The Truth about Microadjust

[lol]

It's hard to estimate on small sample sizes, but generally speaking only fast primes have needed adjustment. My 35/2, 50/1.8, 85/1.8 all bought new needed some adjustment on my 7D. Even the manual focus Zeiss 50/2 needed adjustment if you want to use the focus confirm indicator. Longer/slower lenses don't have any problem. A used 300mm f/2.8 non-IS I picked up recently needed quite a correction but it is over 2 decades old with unknown history.

 

[skitron]

I RMA'd the 60d and lenses back to seller after Canon said I would have to pay the shipping to send a brand new body back to them to fix. Then found a deal I couldn't refuse on an unused 50d/28-135 kit and of course it has microfocus adjust. So I'm back in the Canon camp and I'll reorder the lenses and be good to go while waiting for 7d2 or 5d3 despite Canon's stupid way of doing business.

I mean think about it...60d doesn't really compete very well with D7000 and Canon has a big hole in their pricing structure between the 60d and the 7d. You'd think they'd just add a couple of firmware changes for the crop zoom and microfocus adjust, kick the price up a couple of hundred bucks and call it a 60d+. They'd sell the daylights out of it and why care if it canibalizes 60d since it's the same exact hardware, so the amoritization of development/production ramp up costs are unchanged? IMO it wouldn't affect 7d since people who really need 8fps, more sophisitcated focus, better sealing, etc won't flex down to something that doesn't have those features.

 

[Rocky]

I mean think about it...60d doesn't really compete very well with D7000 and Canon has a big hole in their pricing structure between the 60d and the 7d. You'd think they'd just add a couple of firmware changes for the crop zoom and microfocus adjust, kick the price up a couple of hundred bucks and call it a 60d+. They'd sell the daylights out of it and why care if it canibalizes 60d since it's the same exact hardware, so the amoritization of development/production ramp up costs are unchanged? IMO it wouldn't affect 7d since people who really need 8fps, more sophisitcated focus, better sealing, etc won't flex down to something that doesn't have those features.

Totally agree. It is a VERY STUPID move for Canon to take away the micro adjustment from 60D. In fact, it should be a standard issue on ALL Canon DSLR including the Rebels.

 

[skitron]

In fact, it should be a standard issue on ALL Canon DSLR including the Rebels.

It would certainly make buying fast L glass more sensible for Rebel owners. And for Canon it makes $en$e due to the logical upgrade path for the user: Rebel w/kit lens > L glass for the Rebel > 5D3 or 7d2 for the L glass > more L glass for the 5d3 or 7d2. In fact this is my own pathway except I had to do used 50d as the starting point instead of new Rebel or 60d due to the fact microfocus adjust is missing on those...

 

[Loswr]

It would certainly make buying fast L glass more sensible for Rebel owners. And for Canon it makes $en$e due to the logical upgrade path for the user: Rebel w/kit lens > L glass for the Rebel > 5D3 or 7d2 for the L glass > more L glass for the 5d3 or 7d2.

I suspect that's part of the marketing department's logic - going right from a Rebel to an xD body. Another part might be to push 50D owners to xD, rather than the 60D.

Even though it looks like Canon is making their lines more complex with the 60D taking an apparent step backwards in some regards, I actually think they're making it simpler. To me, it appears that Canon's strategy is to now have three 'levels' instead of four. Previously, we had:

• Entry level - xxxD/xxxxD
• Enthusiast - xxD
• Semi-pro - xD (x≠1)
• Pro - 1-series

Now, they seem to have collapsed the first two into a single category - if you step into the line with any 2-, 3-, or 4-digit body, an xD is your upgrade path. First time dSLR buyers have more choices, 3-4 bodies over a $500 differential price and you choose mainly by budget. Yes, I know there are difference in the feature sets, but bear in mind that those of us posting/reading here are in the minority - the 'typical' first-time dSLR buyer is walking into a Best Buy or Costco and picking from what's on the shelves.

 

[ronderick]

Now, they seem to have collapsed the first two into a single category - if you step into the line with any 2-, 3-, or 4-digit body, an xD is your upgrade path. First time dSLR buyers have more choices, 3-4 bodies over a $500 differential price and you choose mainly by budget. Yes, I know there are difference in the feature sets, but bear in mind that those of us posting/reading here are in the minority - the 'typical' first-time dSLR buyer is walking into a Best Buy or Costco and picking from what's on the shelves.

Just to echo some of neuro's points: it seems like this strategy is a response to the trend of diminishing overall camera sales but growth of DSLR sells in Japan. Frankly, I think the new entry level DSLRs (4, 3, and 2-digit bodies) are close in terms of price range but offer more variations in size.

Some observations at a recent electronic show: a lot of ladies (there were also mom with kids) were picking up and playing with the 1100D (yeah, I guess the color variations did the trick). On the other hand, you get mostly guys - from middle age business people to college kids - at the 60D demo body. You really notice the difference in size/weight when you get the entry models sitting side-by-side on the same table.

Once again, these are the casual users, and they seem to be enjoying the fact that there's more to offer for DSLR camera bodies in their price range.