FoCal Pro Beta for 5D MK III AFMA

[JR]

BTW, you can use your lens Align Target with Focal.

Oh cool, I did not know that.  Thanks.

[Mt Spokane Photography]

I did my 135mm L and my 100-400mm l this afternoon, and then the wind came up.  At 400mm, 50 X focal length is over 60 ft, so I do the test outdoors.  The breeze moves the camera and target enough so that FoCal cannot get accurate results.  I finally gave up.  We are having thunder showers tonight, and rain for the next week, Yuk.  I have adjusted my 28-300 and 70-200 by trial and error, but would like to pin it down a little closer.  I have three more telephoto zooms to do yet.
 
I have noticed some focusing variability in some of my lenses, while others are very good.  I'd like to find out if its just test technique or if its a lens issue.  Generally, the "L" telephotos are the most consistent, but not always.

[ssimmonsphoto]

I am definitely intrigued and will likely hit the buy button once it comes off Beta. I've tried the LensAlign products before and it was a PIA. Having it more automated would make me much more sane (and, therefore, likely to keep my lenses tuned up).

[rwmson]

I purchased the Plus version yesterday and tried to use it with my new 5D Mk3 but it says the camera is unsupported.  EOS Utility can successfully remotely control the camera to take shots.  Focal appears to "see" the camera because it shows up in the GUI as a 5d mk3, but it says "unsupported" and I can't do anything beyond that with Focal.  Yes I closed Canon EOS utility and had the camera tethered before launching Focal.

Canon 5D Mk3 w/24-105 kit lens
Latest Focal version
Windows 7 64-bit

I sent Reikan an e-mail and am eagerly awaiting a response (unless one of you have some suggestions).  Any ideas?

[ideaworx]

I purchased the Plus version yesterday and tried to use it with my new 5D Mk3 but it says the camera is unsupported.  EOS Utility can successfully remotely control the camera to take shots.  Focal appears to "see" the camera because it shows up in the GUI as a 5d mk3, but it says "unsupported" and I can't do anything beyond that with Focal.  Yes I closed Canon EOS utility and had the camera tethered before launching Focal.

Canon 5D Mk3 w/24-105 kit lens
Latest Focal version
Windows 7 64-bit

I sent Reikan an e-mail and am eagerly awaiting a response (unless one of you have some suggestions).  Any ideas?

They are in the process of adding full support for 5dm3 as I know. I am sure the rest of the crowd here can support that.

Cheers,

Shane

[Mt Spokane Photography]

I purchased the Plus version yesterday and tried to use it with my new 5D Mk3 but it says the camera is unsupported.  EOS Utility can successfully remotely control the camera to take shots.  Focal appears to "see" the camera because it shows up in the GUI as a 5d mk3, but it says "unsupported" and I can't do anything beyond that with Focal.  Yes I closed Canon EOS utility and had the camera tethered before launching Focal.

Canon 5D Mk3 w/24-105 kit lens
Latest Focal version
Windows 7 64-bit

I sent Reikan an e-mail and am eagerly awaiting a response (unless one of you have some suggestions).  Any ideas?

As noted in the original post, the PRO version users have access to the Beta which works with tthe 5D MK III.  The lower versions do not get access to beta versions or other advanced features.
 
If you want to use the beta version (It does have bugs), upgrade to the PRP version.

[wickidwombat]

i dont think it can come off beta until we get some proper raw converters either
so a question for those that have focal, is it worth it?
do you get significant time saving benefits when calibrating a boatload of lenses?
is the accuracy significantly better than other methods?

[Mt Spokane Photography]

i dont think it can come off beta until we get some proper raw converters either
so a question for those that have focal, is it worth it?
do you get significant time saving benefits when calibrating a boatload of lenses?
is the accuracy significantly better than other methods?

 
It does not depend on outside software, it probably uses jpgs from the camera.  that does not matter, since its merely finding the sharpest setting.
 
As to benefits, YMMV.  Some lenses are close enough out of the box to be fine, while some, particularly wide lenses do benefit.  I found it to be much more precise than methods that require me to visually decide which image is sharper and found that I was sometimes way off.  In other cases, my AFMA with lens align tool matched perfectly.
 
One of the side benefits is that you can spot focusing issues in your camera / lens combination.  We often hear of users who do not get consistent results.
 
The two photos of my laptop screen below show that one has a smooth curve with few inaccurate images while another lens struggles.
 
Reasonable curve I believe that was my 300mm f/4L, my only lens to have 0 AFMA on both 7D and 5D MK II.  I sold it to finance my 5D MK III.
 

 
 
This one is ok, but the lens had issues, probably due to vibration of me walking on the wooden floor during one of the test points.
 

 
 

[WSMyles]

use this link for a discount  http://www.reikan.co.uk/focal/mbp45/

Thanks, I did    

Only just received the lenses, a couple of weeks after the body.  Lots to learn yet!

I spent an hour or so in semi-manual mode playing with it on the 100 2.8L before the battery died; by my eye and the Q results, it seemed best at +5.  While the battery recharged, I re-read the manual now that I had some concrete concepts to attach to the text of the manual.  It made a lot more sense after!

I went back and did the 100 L, the 24-105L and the 70-300L in about half an hour in Full Auto/MSC mode (it's a 5D Mark III).  All seemed to work fine, but FoCal ended up with a different result on the 100.  "10" instead of "5"... however the data points were pretty much flat at Q1500 from 4 to 15 on the "auto" calibration.  I'll go back later and really "dial" it in, manually, before doing a "sharpest aperture" run.

MANY thanks for making this offer available.  It's a good program.  Takes a bit of getting used to, but in reality it isn't nearly as "finicky" as the manual suggests.  I didn't have to adjust the target once - just point the camera correctly at it

FoCal has "dialed in" some pretty damned sharp AF for me in less time than it took to erect the testing equipment (and gazebo for the sun!) and break it down again.  I'm impressed, and I think the discounted price makes it even better value.

Apologies for Thread Necromancy, but this one (if any) deserves to live!

[kchung]

fyi, the discount is now expired.

[RGF]

Reikan foCal has released a beta for Pro users that supports AFMA of the 5D MK III with some limitations.  Its 5 or 6 weeks more before the SDK is released by Canon, so it is a clever work around.
 
I'll be trying it tomorrow on my 5D MK III.
 
For those who haven't heard of it, it will control your camera and do a semi automated autofocus micro adjustment.  I use it, it is accurate and useful. 
http://www.reikan.co.uk/focal/
 
There are no free trials, you must buy it.  However, use this link for a discount  http://www.reikan.co.uk/focal/mbp45/

Just recently heard (again) about this tool and decided to investigate it.  Hearing lots of good stuff on this forum about it.  Unfortunately when I cheked the link the discount is no longer available.  Do you happen to know of any other discounts available?  Or perhaps if someone from FoCal reads this, they can provide one to the readers of this forum - thanks.