badlydrawnboy wrote:
...with my Tamron 24-70. FoCal gave me +3 on the tele end and +7 on the wide end. That seemed to be pretty accurate - as long as I was shooting at the same distance I calibrated at (about 5 feet). Then I did some close-ups @2-3 ft. and it was back-focusing significantly. Is this a lens issue...
It's a lens issue, most likely. When changing the focal length, several pieces of glass are moving about in the barrel, and keeping all the relationships constant is a tough act.
How to deal with it? Do the MFA at the focal distance most-often used, or at 50-times the focal length (which should cover a good range of distances with fair accuracy), and switch to manual focus or Live View AF for closeups. It's not a perfect solution, but it's workable.
BrianO wrote:
It's a lens issue, most likely. When changing the focal length, several pieces of glass are moving about in the barrel, and keeping all the relationships constant is a tough act.
How to deal with it? Do the MFA at the focal distance most-often used, or at 50-times the focal length (which should cover a good range of distances with fair accuracy), and switch to manual focus or Live View AF for closeups. It's not a perfect solution, but it's workable.
Would sending the lens to Tamron for calibration be likely to have any effect in this situation?
badlydrawnboy wrote:
Would sending the lens to Tamron for calibration be likely to have any effect in this situation?
I don't have any direct experience with Tamron zooms, but a friend who had a similar problem with a Canon zoom had his recalibrated and its focus consistency improved markedly.
I'd give Tamron a call to see what they say, since it might help.
Unfortunately I only have one body. And right now, only 3 lenses (though I just ordered a Canon 100/2). Of those, the 50/1.2 and Tamron 24-70 are erratic. The 50/1.4 seems to be pretty accurate with the FoCal adjustment.
Is it a bad sign when a lens needs a really big adjustment, like +8? Seems like it would be, especially if it's a new lens that hasn't been bumped, etc.
badlydrawnboy wrote:
Is it a bad sign when a lens needs a really big adjustment, like +8? Seems like it would be, especially if it's a new lens that hasn't been bumped, etc.
No, 'cuz part of that may be the camera body calibration. If it was 15 or more, I'd worry. Or if it is decentered I'd worry... +8 is not a big deal.
mco_970 wrote:
No, 'cuz part of that may be the camera body calibration. If it was 15 or more, I'd worry. Or if it is decentered I'd worry... +8 is not a big deal.
Andrew J wrote:
I was a beta tester. The only way to test was with a license, which has stayed current or the owner updated it.
thanks Andrew. I will contact him
mco_970 wrote:
No, 'cuz part of that may be the camera body calibration. If it was 15 or more, I'd worry. Or if it is decentered I'd worry... +8 is not a big deal.
I agree. My new 50/1.2 needed a MA of -12. I was a little worried first, but the lens performs very good now that I have MA'd it.
The new public beta version is up. I just installed it after a gnarly crash on my old version. It's running better!
I am strugging to MA my 300 + 1.4x TC. It ran well on 7D and 5D2, but I am getting horrid results on my 1D3 (FoCal is working just fine, it's the lens + TC that is not good, and I have nooooo idea why).
Rickuz wrote:
Bleh. I have been waiting for the mac version forever.
I've been waiting for the Mac version too. There's no way I'm giving up 40 GB of HD space and buying a copy of windows just to run one app.
Their website says, "the Mac version is under development and is planned for first release in Q2 2012," which is this weekend. So maybe it will be out soon
I'm waiting for the mac version too. Till it is released, the program works fine in a windows 7 evaluation version (microsoft) virtual machine (vmware). The win 7 trial period can be extended two or three time by a terminal command.
How do you guys make it work (pro version) with the canon 5D III ?
I bought it to adjust the 5D III (only works in semi-automatic mode).
Not very successful I must say. Maybe user error but then I would like some advice.
I start the process and then I have to make a manual micro-adjustment (on the camera). To be able to get into the camera menu I have to unplug the camera (otherwise it says "busy"). When I unplug the camera then the Focal software stops working and I have to start it up again and start over. Is it supposed to work like that with the 5DIII??
Works for me without unplugging anything. I agree that if you had to unplug things, it would be tedious at best. But I just press the Menu button and voila, menu appears.
Anybody notice AFMA value inconsistencies between versions during upgrades? I upgraded PRO from v1.41 to v1.44 and the AFMA values didn't come out the same for any of my lenses. Pretty much the same setup, I'll put a target on a tripod outdoors with plenty of light in the daytime, jpeg, center point af, disable assist af points, awb, center weight, focal length x 50 distance. Seems like the latest version is a little over sensitive maybe. I've reverted back to the original AFMA values from v1.41 I had but will keep experimenting.
I wish Canon would go back and update the firmware to support a range of AFMA values for zoom lenses like that in the newer bodies.
I was taking some random outdoor shots testing AFMA values and noticed in LR 4.1 that when using the sharpening mask it seemed like a potential method to validate AF values. With a fairly new 70-200 II f2.8 lens I tested both 70mm and 200mm using the good ole ruler test so I placed one on some berber carpet floor, on a tripod, distance of about 8 feet at a 45 degree angle with a screwdriver as my target. I had the 1D4 set at center AF with assist AF on (cf III:8 at 2). Nothing really scientific here, just an interesting observation using LR I haven't seen before.
Focal v1.41 said 200mm at -6, 70mm at +2
Focal v1.44 said 200mm at -5, 70mm at +2
By adjusting the mask you can see to a higher value I was able to sharpen just areas truly in focus because of detail available. example shots, http://i.imgur.com/fExx3.jpg
