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How to fine tune lenses


Mike_R1664876643

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<blockquote>

<p>Life has taught me not to waste time on people that ridicule you even before hearing you out.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Nobody is ridiculing you. People are just "calling you out" as they say. I think you started all of this by saying NO ONE has better "technique" than you. This is a community where people share ideas and offer suggestions. A quality teacher/mentor/expert commends people on what they are doing right and offers suggestions on how they believe it can be improved. They don't say what you are saying, which essentially is no one knows anything about aligning lenses. Some of the people are actually trying to help the OP...not just tell him that it's something that's too hard to do.<br /> <br /> And as I said before, what you've initially "outlined" is no different than what is out there people who created products like LensAlign, so there is really nothing original about it, and no different than other people who posted here who have recommended using LensAlign.</p>

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<p>Mike, whatever you do, make sure you test your lenses and adjust them using the smallest aperture possible. F22 on most lenses is the best. That way you will get the sharpest photos, so you can see the out-of-focus areas best, of course!</p>

<p>Oh, and if you use bottles with numbers painted on them (or marked on them with a black Sharpie marker). You could use the glasses in the kitchen cabinet for this too. Line them up on a counter, and then go to one end, step back, and crouch down, so you are shooting along the row. Focus on number 3 (if you are using 5 or 6 glasses/bottles with numbers 1 through 5 or 1 through 6). This way you will see that number 3 is out of focus and number 2 or 4 is in focus, if the focusing is off. At this point it might make sense to set your aperture on f8 or f5.6 (if you lens opens up that much).</p>

<p>;)<br /><br /><br>

Oh . . . make sure you arrange the bottles/glasses in a row with the numbers in order. If you don't, you might confuse yourself.</p>

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<p>Oh, and by the way, just in case you didn't get it, my comment about using f22 was a joke . . . as was my suggestion that you use a Sharpie marker to put numbers on your glasses. I don't think you or your wife/mom/guests would appreciate you doing that. Oh, and frankly, I think using some graph paper or a ruler would be a better way than using a few bottles, though the bottles would work, in a pinch. So does gravel or asphalt, but you'd probably have to lay down to get a shot close to the ground, and you might not want to get dirty.</p>

<p>;)</p>

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<p>Have you ever looked at the "active forum threads" list, noticed one you weren't monitoring that has a lot of posts, read it to see what the fuss was about, then wonder what on earth happened?<br />

<br />

O.o<br />

<br />

Some of my lenses are fine. Some needed tuning. Several behave differently at different distances (notably the 80-200 AF-D). My experience: I never bothered on the D700, I did on the D800E (where I care more about absolute resolution), it involved a lot of swearing and I ended up buying a better tripod head so I could point the camera at the focus chart without it sagging the whole time. It's not rocket science, and I've always maintained that rocket science isn't necessarily all that hard either. (I can't speak for brain surgery, although I'll just get my scalpel and fuuh fuuhh ohtshtns penguin.)</p>

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<p>Following on from the OP, I'm seeking some clarification regarding fine-tuning of zoom lenses.<br>

Having established that there is a genuine back- or front-focus problem with the lens/camera combo (and not the monkey behind the camera), I'm very clear about the procedure for primes.<br>

But what about zooms, with so many variables with which to contend?<br>

Do you just test at - say - short, middle and long and then pick an average fine-tune value?<br>

Tks<br>

Chris Gibbons</p>

 

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<p>Hi everyone,<br>

I've just published a YouTube video tutorial of the DotTune method for fine tuning, which doesn't require taking any photographs and lets you tune in under 5 minutes by using the focus confirmation dot in the viewfinder. There was mention of this technique on page 2 of this thread. Here's the video tutorial:

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