not previously MA'd with FoCal. It came up with -10 at 105mm, but it couldn't MA 24mm. The image was completely blurred, and it didn't matter if I was at -20, 0, or +20. Even disconnecting the camera there was no way to get 24mm to come to focus. I thought the lens was going to have to go in for service.
.
.
.

I also frequently got errors that the software couldn't communicate with the camera, and I had to restart FoCal several times. This seemed to happen most with the 70-200.

So I'm not sure what to do. I haven't had time to try again. I'm just using the lenses at the MA settings I got with the old firmware, and everything seems fine.

Mark

I've had the same experience as you, with both the inability to get a lens to focus at all and having the software frequently lose contact with my 7D, except I was using primes, not zooms. To get focusing ability back I had to remove and reattach the lens to the camera.

Also, after a successful calibration my camera still can't get the target into a sharp focus without me manually tweaking the focus a bit.

I'll be trying again today using some different FoCal settings to see if that helps.

Aug 26, 2012 at 04:32 PM

Alek Komarnits
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p.1 #11 · 7D AF-MA Firmware 2.x with Reikan Focal SW

I have updated the numbers in the first post after (an uneventful) upgrade to Firmware 2.0.0 and re-running the Reikan Focal tests.

Nutshell summary is I did not see what I consider a significant change in AF micro-adjust from the FW upgrade.

Note also that I did test burst depth before/after and did see a slight increase there.

Aug 28, 2012 at 03:15 PM

Y0GI
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p.1 #12 · 7D AF-MA Firmware 2.x with Reikan Focal SW

Thank you for the rigorous testing and feedback after the FW 2.0.0 installation, Alek. Much appreciated.

Some on other forums have reported difficulties with the Focal performance after the upgrade. Did you notice any problems with Focal on the retest?

Thanks again,

Yogi

Aug 28, 2012 at 03:43 PM

vsg28
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p.1 #13 · 7D AF-MA Firmware 2.x with Reikan Focal SW

I am getting a 7D soon and wanted to clarify a point: Can I use FoCal at multiple zoom lengths on a zoom lens? I thought I could only save 1 MA value per lens on the 7D?

Sep 21, 2012 at 11:22 AM

Prevelige
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p.1 #14 · 7D AF-MA Firmware 2.x with Reikan Focal SW

To my knowledge, the only canon body that allows MA at 2 lengths on the same lens is the the 1DX. The 7D certainly does not.

Bob

Sep 21, 2012 at 11:27 AM

vsg28
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p.1 #15 · 7D AF-MA Firmware 2.x with Reikan Focal SW

Also 5D3, but yes that's what I know of the 7D. So why are people here talking about MA values at different zoom lengths?

Sep 21, 2012 at 11:37 AM

cordellwillis
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p.1 #16 · 7D AF-MA Firmware 2.x with Reikan Focal SW

vsg28 wrote:
Also 5D3, but yes that's what I know of the 7D. So why are people here talking about MA values at different zoom lengths?

You basically want to find MA that will be acceptable for the range of your zoom; basically an average MA for the zoom....or the best MA for the focal length you use most.

Sep 21, 2012 at 01:16 PM

vsg28
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p.1 #17 · 7D AF-MA Firmware 2.x with Reikan Focal SW

Ah, thanks for clearing up my confusion. I had a feeling it had to do with average MA

I don't want to make another thread for this, so I will ask in here itself: FoCal Pro worth it? I was going to get the FoCal Plus version and was not sure if the upgrade (~$50) was worth it.

P.S. Can I use FoCal Plus/Pro with multiple camera bodies simultaneously or do I need to use their license manager each time for a different body?

Sep 21, 2012 at 01:22 PM

msalvetti
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p.1 #18 · 7D AF-MA Firmware 2.x with Reikan Focal SW

Prevelige wrote:
To my knowledge, the only canon body that allows MA at 2 lengths on the same lens is the the 1DX. The 7D certainly does not.

Bob

I believe the 5D3 also has this feature.

It's a pity they didn't add this capability to the new 7D firmware release.

Mark

Sep 21, 2012 at 02:24 PM

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