Recommendations for lens calibrations?

[VitorMachado]

I have a couple options I can take into calibrating some of my lenses, so I'd like some opinions from you all. Two of my lenses, 50mm f/1.4 & 40mm f/2.8, are FAR from being sharp. I recently noticed both of these have a horrible case of forward/back focusing. I'm not sure if they have been like this or it just came to my attention, but it's pretty bad. I would hope to correct this with micro adjustments. Now for my options:

1. Traditional trial & error "at home" method by taking photos of magazine text placed on the wall and/or using rulers. Not sure if I even trust this. (Or any other home method)
2. Buy a calibration device. This is where I need some product recommendations.
3. My least favorite option, sending them to canon. Both lenses are ~6 months old, so I'd assume they're under some kind of warranty? If not, I really do not want to pay for Canon's mistake.

I know the first option is a bit of an unprofessional route, but some people claim that it works. Thanks for the insight, this can really help me out a bunch.

 

[kaihp]

1. Traditional trial & error "at home" method by taking photos of magazine text placed on the wall and/or using rulers. Not sure if I even trust this. (Or any other home method)
2. Buy a calibration device. This is where I need some product recommendations.
3. My least favorite option, sending them to canon. Both lenses are ~6 months old, so I'd assume they're under some kind of warranty? If not, I really do not want to pay for Canon's mistake.

#1 can certainly work - that's how most people did it just 1-2 years ago. I used to do mine this way on my 50D.
For #2: Look at Reikan Focal. I will let neuro rave on about it, but I like it too

 

[Loswr]

Yep, Reikan FoCal. Calibrate all your lenses. Simple and accurate.

 

[VitorMachado]

Yep, Reikan FoCal. Calibrate all your lenses. Simple and accurate.

Although I wouldn't mind doing the work myself, is it really as easy as they advertise? "A click of a button" and that's it?

 

[dstppy]

Yep, Reikan FoCal. Calibrate all your lenses. Simple and accurate.

Although I wouldn't mind doing the work myself, is it really as easy as they advertise? "A click of a button" and that's it?

Yes, assuming you're "doing it right" to start with (proper lighting, distance etc.) Lighting was an issue with me, and my target was laser-printed, which messes things up.

Once it's "right", then the software is very straightforward.

 

[Loswr]

With the 6D, I think you need to manually set the AFMA values on the camera during testing (a limitation in Canon's SDK).

 

[Krob78]

With the 6D, I think you need to manually set the AFMA values on the camera during testing (a limitation in Canon's SDK).

Yes, it's semi automatic on the 5D III also. I did my 7d and my 5dIII with FoCal. The 7d setup and calibration was flawless and totally automatic. The 5d III I had to do over several times and still made manual adjustments using my old 45 degree speed square and 36" yard stick taped to the 45 degree side trick... Slower but tried and pretty true method...

I'll be trying my 5d III and all the lenses again on it soon, just for giggles...

 

[VitorMachado]

With the 6D, I think you need to manually set the AFMA values on the camera during testing (a limitation in Canon's SDK).

Yes, it's semi automatic on the 5D III also. I did my 7d and my 5dIII with FoCal. The 7d setup and calibration was flawless and totally automatic. The 5d III I had to do over several times and still made manual adjustments using my old 45 degree speed square and 36" yard stick taped to the 45 degree side trick... Slower but tried and pretty true method...

I'll be trying my 5d III and all the lenses again on it soon, just for giggles...

Unfortunately, as you both stated, I think I do indeed have to set the AFMA values manually after some testing. FoCal is giving me mixed numbers. Ex. +11 once, +12 the next, then back to +11. I can't put my trust into something that will switch up each time I need a calibration. Yes, 1 micro adjustment is extremely small, but still not very reliable in my book. What do you suggest I do since it's the 6D itself? Do it all manually with a physical calibration rather than digital?

 

[ahab1372]

I don't think you can do it more accurately manually

 

[Loswr]

I don't think you can do it more accurately manually

Agreed that using a yard stick will certainly not be more accurate, and a commercial tool like LensAlign will be as accurate...as best.

For my 1D X, I don't do the tethered MSC mode for FoCal. Instead, I just capture images of the target manually, load and them into FoCal for manual analysis. I do oversample - two shots at each even value from |20| to |12|, then three shots at every value from -10 to +10, for a total of 83 shots. I get great curve fits, and the optimal value is visually evident.