7D II owners, did you need to AFMA your camera?

[rpt]

Hi!

Well, yesterday I succumbed to my CAS and got me the 7D II. The pictures I took today seem to be a bit OOF. I think I need to AFMA it. Unfortunately, FoCal has not yet released the version for the 7D II so I guess I will have to do it the good old way for now.

Did you guys have to AFMA? I have the kit lens - the 18-135 (not L ). I will start with that and then go to the 70-200L, and the 100-400L and then both those with the 1.4x multiplier. And then the 100L macro and the shorty forty. in that order. Lot of work - I wish FoCal was there... If wishes were horses...

Thanks in advance

 

[Don Haines]

Focal is supposed to be coming out with the 7D2 upgrade very soon.

I tried manually doing AFMA and the lenses were close to 0 (+/-4) except for the tamron which is at +17 on the long end!!!!!

I really don't trust the manual AFMA and as soon as Focal has their update, I'll run the gear through it.

 

[rpt]

Focal is supposed to be coming out with the 7D2 upgrade very soon.

I tried manually doing AFMA and the lenses were close to 0 (+/-4) except for the tamron which is at +17 on the long end!!!!!

I really don't trust the manual AFMA and as soon as Focal has their update, I'll run the gear through it.

Hey! Thanks. I actually wrote to them telling them I would be very willing to do some testing with what they have. And yes, I trust FoCal more than having to peer through a large number of pictures to decide if the setting is "the one". Well, the "committed" folks know that selecting "the one" is hard

 

[Mt Spokane Photography]

Put the camera on a tripod and take some test photos using liveview and live AF. Its very accurate, and will be the best you can get. That will tell you if it needs AFMA.

I can usually mount the camera on a tripod, do a autofocus, turn on liveview at 10X and manually turn the lens focus to see which way improves the image. Then its just a matter of how much AFMA to apply in that direction (near or far). I use FoCal, of course, but if I need a quick adjustment, that helps.

The dot tune method will get you in the ballpark, just make sure you do the adjustment in excellent light.

 

[rpt]

Put the camera on a tripod and take some test photos using liveview and live AF. Its very accurate, and will be the best you can get. That will tell you if it needs AFMA.

I can usually mount the camera on a tripod, do a autofocus, turn on liveview at 10X and manually turn the lens focus to see which way improves the image. Then its just a matter of how much AFMA to apply in that direction (near or far). I use FoCal, of course, but if I need a quick adjustment, that helps.

The dot tune method will get you in the ballpark, just make sure you do the adjustment in excellent light.

Thanks!

That is the task for tomorrow morning
Or afternoon...

 

[Loswr]

I started using FoCal's Manual Mode when I got my 1D X, before it was supported. Take pictures of the target with various AFMA values applied, then load them into FoCal and let it plot and calculate the sharpest value. Easy and effective, I still do it that way even though the 1D X is now (partially) supported.

 

[rpt]

I started using FoCal's Manual Mode when I got my 1D X, before it was supported. Take pictures of the target with various AFMA values applied, then load them into FoCal and let it plot and calculate the sharpest value. Easy and effective, I still do it that way even though the 1D X is now (partially) supported.

Cool! Thanks.

I kind of remembered you did it that way. 3 shots for every AFMA setting if I remember it right. The f stop should be at the largest aperture and ISO set at 100 - right?

 

[Loswr]

Av mode, wide open, spot metering, +1 EC. I take two shots at even values from |12-20|, three shots every value from -10 to +10.

You could also shoot by 5's, analyze, then shoot by 1's for a set of values around the first result.

 

[rpt]

Av mode, wide open, spot metering, +1 EC. I take two shots at even values from |12-20|, three shots every value from -10 to +10.

You could also shoot by 5's, analyze, then shoot by 1's for a set of values around the first result.

Cool! Thanks. So I do have work for the weekend.

 

[Deleted member 7828]

My 7D2 was fine with the 70-300L, but the 24-70 (f4) needed adjustment at the wide end (it was front-focusing). Applying a +4 adjustment at 24mm seemed to help a bit, but there appear to be other issues - I'm going to blame them on the lens though, not the camera (because I saw these same issues on the 6D and 5D).

 

[digital paradise]

Yes. Far too much for out of the box. I sent mine to Canon for warranty service.

 

[rpt]

So I got the 18-135 done. It was -1 and 1. The 100-400L was 1 and 1. And the same for the 100-400L with the 1.4x.

Still need to do the other lenses.

 

[Sporgon]

So I got the 18-135 done. It was -1 and 1. The 100-400L was 1 and 1. And the same for the 100-400L with the 1.4x.

Still need to do the other lenses.

In other words your camera / lens combinations were spot on !

 

[Don Haines]

So I got the 18-135 done. It was -1 and 1. The 100-400L was 1 and 1. And the same for the 100-400L with the 1.4x.

Still need to do the other lenses.

I ran all my lenses through manual AFMA and also the dot-tune method. The values by both methods were all either +3 or +4, except for the Tamron 150-600....

 

[RodS57]

So I got the 18-135 done. It was -1 and 1. The 100-400L was 1 and 1. And the same for the 100-400L with the 1.4x.

Still need to do the other lenses.

I ran all my lenses through manual AFMA and also the dot-tune method. The values by both methods were all either +3 or +4, except for the Tamron 150-600....

Out of curiosity, what settings did you end up having to use for the tamron. So far mine is +6 on the wide end. Currently have the long end set to -4 but that doesn't seem to work so I am waiting for another day to test again. Looks reasonable now up to about 400mm but I need a better subject than the real life shooting from this weekend.

Sort of a catch 22 situation. The lens needs to be wide open but the tamron isn't sharp wide open. Especially at 600.

Rod

 

[Don Haines]

So I got the 18-135 done. It was -1 and 1. The 100-400L was 1 and 1. And the same for the 100-400L with the 1.4x.

Still need to do the other lenses.

I ran all my lenses through manual AFMA and also the dot-tune method. The values by both methods were all either +3 or +4, except for the Tamron 150-600....

Out of curiosity, what settings did you end up having to use for the tamron. So far mine is +6 on the wide end. Currently have the long end set to -4 but that doesn't seem to work so I am waiting for another day to test again. Looks reasonable now up to about 400mm but I need a better subject than the real life shooting from this weekend.

Sort of a catch 22 situation. The lens needs to be wide open but the tamron isn't sharp wide open. Especially at 600.

Rod

+8 wide and +13 long..... but I am not sure I did it properly, I need to redo the 600mm AFMA at a longer distance. It has been very dark and wet here for the last few weeks and I haven't had it outdoors to properly set up...

 

[mnclayshooter]

Don't have the 7DII...

But wanted to respond regarding using Focal (or any other AFMA method as far as I know). It really works best (most consistently) when very well lit... as in daylight or 11EV+

I've used a few clip-on shop work lamps to get to that level inside the house. When outside, the challenge obviously is making sure that there's no wind etc moving the focus target around... I just simply don't have the physical space indoors though to AFMA my 400mm lens at 25-50X focal length. I taped all of the edges of the target down to an old piece of sheetrock and then wire-tied that to a fence... I think the back wall of the garage would have worked too, but hard to get the right light in there.

Neuroanatomist has a few great posts about his setup/method... I've used his writeup on manual Focal procedure a couple of different times with very good results.

DotTune wasn't terrible in my usage, but I could definitely get it to change it's AF dot response by changing the light level and/or color temp of the lights.

Lens Align was pretty good, but tedious. Focal makes it so much more simple. I just wish it wasn't a $100 piece of software that I really only use one time.

 

[ashmadux]

Ive had the displeasure of renting this over the weekend.

The camera's AF was a disaster, producing wildly inaccurate images - and for many others, if the forums are anything to go by. I was planning to use it for a shoot over the weekend- and glad that i didn't. I spent most of my time testing it, trying to get it to focus properly. From my experiences with Af fails, it seems like the af unit or the sensor was wacked out. this was using single point.

After changing to spot af, it became much better- but still has a weird noise pattern that looks really crunchy. I didn't observe much color noise, which will really help during noise reduction techniques.

a the end of the day, there's a high chance im not renting this thing again. Canon needs to get the focus/afma nonsense sorted out- so much valuable shooting time goes into matching these cameras and lenses up.

So sadly I have to report that i didnt manage to make a single sharp image in three days with a 7d2. Smh.

 

[rpt]

So I got the 18-135 done. It was -1 and 1. The 100-400L was 1 and 1. And the same for the 100-400L with the 1.4x.

Still need to do the other lenses.

In other words your camera / lens combinations were spot on !

Yup. So far. I have another five more combinations to do... But knowing the AFMA on the 5D3, I am guessing it will be similar. We'll see.

 

[RichM]

So I got the 18-135 done. It was -1 and 1. The 100-400L was 1 and 1. And the same for the 100-400L with the 1.4x.

Still need to do the other lenses.

In other words your camera / lens combinations were spot on !

Yup. So far. I have another five more combinations to do... But knowing the AFMA on the 5D3, I am guessing it will be similar. We'll see.

I have not had to adjust anything with my 7d2, but have not yet tested all lenses. When I got the 7d2,I just took the thing out of the box, changed a handful of setting, and went out. My 300f4 was the first lens on, and based on the results from shooting, it could not be off my very much. Same with the 70-200. I did a quick check of the 50/1.4, but nothing formal. It appeared to be spot on. I'll eventually go through testing all my lenses, but it's a good sign that I don't feel compelled to rush to AFMA adjustments.