FoCal – Long / Fast Lens Calibration

sedwards said:
I had a similar issue when using manual mode and it turned out Focal was reading the first character of each file name as the afma number. In my case I was using a 1DsIII and had set the filename to 1ds + the consecutive number. No idea if that is your issue but something to look at.

Now that you mention it, I ran into this one as well. I see the underlying idea (which is neat) but that FoCal doesn't warn out about this is ... less than ideal IMHO.

Viggo said:
Thanks! I have a 1dx2 (yeeeesh, I bought it) and have vignetting and ca correction on. I will turn them off and try again ! Will report back here on my findings.

Congrats! hopefully the 1Dx2 will serve you well without gremlins for years to come.
 
Upvote 0
Dec 13, 2010
4,932
1,608
kaihp said:
sedwards said:
I had a similar issue when using manual mode and it turned out Focal was reading the first character of each file name as the afma number. In my case I was using a 1DsIII and had set the filename to 1ds + the consecutive number. No idea if that is your issue but something to look at.

Now that you mention it, I ran into this one as well. I see the underlying idea (which is neat) but that FoCal doesn't warn out about this is ... less than ideal IMHO.

Viggo said:
Thanks! I have a 1dx2 (yeeeesh, I bought it) and have vignetting and ca correction on. I will turn them off and try again ! Will report back here on my findings.

Congrats! hopefully the 1Dx2 will serve you well without gremlins for years to come.

Thanks! Yeah, fingers crossed! 8)
 
Upvote 0
Viggo said:
I've got a great tip from FoCal about the issue described above:

"In older versions of Focal, if your file name starts with a number, that number will displayed as the afma value. Simply change the file names starting with a letter and the issue should be resolved."

That's pretty crazy, but thanks for sharing this as I'm not on the current version, either.
 
Upvote 0
Dec 13, 2010
4,932
1,608
Re: FoCal – Long / Fast Lens Calibration

mackguyver said:
Viggo said:
I've got a great tip from FoCal about the issue described above:

"In older versions of Focal, if your file name starts with a number, that number will displayed as the afma value. Simply change the file names starting with a letter and the issue should be resolved."

That's pretty crazy, but thanks for sharing this as I'm not on the current version, either.

Thing is FoCal gives me a constant front focus even in manual mode so I can't really use it for anything but ballpark and go out and test. Luckily the 1dx2 makes it possible due to extremely consistent quality of focus to find the correct value in the field.
 
Upvote 0
Re: FoCal – Long / Fast Lens Calibration

Viggo said:
mackguyver said:
Viggo said:
I've got a great tip from FoCal about the issue described above:

"In older versions of Focal, if your file name starts with a number, that number will displayed as the afma value. Simply change the file names starting with a letter and the issue should be resolved."

That's pretty crazy, but thanks for sharing this as I'm not on the current version, either.

Thing is FoCal gives me a constant front focus even in manual mode so I can't really use it for anything but ballpark and go out and test. Luckily the 1dx2 makes it possible due to extremely consistent quality of focus to find the correct value in the field.
That's unfortunate to hear as I have had really good luck with it, particularly with the f/1.2 lenses. Speaking of which, it does seems to take CA into account, which is great for the 50L & 85L, but it does so at the expense of peak sharpness (& optimal focus?). Perhaps that's the issue?
 
Upvote 0
Dec 13, 2010
4,932
1,608
Re: FoCal – Long / Fast Lens Calibration

mackguyver said:
Viggo said:
mackguyver said:
Viggo said:
I've got a great tip from FoCal about the issue described above:

"In older versions of Focal, if your file name starts with a number, that number will displayed as the afma value. Simply change the file names starting with a letter and the issue should be resolved."

That's pretty crazy, but thanks for sharing this as I'm not on the current version, either.

Thing is FoCal gives me a constant front focus even in manual mode so I can't really use it for anything but ballpark and go out and test. Luckily the 1dx2 makes it possible due to extremely consistent quality of focus to find the correct value in the field.
That's unfortunate to hear as I have had really good luck with it, particularly with the f/1.2 lenses. Speaking of which, it does seems to take CA into account, which is great for the 50L & 85L, but it does so at the expense of peak sharpness (& optimal focus?). Perhaps that's the issue?

Could be, because it's any type of light source in target or any lens/camera combo. And it started after a specific update to the software and has been like that ever since. It gives about +4 points front focus, but sometimes more
Or less. But it's always in front, never behind or dead on.
 
Upvote 0
One note to throw in re: target size:
You can print your own target from the included images that come with the software. If you have a very large printer (like the ubiquitous Pixma 100), you can print a really large one. There is a setting in the Focal preferences that allows you to measure the width of the target and input that, thus letting the software know what size target it's seeing and adjust accordingly. That has helped me a great deal while AFMA'ing on focal lengths of 400+ while still getting a decent distance to target.

Haven't tried manual myself, but I will next time. -tig
 
Upvote 0
Dec 13, 2010
4,932
1,608
One note to throw in re: target size:
You can print your own target from the included images that come with the software. If you have a very large printer (like the ubiquitous Pixma 100), you can print a really large one. There is a setting in the Focal preferences that allows you to measure the width of the target and input that, thus letting the software know what size target it's seeing and adjust accordingly. That has helped me a great deal while AFMA'ing on focal lengths of 400+ while still getting a decent distance to target.

Haven't tried manual myself, but I will next time. -tig

Indeed you can! I tried and used a print with the older versions, and even though it was very shiny it was 100% accurate.

I bought the official target (210mm) from FoCal, maybe that's my problem :eek:
 
Upvote 0
Viggo said:
One note to throw in re: target size:
You can print your own target from the included images that come with the software. If you have a very large printer (like the ubiquitous Pixma 100), you can print a really large one. There is a setting in the Focal preferences that allows you to measure the width of the target and input that, thus letting the software know what size target it's seeing and adjust accordingly. That has helped me a great deal while AFMA'ing on focal lengths of 400+ while still getting a decent distance to target.

Haven't tried manual myself, but I will next time. -tig

Indeed you can! I tried and used a print with the older versions, and even though it was very shiny it was 100% accurate.

I bought the official target (210mm) from FoCal, maybe that's my problem :eek:
I bought it, too, expecting it to be a fair amount better than one I had printed and mounted to Gator Board. It wasn't. It's still a nice target and the plastic backing is easier to deal with, but if anyone is thinking about buying one and has at least a decent printer (laser or inkjet), I wouldn't buy it. Just print the target using the PDF so you can scale it as Tiggy suggests and then use some 3M Super 77 spray or similar adhesive to mount it to some foam board from Walmart/Target/grocery store.
 
Upvote 0
Dec 13, 2010
4,932
1,608
mackguyver said:
Viggo said:
One note to throw in re: target size:
You can print your own target from the included images that come with the software. If you have a very large printer (like the ubiquitous Pixma 100), you can print a really large one. There is a setting in the Focal preferences that allows you to measure the width of the target and input that, thus letting the software know what size target it's seeing and adjust accordingly. That has helped me a great deal while AFMA'ing on focal lengths of 400+ while still getting a decent distance to target.

Haven't tried manual myself, but I will next time. -tig

Indeed you can! I tried and used a print with the older versions, and even though it was very shiny it was 100% accurate.

I bought the official target (210mm) from FoCal, maybe that's my problem :eek:
I bought it, too, expecting it to be a fair amount better than one I had printed and mounted to Gator Board. It wasn't. It's still a nice target and the plastic backing is easier to deal with, but if anyone is thinking about buying one and has at least a decent printer (laser or inkjet), I wouldn't buy it. Just print the target using the PDF so you can scale it as Tiggy suggests and then use some 3M Super 77 spray or similar adhesive to mount it to some foam board from Walmart/Target/grocery store.

You didn't notice any frontfocus results with the official target, compared to the one printed by yourself?
 
Upvote 0
Viggo said:
mackguyver said:
Viggo said:
One note to throw in re: target size:
You can print your own target from the included images that come with the software. If you have a very large printer (like the ubiquitous Pixma 100), you can print a really large one. There is a setting in the Focal preferences that allows you to measure the width of the target and input that, thus letting the software know what size target it's seeing and adjust accordingly. That has helped me a great deal while AFMA'ing on focal lengths of 400+ while still getting a decent distance to target.

Haven't tried manual myself, but I will next time. -tig

Indeed you can! I tried and used a print with the older versions, and even though it was very shiny it was 100% accurate.

I bought the official target (210mm) from FoCal, maybe that's my problem :eek:
I bought it, too, expecting it to be a fair amount better than one I had printed and mounted to Gator Board. It wasn't. It's still a nice target and the plastic backing is easier to deal with, but if anyone is thinking about buying one and has at least a decent printer (laser or inkjet), I wouldn't buy it. Just print the target using the PDF so you can scale it as Tiggy suggests and then use some 3M Super 77 spray or similar adhesive to mount it to some foam board from Walmart/Target/grocery store.

You didn't notice any frontfocus results with the official target, compared to the one printed by yourself?
No, it seems to work just the same as my own targets have. I will say that the biggest key in using FoCal for me has been the light level on the target. The brighter, the better it seems.
 
Upvote 0
Dec 13, 2010
4,932
1,608
mackguyver said:
Viggo said:
mackguyver said:
Viggo said:
One note to throw in re: target size:
You can print your own target from the included images that come with the software. If you have a very large printer (like the ubiquitous Pixma 100), you can print a really large one. There is a setting in the Focal preferences that allows you to measure the width of the target and input that, thus letting the software know what size target it's seeing and adjust accordingly. That has helped me a great deal while AFMA'ing on focal lengths of 400+ while still getting a decent distance to target.

Haven't tried manual myself, but I will next time. -tig

Indeed you can! I tried and used a print with the older versions, and even though it was very shiny it was 100% accurate.

I bought the official target (210mm) from FoCal, maybe that's my problem :eek:
I bought it, too, expecting it to be a fair amount better than one I had printed and mounted to Gator Board. It wasn't. It's still a nice target and the plastic backing is easier to deal with, but if anyone is thinking about buying one and has at least a decent printer (laser or inkjet), I wouldn't buy it. Just print the target using the PDF so you can scale it as Tiggy suggests and then use some 3M Super 77 spray or similar adhesive to mount it to some foam board from Walmart/Target/grocery store.

You didn't notice any frontfocus results with the official target, compared to the one printed by yourself?
No, it seems to work just the same as my own targets have. I will say that the biggest key in using FoCal for me has been the light level on the target. The brighter, the better it seems.

Thanks! Yeah, I've been using the same lamp since the first time. Even tried in direct sunlight.
 
Upvote 0