How about an app store for EOS cameras?

[AKCalixto]

"I could certainly come up with some neat ideas to include in the camera, like automatic AFMA for near and far distances"

EXACTLY. I've been wondering for a while now why this isn't a bigger gripe from everyone shooting fast primes. Nothing from Canon about it... instead we get MA for different ends of the zoom... which is also important, but there aren't any f/1.2 or f/1.4 zooms... and accurate MA is especially important for those fast primes.

Instead we're told to just adjust MA for subject distances 25-50x the focal length.

Well, my 85/1.2L requires a +11 MA on my 5DIII body for 25x focal length subject distance. This worked great for a shoot this weekend, but it's completely off (highly repeatable) for subjects at infinity, where +0 MA works great.

Now, I don't know exactly what MA is doing in the internal workings or mathematically, but I'd imagine the camera could set 2 endpoints (near/far) & interpolate in between. That's, of course, assuming a simple linear relationship between distance & MA... which I don't know is the case.

This has also made me wonder: is it possible to find a fast (f/1.8 or lower) lens that focuses perfectly at MFD (minimum focus distance) AND infinity at a MA of 0?

In other words, when buying a lens, is it better to keep trying copies of the lenses until you find one that works with your body at MA +0, b/c then it'll focus perfectly both at MFD & infinity? Or is there always this discrepancy between focus at MFD & infinity in these AF systems that don't use a constant feedback loop + phase detection system to get optimum focus (but rather use phase detection data to calculate an offset to move the focus element).

At the heart of these questions is the question: how does the MA offset work? The subject distance scale on the lens is not linear... it's more logarithmic (you have to rotate the lens more to change focus distance at closer subject distances). So is the MA offset just a certain distance offset for the focus element that the camera adds after determining how much to move the focus element from the phase detection data? If so, such a focus-element-distance-offset would have to be corrected for depending on subject distance... since you have to move the focus element less & less to change focus at further & further subject distances...

You should check out FoCal Pro from http://www.reikan.co.uk/focal/  It is cheap for the results that you can get.  What is the point to have a $3.5k body + a $2k if your set is not calibrated?  Also, AF Info tab on the site provides a good explanation how MA works.

[Mt Spokane Photography]

You should check out FoCal Pro from http://www.reikan.co.uk/focal/  It is cheap for the results that you can get.  What is the point to have a $3.5k body + a $2k if your set is not calibrated?  Also, AF Info tab on the site provides a good explanation how MA works.

 
Way off topic here.

[sarangiman]

You should check out FoCal Pro from http://www.reikan.co.uk/focal/  It is cheap for the results that you can get.  What is the point to have a $3.5k body + a $2k if your set is not calibrated?  Also, AF Info tab on the site provides a good explanation how MA works.

I use LensAlign & MA all my primes. FoCal is an automated way to do what I do manually... which is cool; I'm glad someone developed an automated system. The 'AF Info' tab doesn't provide anything we don't already know... in fact, he emphasizes calibration btwn AF plane & sensor plane -- but that's corrected for by the 'All by same amount' option under MA, not lens-specific MA.

He himself mentions that the -20...+20 numbers don't have much inherent meaning. That's b/c right now, to most of us, MA is just a black box. And as many of us have found, one MA setting is not accurate for all subject distances.

Way off topic here.

Ok, sorry... I just ran with the example you'd provided in your post.

More relevant to the actual topic: As much as I'd like to see this sorta thing happen, I doubt Canon will want to be liable for all the potential problems. Apple has a review team that reviews each app; Canon would have to have something similar if they didn't want apps to mess with their cameras (calling for more repairs).

Also, imagine some added functionality that uses a poor resource-intensive algorithm that slows down the camera's performance. That could generate bad rep & more headaches... after all, right now high-end Canon bodies are known for their speed, right?

So as much as I'd like to see some sort of an 'app store' or firmware access, there'll have to be some new & interesting model that allows freedom of development yet is restrictive in terms of how much it can mess up camera performance/reliability.

[caruser]

Yes! Now we even have touch screens!

Probably Canon won't be brave enough, so we'll have to wait until some newcomer into the market does it, has raving success, and then Canikon will follow...

And WiFi should be a baseline feature, too, then I could run Instagram on my DSLR and ML wouldn't have to hack its way into the firmware to get its job done.

[JurijTurnsek]

haha, Instagram on a DSRL... that app is an insult to every decent quality camera there is. First you bitch about DR etc. then you pour the bucket of diarrhoea all over the pic and call it vintage.

[wickidwombat]

haha, Instagram on a DSRL... that app is an insult to every decent quality camera there is. First you bitch about DR etc. then you pour the bucket of diarrhoea all over the pic and call it vintage.

LOL best description of instagram yet!
what is your description of photomatix?

[dr croubie]

Just buy a few rolls of expired film for $1 each and leave them next to the log fire for a few weeks.
That's how you make crappy old photos with washed-out freaky colours...