Home · Register · Join Upload & Sell

Moderated by: Fred Miranda
Username  

  New fredmiranda.com Mobile Site
  New Feature: SMS Notification alert
  New Feature: Buy & Sell Watchlist
  

FM Forums | Canon Forum | Join Upload & Sell

1       2       3              7      
8
       9              37       38       end
  

Dot-Tune: Autofocus Fine Tuning in under 5 minutes

  
 
paulfeng
Offline
• • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.8 #1 · p.8 #1 · Dot-Tune: Autofocus Fine Tuning in under 5 minutes


Wow - I've not tried ML before, but I think I will when this comes out.

When ML writes the MA value the camera, does the setting persist even after ML is no longer running on the camera?



Feb 24, 2013 at 12:18 PM
snapsy
Offline
• • • • • •
Upload & Sell: On
p.8 #2 · p.8 #2 · Dot-Tune: Autofocus Fine Tuning in under 5 minutes


paulfeng wrote:
Wow - I've not tried ML before, but I think I will when this comes out.

When ML writes the MA value the camera, does the setting persist even after ML is no longer running on the camera?


Yep, it stores the calculated AFMA value in the same non-volatile memory location that Canon's firmware uses, so it will be persistent across power cycles and available even if you stop using ML after performing the DotTune.



Feb 24, 2013 at 12:32 PM
Beni
Offline
• • • • • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.8 #3 · p.8 #3 · Dot-Tune: Autofocus Fine Tuning in under 5 minutes


My 5D3 is still with canon where they have been tuning it to my 50L (2nd time round) and getting the right hand focus points to match the center points, however I fully intend to test this method thoroughly when I get it back for my other lenses. Snapsy, you should set up a method to allow donations, I would have been spending the dough on Focal Pro if it wasn't for you...


Feb 24, 2013 at 01:31 PM
Zenon Char
Offline
• • • • • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.8 #4 · p.8 #4 · Dot-Tune: Autofocus Fine Tuning in under 5 minutes


Well DotTune did confirm my suspicions. First off the using the new method where you stop at the instant AF acquisition worked good. It only made a difference for +3 to +2 for my final MFA but still much easier to work with.

It did confirm my new 70 to 200 2.8 II is way out at 200. It still beeps at +20 and stops beeping at +7 which put me around +14. That was confirmed by real world shots. Major difference at 0 and +14. Not even thinking about a work around - it is off to Canon.



Feb 24, 2013 at 01:42 PM
snapsy
Offline
• • • • • •
Upload & Sell: On
p.8 #5 · p.8 #5 · Dot-Tune: Autofocus Fine Tuning in under 5 minutes


Beni wrote:
My 5D3 is still with canon where they have been tuning it to my 50L (2nd time round) and getting the right hand focus points to match the center points, however I fully intend to test this method thoroughly when I get it back for my other lenses. Snapsy, you should set up a method to allow donations, I would have been spending the dough on Focal Pro if it wasn't for you...


Thanks Beni, others have asked about donations but DotTune is strictly pro-bono! However once Magic Lantern is released with automated DotTune support I would certainly encourage everyone to make donations to their effort.



Feb 24, 2013 at 06:34 PM
Invertalon
Offline
• • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.8 #6 · p.8 #6 · Dot-Tune: Autofocus Fine Tuning in under 5 minutes


I tried this dot tune method with my 24-70 II today... Ended up with -3W and +1T. My focal results were -2 and +1 so it was very close to the same. I ran it multiple times at each refocusing with live view inbetween and did have one abnormal set in each, but the other two were near identical. I threw out the abnormal run for each obviously.

Then ran my 70-200 II at 70mm since I did not have it set up where I would do farther focal lengths and got +4 as my result at 70mm... Focal had me at +5. So its quite close to exact same value.

Curious to do 200mm and TC values and see how those are. But so far, so good. Surprised how well it gets you at the proper MA value.

Thumbs up from me so far.

The only negative I see is if your lens required something like +12 or -15 or something extreme, and not getting to a focus limit on one end or another when checking MA values. Looks like as long as your lens require inbetween -10 and 10 though, you should reach the limit on both ends.



Feb 24, 2013 at 10:18 PM
Ian.Dobinson
Offline
• • • • • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.8 #7 · p.8 #7 · Dot-Tune: Autofocus Fine Tuning in under 5 minutes


By the way snapsy I've just read thru the sister thread over on the Nikon board

All I can say is 'god they're a tough crowd '





Feb 25, 2013 at 03:51 AM
Mike1.6
Offline
• • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.8 #8 · p.8 #8 · Dot-Tune: Autofocus Fine Tuning in under 5 minutes


snapsy wrote:
Thanks Beni, others have asked about donations but DotTune is strictly pro-bono! However once Magic Lantern is released with automated DotTune support I would certainly encourage everyone to make donations to their effort.


That's great Snapsy, I'll keep a watch on it. Thanks for the great work.



Feb 25, 2013 at 08:09 AM
Zenon Char
Offline
• • • • • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.8 #9 · p.8 #9 · Dot-Tune: Autofocus Fine Tuning in under 5 minutes


Ian.Dobinson wrote:
By the way snapsy I've just read thru the sister thread over on the Nikon board

All I can say is 'god they're a tough crowd '



I'd be miserable too if I owned a Nikon



Feb 25, 2013 at 08:39 AM
Ian.Dobinson
Offline
• • • • • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.8 #10 · p.8 #10 · Dot-Tune: Autofocus Fine Tuning in under 5 minutes


Zenon Char wrote:
I'd be miserable too if I owned a Nikon



I'm sure they think the same about canon



Feb 25, 2013 at 08:50 AM
 


Search in Used Dept. 

Zenon Char
Offline
• • • • • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.8 #11 · p.8 #11 · Dot-Tune: Autofocus Fine Tuning in under 5 minutes


snapsy has been getting great feedback but has also had a sign on his back that says "kick me" in more than one place. I have to give him credit for having to go through that. You have to back up what you are saying on multiple forums, etc. Gotta have patience and a thick skin.

Instead of starting a new thread can someone give me quick overview of Magic Lantern. I realize it is software that gives your camera other capabilities. Does it make FM changes or just software? I have always been a little concerned about altering or adding to Canon's program. The basic DotTune feature looks very cool but I guess that is not a stand alone. ML installs everything?



Feb 25, 2013 at 10:41 AM
snapsy
Offline
• • • • • •
Upload & Sell: On
p.8 #12 · p.8 #12 · Dot-Tune: Autofocus Fine Tuning in under 5 minutes


Zenon Char wrote:
snapsy has been getting great feedback but has also had a sign on his back that says "kick me" in more than one place. I have to give him credit for having to go through that. You have to back up what you are saying on multiple forums, etc. Gotta have patience and a thick skin.

Instead of starting a new thread can someone give me quick overview of Magic Lantern. I realize it is software that gives your camera other capabilities. Does it make FM changes or just software? I have always been a little concerned about altering or
...Show more

ML runs in parallel to Canon's firmware. Think of it like an iPhone app. Most of ML's features don't alter persistent elements of the camera's configuration. The one critical persistent change ML does make is to turn on Canon's firmware "boot" flag, which is what allows ML to be auto-loaded from the CF/SD card when you turn on the camera. Generally that flag doesn't have side effects because even if you insert a CF/SD card which doesn't have the ML image on it then it will simply not load ML for that session; however I believe the boot flag must be turned off if you use Eye-Fi cards, and this can be done by simply reflashing Canon's firmware.

ML can also be loaded without setting the boot-flag, which means you can load it for just one session. This might be the preferred mode of operation for people who will use it for DotTune. I'm not sure if their official releases still support this mode though (the developer builds do). I plan to check into it. I also plan to do a video showing how to install ML and use ML's DotTune, once their general release becomes available.



Feb 25, 2013 at 02:45 PM
Invertalon
Offline
• • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.8 #13 · p.8 #13 · Dot-Tune: Autofocus Fine Tuning in under 5 minutes


I must say, I was skeptical with Dot-Tune... But once I did it, I was VERY surprised how good it is. Without a single shutter actuation to boot...

I have tried every single MA process out there... FoCal, Lens Align, etc... They work, but are a lot of work to get accurate results.

After I setup my target outdoors (FoCal target) and got everything aligned on the tripod, I followed the Dot-Tune method. I would live-view focus, carefully switch to MF, and cycle through the MA values. This is very quick once you get a feel for the "range" of your camera. For the 5D3, it appears to be +14 or +15 from either end to the other, so once you find one, you can very quickly get the other value in seconds.

I had my lenses calibrated via FoCal, so I had a baseline to compare with and improve on. First up, was my 24-70 II.

Ran the process at 24mm 5 times, which took about 3-4 minutes roughly. Live-view also has a slight focusing tolerance, so you do get a little variance. I just removed the line or two that was abnormal from the other 2-3. I chose the most consistent pairs of numbers. My final value came out to -2W... My Focal value was -2W...

At 70mm, same process as above. My final value came out to +0... FoCal was 0.5. Easy enough there.

With my 70-200 II, FoCal alwayssssss has a hard time with this lens for whatever reason. Not my specific lens either, as I have tested a few different ones... Either way, my values were +5W and +4T via FoCal. After running this method, I got +4W and +3T. Results look excellent!

With my 1.4x III attached, FoCal had me at around 0 (each result was different) at 98mm and +8 to +12 at 280mm... I ran this method and got -1W and +8T...

I am quite happy to have this method versus using FoCal which was a pain with the software crashing, inconsistent results all the time, etc...

Excellent way to MA your lenses, for sure.


The only "trick" is choosing your end values... For example, at -5 it may give a green dot instantly and beep but if you click it a few times you may get a few delayed beeps signalling you are beyond correct focus lock... So go to -4 and see if it beeps each time instantly. I check each point 5-10 times (quick enough), to make sure. Also, if your MA value is +/- 10 units in either direction you may get beeping all the way up through +20 or -20... That is why it is good to know your camera AF "spread" which is quite consistant. On my camera, it was always around 14 units from min to max, almost always. So if you got a beep at +10 and not +9, you can assume your other end is +24, and your MA value would be +17 for example.



Feb 25, 2013 at 06:37 PM
Zenon Char
Offline
• • • • • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.8 #14 · p.8 #14 · Dot-Tune: Autofocus Fine Tuning in under 5 minutes


snapsy wrote:
ML runs in parallel to Canon's firmware. Think of it like an iPhone app. Most of ML's features don't alter persistent elements of the camera's configuration. The one critical persistent change ML does make is to turn on Canon's firmware "boot" flag, which is what allows ML to be auto-loaded from the CF/SD card when you turn on the camera. Generally that flag doesn't have side effects because even if you insert a CF/SD card which doesn't have the ML image on it then it will simply not load ML for that session; however I believe the boot flag must
...Show more

Thanks for the detailed info.




Feb 25, 2013 at 09:09 PM
thedutt
Offline
• • • •
Upload & Sell: On
p.8 #15 · p.8 #15 · Dot-Tune: Autofocus Fine Tuning in under 5 minutes


snapsy wrote:
Thanks Beni, others have asked about donations but DotTune is strictly pro-bono! However once Magic Lantern is released with automated DotTune support I would certainly encourage everyone to make donations to their effort.


Thank you for doing this for the community, your approach is inspiring. I will try ML once this make it into their release.



Feb 25, 2013 at 09:23 PM
snapsy
Offline
• • • • • •
Upload & Sell: On
p.8 #16 · p.8 #16 · Dot-Tune: Autofocus Fine Tuning in under 5 minutes


Invertalon wrote:
I must say, I was skeptical with Dot-Tune... But once I did it, I was VERY surprised how good it is. Without a single shutter actuation to boot...


Thanks for the detail report Invertalon! Sounds like you've got yourself perfectly tuned into your body's VF feedback. I agree about doing multiple shutter presses at the edges of the range for extra confirmation; sometimes an AF tune value is right at the hairy edge of confirmation, and it only takes a few more seconds for some extra presses to be sure.



Feb 25, 2013 at 11:45 PM
Zenon Char
Offline
• • • • • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.8 #17 · p.8 #17 · Dot-Tune: Autofocus Fine Tuning in under 5 minutes


I would love to see an app for this. I don't really want to download ML at this point. Something that worked like this. It could do several LV readings, establish the best one and then run through the - + routine several times. You could do this anywhere in minutes.

http://www.shutterbugremote.com



Feb 27, 2013 at 11:00 AM
Ian.Dobinson
Offline
• • • • • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.8 #18 · p.8 #18 · Dot-Tune: Autofocus Fine Tuning in under 5 minutes


Ok I had my first go at dot tune today. Probably chose the wrong lens to start with (120-300 OS) .
Had a bit of a strange effect on my first setup.
I setup my tripod at one end of the lounge and the target was out side about 40ft away . I was shooting thru the open back doors.
Anyway when I focused in live view I let go of the camera so everything settled down and I could see on the screen that the image was going in and out of focus. The effect was very slight and happening in a wave . I couldn't work out why . I was in MF and the OS was tuned off.
Anyway I worked out that halfway down was a radiator that was hot . And with the doors open to the outside I was gettin a shimmering heat haze .

So I had to go outside (in the cold) to do it.

Also it seems that for close subjects my mid point is +4 while for more distant targets its +8
So do I set a default MA of +6 and change things when I'm shooting at known distances ?



Feb 27, 2013 at 12:01 PM
Davis B.
Offline
• • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.8 #19 · p.8 #19 · Dot-Tune: Autofocus Fine Tuning in under 5 minutes


Did this method myself and am pleased with the results. This one finally showed what I had a thought about my 150-500. The others showed a minor adjustment, and It was never really focused. This method showed a start at focus around +14 and off the scale >+20.
So the 150-500 is boxed and being sent to Sigma for focus cal

Thanks a bunch for the hard work.



Feb 28, 2013 at 12:31 PM
WrightImage
Offline
• •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.8 #20 · p.8 #20 · Dot-Tune: Autofocus Fine Tuning in under 5 minutes


Thanks for this snapsy, been very interesting. I tried an half hearted attempt last weekend with my 7D & 400 L 5.6 but the blizzard cut it short. I must say that doing the 50 times the focal length (around 21 yards) was a pain to manual focus for critical focus! I shoot mostly small song birds and am 90% of the time inside 15-20 feet. Do you really have to do the 50X for this to be correct?
Thanks, Dave



Feb 28, 2013 at 08:03 PM
1       2       3              7      
8
       9              37       38       end






FM Forums | Canon Forum | Join Upload & Sell

1       2       3              7      
8
       9              37       38       end
    
 

You are not logged in. Login or Register

Username       Or Reset password



This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.