Seems allot of people are disappointed with Canon's decision to exclude Autofocus Micro Adjust in the 60D and I thought it would be interesting to see how many people here actually uses the micro adjust feature.
All the time. Even though I will say that my replacement 1Ds3, as well as the 5D2, barely need any. The original 1Ds3 was a whole different story, though. Still, with some lenses, such as 50L, 400 DO or 28-300, MA is the ticket to better images - at least with my copies.
I did with my 1Ds mkIII then I sent it in for calibration and it came back fine for all my lenses (that had been calibrated years previously). No question that it's important.
dont have it (40D) and on my 4 lenses dont seem to need it (12-24 24-105 80-200L & 60macro) But its one of my main things when looking for a new body. and if the 60D does not have it I will not look at it
I couldn't imagine buying any high resolution camera without MA.
I can think of only two possible reasons why Canon left it out:
a) Don't want to make this (new) category of customer more sensitive to focus issues than they already are. I.e. "What they don't know won't hurt them". Better to deal with the known volume of service requests for back-focus lens/body combos than to open themselves up to an unknown volume of support requests for things like "How to MA zooms?" and "What about focus distance?" and "What about the effect of color temperature on MA?".
b) Canon wants to upsell you to the 7D and they know this is a feature that would do it for a significant fraction of EOS buyers.
I use MA, I actually replaced my 5D with a 5D2 "only" to get MA and be less dependent of Canon.
Still the ideal is no MA.
The reason why Canon didn't include MA is that it may actually be counterproductive.
People start messing with settings that they don't really understand, actually looking for trouble where it may or may not be. The 60D is sort of borderline, consumer / pro-sumer, and much will depend on its price once the novelty premium has worn off. It may be more of a high end consumer body than a low end pro-sumer one.
Canon strategy is pretty sound, I don't expect the 60D to be a flop.
My 5D2 needs MA on all my lenses. The 100-400L does not need any MA on my 1DIV, but the rest do. It is a feature that I feel Canon should include on all their camera bodies. It allows the user (when done right) to adjust the camera to the lens, thus producing the best possible image.
Since MA is a firmware feature, it is a mystery as to why MA was left out of the 60D? Simply to differentiate it from the 7D; a marketing decision? AF calibration was such a sore topic before MA, does this mean that Canon don't believe MA is a requirement? It seems to me it is a money saver by allowing for some calibration slop in the QC of their lenses?
Mike K
EOS20 wrote:
Seems allot of people are disappointed with Canon's decision to exclude Autofocus Micro Adjust in the 60D..
you can put me in that category. i've been holding off on the t2i in hopes that the 60d would be worth it, but i thought MA was a sure thing in the 60d. I'm sure it'll be a great camera but it's just disappointing. I may just see what Nikon brings with the D7000 now (i'm not invested in lenses at the moment).
My first experience with Microadjustment was an absolute necessity with my original 1DmkIII, every lens I own needed some kind of adjustment. When I got my 5DmkII everything was fine, go figure. My new L primes do need small adjustments on the 5D but they are great otherwise.
My 7D however. It's all over the place. I have no idea how to get anything dialed in on this camera.
it's an obvious omission to me -- as others have said, the 60D is essentially a consumer camera and MA is something most consumers won't be able to get their heads around.
Also another way for Canon to direct more 'serious" photogs to the 7D
EOS20 wrote:
Seems allot of people are disappointed with Canon's decision to exclude Autofocus Micro Adjust in the 60D and I thought it would be interesting to see how many people here actually uses the micro adjust feature.
I do all the time, it is great option I would miss. I would alos bypass 60D and get 7D if you like 1.6 crop.
By virtue of interchangeable lens design, MA must be an essential feature of any DSLR body (including entry level). Lens calibration is an extremely bothersome process. I have spent more money than cost of my lenses for getting my setup in order.
