AFMA Reikan FoCal vs Lens Align vs anything else

pwp

Oct 25, 2010
2,527
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I think I've been one of the lucky ones. Every Canon body and lens I've had over the last decade has been perfect right out of the box, AFMA settings were never shifted from zero with the single exception of a 135 f/2 which needed + 15 to get good results.

I have a recently acquired 1DX that seems just a bit off with 24-70 f/2.8II, 70-200 f/2.8IIis and 300 f/2.8is. I have an Lens Align MkI target, but my efforts have delivered results that are all over the shop.

Maybe the whole AFMA thing has evolved since I bought Lens Align MkI years ago. What's the best system in 2017 for a relatively impatient, busy shooter who has been used to things just working out of the box?

Reikan FoCal
http://www.reikan.co.uk/focalweb/

Lens Align from Michael Tapes
http://michaeltapesdesign.com/lensalign.html

Neuro's article posted at The Digital Picture a few years ago when Lens Align was king...
http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Photography-Tips/af-microadjustment-tips.aspx

and Canon's free AFMA Guidebook (looks a bit flimsy...)
https://www.slrlounge.com/canons-free-autofocus-microadjustment-guidebook/

-pw
 
pwp said:
What's the best system in 2017 for a relatively impatient, busy shooter who has been used to things just working out of the box?

The big box option is the one that requires the least work.
Get a CPS memebership.
Put the lenses and body in the box and ship them to Canon to adjust.

None of them are worth much if you are impatient and do not have time.
But if I were doing it myself I would do FoCal.
 
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Works fine using the camera LCD with a pair of reading glasses. Five to 10 mins per lens.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=&sku=736849&gclid=CObbx_Xmk9ICFQVAhgodBEQMGg&Q=&ap=y&m=Y&c3api=1876%2C89827194362%2C&is=REG&A=details

You'll be happy to see how easy it is.
 
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takesome1 said:
pwp said:
What's the best system in 2017 for a relatively impatient, busy shooter who has been used to things just working out of the box?

The big box option is the one that requires the least work.
Get a CPS membership.
Put the lenses and body in the box and ship them to Canon to adjust.
None of them are worth much if you are impatient and do not have time.
But if I were doing it myself I would do FoCal.

Thanks, I'm a Platinum CPS member and live 15 minutes from our local CPS. Sounds time consuming and expensive. FoCal seems to be the home/studio option most people are referencing.

-pw
 
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YuengLinger said:
Works fine using the camera LCD with a pair of reading glasses. Five to 10 mins per lens.
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=&sku=736849&gclid=CObbx_Xmk9ICFQVAhgodBEQMGg&Q=&ap=y&m=Y&c3api=1876%2C89827194362%2C&is=REG&A=details
You'll be happy to see how easy it is.

Thanks, this looks functionally similar to my LensAlign target.

-pw
 
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Canon will fix camera body or lens and is by far the best solution.

My 2nd choice is FoCal. There is far more involved than just setting up a target and adjusting for accurate autofocus with that lens at that distance under whatever lighting you are using. Change distance or light color even, and the problem may appear again. Focal cannot fix that, but it can identify the issue. It can also test each autofocus point and tell you if any are not working right. You will find that some AF points work better than others. There are a lot of things Focal can help detect, but they have to be fixed by Canon.

My 3rd choice is one of the targets and a manual adjustment. If the AF does not vary by more than say 5 or6 points at various distances, a number in between will be just fine. Zooms get more comples with newer cameras allowing settings at each end of the zoom range, but various distances that you use need to be checked. The 50X focal length rule of thumb is a starting point.

My 4th choice is the dot tune method, it relies on the Canon focus indicator to tell you focus has been achieved, but it has a lot of latency that can throw off the accuracy. Even so, it will greatly improve a lens that is badly in need of adjustment
 
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A year ago I bought lens align and found a complete waste of money. I do not trust it a bit, because with different number of shots you get vastly different adjustment numbers. Makes zero methodological sense. Anything is better than that.
 
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Zeidora said:
A year ago I bought lens align and found a complete waste of money. I do not trust it a bit, because with different number of shots you get vastly different adjustment numbers. Makes zero methodological sense. Anything is better than that.

How can lens align be wrong? It's just a static target on which you focus. It's far more likely that you are just seeing instead the incosistency of the camera's AF or other artefacts.
 
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Zeidora said:
A year ago I bought lens align and found a complete waste of money. I do not trust it a bit, because with different number of shots you get vastly different adjustment numbers. Makes zero methodological sense. Anything is better than that.

Which is why every method says take multiple shots and use an average reading.
 
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Zeidora said:
A year ago I bought lens align and found a complete waste of money. I do not trust it a bit, because with different number of shots you get vastly different adjustment numbers. Makes zero methodological sense. Anything is better than that.

Lighting on the target can make a big difference as does ensuring you have the alignment very accurate and stable. Be sure you have consistent (LED's and Fluorescent lamps flicker and can cause issues for AF). And fairly bright lighting 11+ EV to really be sure your contrast is sufficient - for either lensalign or focal.
 
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pwp said:
takesome1 said:
pwp said:
What's the best system in 2017 for a relatively impatient, busy shooter who has been used to things just working out of the box?

The big box option is the one that requires the least work.
Get a CPS membership.
Put the lenses and body in the box and ship them to Canon to adjust.
None of them are worth much if you are impatient and do not have time.
But if I were doing it myself I would do FoCal.

Thanks, I'm a Platinum CPS member and live 15 minutes from our local CPS. Sounds time consuming and expensive. FoCal seems to be the home/studio option most people are referencing.

-pw

I shipped mine and it took a total of 7 days, including shipping. So the actual work probably only took 2 days. I had the time to spare so thought I would give it a try.

As for what it cost it was free, if your body is less than a year old no matter if the lenses is a few years old, they will do all the lenses at no charge. I would imagine if your lens is less than year they would do it and multiple bodies as well.

FoCal is the best option IMO for doing it at home. The zooms you listed are some of the more difficult to do. If you are doing three or four lenses on a new body I know I would spend several hours messing with it.
 
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pwp said:
What's the best system in 2017 for a relatively impatient, busy shooter who has been used to things just working out of the box?

Neuro's article posted at The Digital Picture a few years ago when Lens Align was king...
http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Photography-Tips/af-microadjustment-tips.aspx

Now I use FoCal...
 
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Just started looking at the CPS program.

I estimate I have about 73 points..so, I could qualify for most of the categories.

What does the lens/body adjustment fall under? Would this be qualified under "Canon Maintenance Service for DSLR & EF " ?

I would want to get them to make sure my lenses all work with my body.

I'd be sending:

5D3
11-24L
24-70L II
70-200L 2.8 II


And maybe the 24-105L kit lens and 85 1.4.....

You just pack those all in a box and send it off to Canon, they adjust and send them all back?

That brings up my question, what do ya'll use to pack this equipment safely and securely, and I'm assuming you use something like FedEx and insure it to the hilt?

I find myself missing focus a good bit...and hoping maybe it is adjustment and that the problem isn't behind the camera.
;)

Aside from the lens/body adjustments...what are the primary other benefits you get out of this?

Thanks in advance,

cayenne
 
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cayenne said:
Just started looking at the CPS program.

I estimate I have about 73 points..so, I could qualify for most of the categories.

What does the lens/body adjustment fall under? Would this be qualified under "Canon Maintenance Service for DSLR & EF " ?

I would want to get them to make sure my lenses all work with my body.

I'd be sending:

5D3
11-24L
24-70L II
70-200L 2.8 II


And maybe the 24-105L kit lens and 85 1.4.....

You just pack those all in a box and send it off to Canon, they adjust and send them all back?

That brings up my question, what do ya'll use to pack this equipment safely and securely, and I'm assuming you use something like FedEx and insure it to the hilt?

I find myself missing focus a good bit...and hoping maybe it is adjustment and that the problem isn't behind the camera.
;)

Aside from the lens/body adjustments...what are the primary other benefits you get out of this?

Thanks in advance,

cayenne

You might get them to clean your camera and lenses.
I used UPS so I could track it. Since the bodies were within the years warranty Canon sent me a label.
I took the lenses to UPS and they helped pack. But basically we just wrapped everything in bubble rap and then in a box full of peanuts. It came back in a similar manner, but you can tell that CPS doesn't take as much care packing as we do for our own gear.

I believe they would consider it a repair.
 
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For every do-it-yourself method you'll find people who've had a good experience and others who haven't. If you've don't mind the hassle then the Canon option should always be best, but even then success is reliant on your equipment going to a techie who does their job properly.

Personally I've made my own version of the LensAlign target and I use it in conjunction with the DotTune method (always in decent natural light) and then use real world shooting as a sanity check. For me this quick, low-hassle method gets an afma value that is good enough given the amount of shot-to-shot variation that goes hand-in-hand with PD AF anyway. Only time it let me down was with a lens that was misbehaving anyway (Canon EF50 f/1.4)
 
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cayenne said:
Just started looking at the CPS program.

Aside from the lens/body adjustments...what are the primary other benefits you get out of this?

Lens/body adjustment is not a 'benefit', you have to pay for it unless your gear is still under warranty. The benefits are a few free clean-and-checks, a discount on repairs, equipment evaluation loans, faster repair turnaround, and repair loaners (all depend on your level of membership Silver/Gold/Platinum).
 
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neuroanatomist said:
cayenne said:
Just started looking at the CPS program.

Aside from the lens/body adjustments...what are the primary other benefits you get out of this?

Lens/body adjustment is not a 'benefit', you have to pay for it unless your gear is still under warranty. The benefits are a few free clean-and-checks, a discount on repairs, equipment evaluation loans, faster repair turnaround, and repair loaners (all depend on your level of membership Silver/Gold/Platinum).

Oh, thanks for the clarification Neuro!!

Could you or someone give me an idea about what the charges would be for the adjustment of body to 4-5 lenses like I listed in my original post?

Thanks in advance!!

C
 
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I have never used CPS for lens adjustments and all I know is the gossip form CR. It seemed at one stage to be the received wisdom that Canon would match a lens with a camera and not set each lens and each body to zero. Is this true?
 
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It was my understanding they actually make physical changes to the lens or camera with the intent to bring it within spec. For instance one of my lenses was off an equal amount on both bodies I sent in. When it was returned it tested out the same on both bodies with Focal, which was 0. Repair order indicated adjustments to the lens.

I am not sure I follow your question, but each lens they returned required no adjustment and were at 0.

I think it is incorrect to say that Canon is doing an AFMA (auto focus manual adjustment). They are not, they are doing a repair to bring the body and lens to meet specification.

But other than the conversation with the tech and the limited information they give back after repair it is difficult to tell what they actually do.
 
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Ok please indulge a newbie question...and maybe just put me on the path I need to research and where...

But without buying any software, etc....is there an in camera way to see if your lens and body match, or what the AFMA is or should be...etc.?

Is there a way to verify you have a problem before you package up all your lenses and send them in..?


Thanks in advance,

C
 
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