Ok, the new licenses works and I got my first test. I got +2 where my personal test was zero. I typically work in increments of 5. I accept the 2.
I ran an af constancy test and think it scored pretty bad but it looks like i have to wade through the documentation to find out what is good and what is bad.
I need to fine tune my target alignment.
I also found out why it was telling me to move away from the target. I had the box that navigated in live view off center. Wow, getting that box back to center using the joy stick is tricky.
I also think I know how to do both ends of a zoom. It treats each end as a separate calibration. You need to go to the camera and set each MA setting manually. When you do, you also select between short and long. The Focal test is applied only to the long or short as the case may be.
My acraswiss ball head is too touchy to align the target, I don't have a center column on my tripod. I found the best way to align was to adjust the leg height for up down and the ball head pan for left right.
It did test both ends of my 24-70. +4 at 24 and +2 at 70. The 2 was a repeat. Both seem ok and do not step on my outdoor test which was at a longer distance and showed zero MA. I am always nervous about - ma as they tend to front focus in landscape settings.
Still working on what constitutes AF constancy.
Still working on units of measure. I am using 4 feet for 24mm (50x 24=1200mm) and my printed target scale measures 11.7 cm. The test says .2 m target distance? It should say 1.2m
It says to turn off spot AF, but the camera manual while explaining what spot AF is on page 23 and 71-72, it never says how to activate/deactivate. I eventually found a way to turn it off. Go to menu AF4, spot selection mode and uncheck spot af.
My 16-35 had to be tested 3 times to get a valid test. I replaced a low battery for the last test. It still had to hunt around a lot to get a number.
I am starting to like it, lots of useful info being generated. But not an easy program to use, especially with a new camera with lots of new features.
One more lens to go. Maybe tomorrow.
Edit: changes mkII to mkIII
This is a 5D-mkIIL by the way. Lenes being tested are 16-35 mk2, 24-70 mk2 and 70-200 f2.8 IS mk1
When using FocalPro, I find that target illumination is very important. I use multiple LED lamps to flood the target in an effort to attain an EV of ~10. The more light, the better.
Use of a gear head (Arca D4) on the tripod makes alignment of the camera much easier. I set up my laptop on a second tripod immediately next to the camera, tethered via a short USB cable. This allows convenient access to both the camera and the application during the frequent adjustments in the Manual mode.
If possible, the test should be performed on a concrete slab, rather than floating wood floor.
I have enough light, and am in my basement on a concrete slab. Just finished the 70-200. I guess tomorrow I will do the 1DS-mk3 for which I have lots of MA history. I will see how much different Focal tells me. So far it has been trivial. I am using a 300 w halogen aimed at a white board on the ceiling and angled to reflect on the target.
I wish I had better tripod control, but I have gotten faster at acquiring the target.
I place a mirror where my target will be and make sure I can see the front of the lens pointed at itself before replacing the mirror with the target. I also use the zoom function during target setup. This makes a big difference!
My problem is the small movements and hysterisis in the ball head. I can get the target well centered, but the head tends to move back as soon as I release tension. Up down is the big issue. I have fine control left right. My work around is to raise or lower the Gitzo tripod legs. They stay where you put them.
This is a solid set up, a large heavy aluminum Gitzo without center column and an old Acraswiss head. Just not very sensitive to small movements.
FOCAL &1DIII. I tried several different cables as Reikan suggested following input from users but this did not solve the problem of the programme's inability to recognise my 1DIII.
They also suggested installing version 1.6 which does recognise the camera so I just have to see to what extent & will test shortly.
Problem with 5DIII sorted I just have to see how it performs with v1.6- if at all. This will have to wait until I have sorted the 1DIII.
This product is JUNK. I send them an email I wanted a refund cause of constant errors and inconstancy of software. I sent a photo of the error and shows it had an EV of 8.9 but the reply i get comes back saying I need atleast EV8 and trying to blame my tripod and my issues but with using EV 8.9 and getting image validation from the software before testing and it constantly errors out the people at Reikan try and point blame at me and not their buggy software.
Sounds like a lot of people including myself have wasted their money on Reikal that seems to do one thing very well - crash computers. As there appears to be no fix for this, I would not mind getting my money back.
Version 1.9 is now officially released and in my experience is far more stable than ever before, on Windows at least. No idea about Mac.
I'm running Windows 8 Pro x64 and have tried various calibration tools within FoCal (TurboCal, Full Auto, Aperture Sharpness, Focus Consistency) with my 7D, 5D3 and 1D3. No crashes or hiccups at all on 1.9.
EDIT : Worth noting that the 1D3 stability has come on leaps and bounds with release 1.9.
I just MA'd my 11-24 on the 5d3. I had to update the software first, then had soem other issues, one of which "Focal stopped working" I retsrated it and finally got it going. Its a bit of a buggy program.
It also said I did not have the latest 5D3 firmware, but I did not want to upload and install it so I had to set the MA manually. I did select automatic, which worked so long as I set the MA manually. The manual mode did not work for me.
