60D Microfocus Adjustment on FoCal

[dstppy]

Well, that has an attention-getting title, doesn't it?

Reikan is looking into the possibility that the 60D's lacking of MFA is only in the UI software.

I wanted to start this thread in case they DO get any traction and need test data or something else (I've been bugging them for a while).

I'm not sure if they're held up on reverse-engineering the software or if they actually need bodies for testing. They're in the UK; Greg told me they're located in the south, near Poole/Bournemouth.

I'll post back if I hear anything else, OR if they are looking for any bodies etc. (and people are willing to loan them one).

 

[Mt Spokane Photography]

They do play with the Canon SDK quite a bit, there are a huge number of undocumented features. Thats how they are able to display the number of shutter actuations. It wouldn't suprise me if they could do it.

 

[Deleted member 7828]

Wow, that would be awesome....I'm not much of a "hacker", but given that I have a couple lenses that could use adjustment, if they do manage to figure it out, it might be worth it...

 

[bklein61]

Mt Spokane, where can you get the shutter count on FoCal.

 

[dstppy]

I've only done 2 lenses so far, my 85mm 1.8 (which comes up with a different number, near zero, each time) and my 50mm 1.4 that won't calibrate at all.

Lighting I think is an issue, but the mac beta says sorta weird things about iso, so who knows . . . not a lot of time on my hands

 

[jdramirez]

I'd be overjoyed to have that feature... because I've had a few lenses that needed the adjustment... but alas... I sold them rather than send them into Canon to do the adjustment for me.

 

[Mt Spokane Photography]

Mt Spokane, where can you get the shutter count on FoCal.

I use FoCal Pro, the feature might not be on other versions.
Here it is for my 5D MK III when I first received it. It had only 23 actuations, most of them FoCal when this was captured.

 

[rpt]

I've only done 2 lenses so far, my 85mm 1.8 (which comes up with a different number, near zero, each time) and my 50mm 1.4 that won't calibrate at all.

Lighting I think is an issue, but the mac beta says sorta weird things about iso, so who knows . . . not a lot of time on my hands

For lighting, I learned the hard way not to use CFL or Fluorescent Tubes
They drive FoCal nuts!

 

[dstppy]

I've only done 2 lenses so far, my 85mm 1.8 (which comes up with a different number, near zero, each time) and my 50mm 1.4 that won't calibrate at all.

Lighting I think is an issue, but the mac beta says sorta weird things about iso, so who knows . . . not a lot of time on my hands

For lighting, I learned the hard way not to use CFL or Fluorescent Tubes
They drive FoCal nuts!

I misread that. "Do NOT use fluorescent lighting or mains powered LED lighting as these can flicker and cause analysis issues"

Would you believe that 95% of the lighting in my house is LED, CFL or FL-T? If you don't count candella style, it's 99% ;D

Well FARK and FNORD both!

 

[rpt]

I've only done 2 lenses so far, my 85mm 1.8 (which comes up with a different number, near zero, each time) and my 50mm 1.4 that won't calibrate at all.

Lighting I think is an issue, but the mac beta says sorta weird things about iso, so who knows . . . not a lot of time on my hands

For lighting, I learned the hard way not to use CFL or Fluorescent Tubes
They drive FoCal nuts!

I misread that. "Do NOT use fluorescent lighting or mains powered LED lighting as these can flicker and cause analysis issues"

Would you believe that 95% of the lighting in my house is LED, CFL or FL-T? If you don't count candella style, it's 99% ;D

Well FARK and FNORD both!

Yup! You are right. No LED lights powered by AC mains either.

 

[Loswr]

Darn envorinmentalists. Give me TUNGSTEN!

 

[rpt]

Darn envorinmentalists. Give me TUNGSTEN!

Seriously, after they stop manufacturing them what do we do then? DC LEDs? What is the alternative?

 

[Loswr]

Flashlights. LOTS of flashlights.

Actually, a couple of those portable halogen work lights from Home Depot would do nicely, and at less than $20 each, they're cheaper than many LED 'bulbs'.

 

[dstppy]

Flashlights. LOTS of flashlights.

Actually, a couple of those portable halogen work lights from Home Depot would do nicely, and at less than $20 each, they're cheaper than many LED 'bulbs'.

AHA, I got one of those!

All my flashlights are LED too I have a problem

 

[Loswr]

All my flashlights are LED too I have a problem

Mine, too - but they're battery powered, right? Direct current means no fluctuations, no flicker. It's not the bulb that's the problem, per se, it's the alternating current in combination with a bulb that has a fast response time (since incandescent bulbs are basically just heated tungsten, there's no flicker because the hot metal doesn't cool down significantly at 50/60 Hz cycles). 'Halogen' bulbs are incandescent bulbs with hot tungsten, but there's a bit of a halogen gas (bromine, etc.) added into the inert gas in the sealed bulb.

I know, I know...TMI...

 

[dstppy]

All my flashlights are LED too I have a problem

Mine, too - but they're battery powered, right? Direct current means no fluctuations, no flicker. It's not the bulb that's the problem, per se, it's the alternating current in combination with a bulb that has a fast response time (since incandescent bulbs are basically just heated tungsten, there's no flicker because the hot metal doesn't cool down significantly at 50/60 Hz cycles). 'Halogen' bulbs are incandescent bulbs with hot tungsten, but there's a bit of a halogen gas (bromine, etc.) added into the inert gas in the sealed bulb.

I know, I know...TMI...

I've officially forgotten more than I can remember. I've got LED lanterns I use for aux lighting for product shots :-[ Oh god, I'm getting old. This all should have occurred to me.

 

[bchernicoff]

Mine, too - but they're battery powered, right? Direct current means no fluctuations, no flicker.

Actually, some (if not all) LED flashlights cycle the LED very quickly for their reduced power settings... I learned this while peeing by flashlight during a power outage. The strobing is too fast to perceive but it turned my urine stream into globules.

 

[Loswr]

Ok, now that's TMI...

 

[bchernicoff]

Ok, now that's TMI...

Right! You probably clicked "post" then grabbed your flashlight and headed to the bathroom to try it.

Your gender and profession lead me to believe that curiosity will get the best of you...it's only a matter of time.

 

[Marsu42]

Reikan is looking into the possibility that the 60D's lacking of MFA is only in the UI software.

I wouldn't be surprised - the ui was/is in the 50d and 5d2, the only thing Canon most likely did is set a preprocessor macro flag before compiling the firmware: #define DUMB_SUCKERS_AFMA_UI_DISABLE 1

You can write arbitrary Canon settings with Magic Lantern - the problem just is that w/o documentation it's hard to figure out where the memory addresses are, and if you're getting it wrong the camera is bricked. But if the afma functionality is there, it should be possible to use it after much trial & error.