Honestly, guys, it's pretty obvious when there's a problem. There is a HUGE focal plane difference at anything beyond plus or minus 5. IMHO there is a major sample variation problem with any lens when it's beyond plus/minus 5. Maybe 8 at the most.
I've dialed in plus or minus 2 or 3 on a couple of longer lenses with really short focal planes for critical focus, but it's not complicated. Despite what you might read, I do not think you need carefully crafted specifically organized distance charts to test whether your camera is on or off. Just pick it up, shoot something that should be in focus, and check it on the LCD. Easy. Do it a few times to make sure the AF has locked in. Choose a higher contrast subject with a background that makes it easy to tell where the plane of focus is (i.e. don't shoot flowers, sitting up in the air, with no ability to tell where your focal plane is. Shoot something sitting on a table or a deck).
Most folks seem to make this way more complicated than I think it needs to be. It takes me a couple of minutes to check any given lens, and dial in a few notches of AF fine tune as necessary.
My D7K was perfect for the first 8 months and 5k clicks. Then all of a sudden it was back focussing like crazy. Literally nothing was in focus. It was obvious because every shot at a birthday party was OOF. After checking the AF, I found that I had to use -15 to 20 on every lens to make it work. Sent the body back to Nikon, and two weeks later, it's back and dead-on.
I'm not sure why they falter at times, but Nikon certainly knows how to fix it. Obviously I hope that their fix is a longer-lasting/permanent one.
trenchmonkey wrote:
I've only had 3 D7K's ...NO fine tune necessary on any of 'em....70-200 VR II/200 f2/135 f2 DC/28-70/17-35/70-300...
Standin' by my comment, "dangerous feature in the wrong hands". Sorry yours don't "like" you.
You KNOW it's not good right out of the box, don't you?
Oh yeah, if it's SO freakin' bad...why SO many
Cause I do love them (and I am a sucker for punishment, haha).
I actually prefer using them to the D700's believe it or not.
I decided that if it would not fine tune one of my lenses acceptably, it would go to Nikon for repair. I have sent one in and it works much better now (albeit not perfectly by any means).
Here is my take: Buy a D7k and learn how to use it first. Once you have achieved that, move to checking all your lenses over multiple distances to your subject. AF tune each, then go shoot real world stuff. If you cannot get real world results, this is not the camera for you.
...NO fine tune necessary on any of 'em....70-200 VR II/200 f2/135 f2 DC/28-70/17-35/70-300...
