How to calibrate lens autofocus WITHOUT buying a tool! [Lens Calibration Tip]
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- Опубліковано 25 січ 2020
- Have you ever encountered the frustrating issue of your lens not consistently achieving pinpoint sharpness when using autofocus? Rest assured, you're not alone.
This problem often arises due to the gradual drift of lens calibration over time. The good news is that you can easily address this without the need to invest in specialised lens calibration tools or charts. All you need are a few simple items:
➡️ A whiteboard or similar flat surface
➡️ A standard ruler
➡️ A pen or pencil
➡️ The lens you wish to calibrate
➡️ Your camera mounted on a tripod
In this enlightening demonstration, I personally guide you through the process of calibrating the autofocus on my Canon 85mm f1.2 lens. Rest assured, the steps are applicable to most camera brands and lenses, making it universally valuable.
Say goodbye to the frustration of inconsistent autofocus and unlock the full potential of your lenses with this simple calibration technique. Watch the demo now and take control of your autofocus accuracy.
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Thank you Karl this was really use full, I'll have to do this on one of my lenses I've had a bit of hit and misses with when it comes to auto focus.
Many thanks Karl. That's exactly what I've been doing this week with some of my older but most liked lenses and everyone else simply makes it so extremely complicated and at the end tries to sell you some sort of tool of which I now have a collection of and enough to open my own online store. Thanks again.
Super timing! I've been lately suffering from misfocus on some lenses. Great, thanks!
On such small differences in focus, the thickness of the rulers starts to matter, though. Thick rulers bring farther numbers a little bit back into focus, so, your results may be off again minutely. Not hugely, but enough that it can matter again. That's why a printed ruler that's necessarily at the same height as the focused line is that little edge better than physical rulers.
Thats sooo Useful tip, I have struggled with the same problem for a very long time and didn't know what the problem was. Thank you Guru Taylor !!
I have tried these methods with other printouts, I will try your method today, I have a few lenses to get thru. hope it works.Thanks, great tutorial
Explained very well. Let me share this with my list tonight.
I've needed to do this for a while now and this is a perfectly simple explanation. Thanks!
Love this super east way of doing the AF Tune. I just got a new 85 this afternoon... it was out by -18 right outta the box!! WOOF! Thanks for amazing content as always Sir! - J
Hello!!
I am VERY glad to see you do a complete video on this, as I have been getting contradictory information on the importance of this procedure for each lens that you have a focus issue with, isolating the possibility of camera damage! If a level of photographer such as yourself does not consider it rubbish, then I feel much better continuing to eschew the importance of knowing - and performing - this procedure to my “followers” who question best practices for obtaining the highest quality images they can obtain with their equipment. Take care, and I am looking forward to devouring all that you and your team is making available on your education site!
BLAYZE!
USA!
Brilliant video and super helpful. It's all these little things that make a big difference.
Thanks Karl
Very helpful video. Neat, simple and absolutely practical!
Thanks Karl for sharing your knowledge with us.🙏
Thanks a lot Karl, I have done this before but your method is super easy, super handy. God bless you.
So useful. This video is perfect. Time to check all my lenses. Thank you for posting.
3 years old, and still extremely helpful today. Thank you for this key information at virtually no cost. 👍👍
It’s important to reinforce the need to assure your board and rulers are flat. Any bowing or curvature will impact your results.
put a piece of glass on the table, and work on the glass, thats 99.999% flat made, "flatter" then most tables at least
WOW! Probably one of the BEST educational photography clips I'd seen on UA-cam since I'd been a photographer! Excellent video!
Thank you very much Karl, I always appreciate your expertise. 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
Thank you so much Karl, this was very useful, so that I could avoid investing into an AF calibration tool, not to mention returning lenses along with a dispute procedure. The calibration tools I have seen always had the ruler stricktly set to a 45 degree angle relative to the plain of focus. In your tutorial there was little attention paid to that angle; does that setting play a critical role at all?
Another brilliant video Karl. Thanks for sharing mate.
Brilliantly simple Karl. Great video!
Thank you very much, Karl. This was a helpful video!
Thank you for the information and for taking the time to make a video to share it!
This is literally the best video I’ve ever seen on the subject. Thank you so much because I could not figure out why my pictures are not coming out sharp with my new camera.
Make sure select calibrate 'by lense' and not 'by distance'. otherwise the other lenses will become out of focus I suspect.
Very clear tutorial , thank you Karl!
A lot of the same questions or comments keep coming up so I'm listing them here and pinning answers as unfortunately we don't have time to keep answering all the same questions:
1. Q. Mirrorless cameras don't need calibrating!
1. A. Yes we get it :) this video shows a DSLR, there are lots more DSLRs than mirrorless cameras and we're pretty sure the DSLR users will be happy as they're not all queuing up to buy a mirrorless.
2. Q. Can you AF calibrate zoom lenses?
2. A. Yes with certain cameras you can as they have two point lens calibration, check in your menu
3. Q. There's software and tools you can buy to do this!
3. A. Yes there is. That's why I showed you how to do it without.
4. Q. It looks like you pulled the focus back too far and the number 19 was sharper than the 20?
4. A. Maybe I did but that does not in any way detriment the effectiveness of this video in showing people what to do.
5. Q. I read that that calibration should be done at a much greater distance
5. A. I'm happier calibrating lenses at the distance i'm most likely to be shooting with them.
6. Q. Why did you use a thin line on it's own to focus and not the rulers?
6. A. To make sure the camera had no choice but to focus on the line and nothing else
7. Q. Did you then switch to manual focus before you took the shot, in case it refocused on the rulers?
7. A. Yes.
Thanks, 2 has answered my question, and I learnt more from some of the others 👍
Thank you. I'm a very big fan of your work.
thank god i got both technologies
So helpful wonderful video and so well presented straight to the point. Thanks so much for uploading.
Thank you for this tutorial, immensely useful!
Thanks a bunch, this helped me calibrate my 4 lenses. In particular my 100-400 mm with a 1.4X extender is VERY improved.
How far away was your camera to the target? I have same lens and extender and need to adjust it. thanks.
Great tips Karl!!! it Helps a lot!!!!
I had no idea it was this simple. Thanks for sharing!
Your videos are such a great resource. Explained simply and precisely.
I appreciate that!
Thank you, you have explained very well, how simply and inexpensively this process can be done! This tutorial has helped me to simply calibrate a rear focused lens on my camera. Cheers!
Glad it helped!
Great video with good information for a Sunday.
Thanks Karl, brilliant mate.
This helped me..thanks Karl 😊
thanks so much carl, i always thought you had to go to specialists to calibrate your camera, now i can do it myself and save a packet.
This is very nice and simple.
I have noticed my ef 50 1.8 on my rp tends to back focus a little bit.
I need to acquire a tripod and use this method to calibrate.
Good, simple video.
Cheers.
Great advice, thanks!
Thank, very simple and useful!
To calibrate our AF lenses in lab we use Reikan software wich is really good even with zoom lenses and semi automatic. The soft gives also a correction chart at the end of the process.
Súper useful, thank you!
Incredibly useful, right to the point. Thank you!
Cheers
Nice explanation Karl.
Great tip thanks
Interesting thanks for the tip
This the literally the best!! Thanks!!
Thank you for taking the time to do this.
My pleasure!
Great video! Much thanks, that is so useful!
Do you happen to have a video on how to detect decentered lenses? Just asking, since I seem to have a 85mm lens that's sharp on the bottom and fuzzy on the top...
Just did this with mew new Canon 500mm F4 Mark I. I had made a white board out of 4 pieces of A3 taped together and place my camera and tripod quite far on the floor in the distance. Focused on the line, then Manual focused to make sure it was not in focus, switched back to AF focused on the line, took a snap. then placed the rulers took a snap, both sides 10cm was pin sharp and 8 was blurry, 9 was sharper and same on 11 and 12. Fantastic guide. Subscribed!
Thanks Ashley
Thank you so much for that tip!!
Very useful! Thank you! 👍👍👍
Excellent vid, ta.
Very helpful. Thanks!
Useful, thankyou.
Thank you this is awsome
Thanks Karl. This video is very helpful for me.
You are welcome
Brilliant thank you!
Thank you so much
Thanks so much for video helpful to much!
Excellent and clear explanation on how to do this, thanks.
Glad it was helpful!
very help full video tutorial
Great video. So... once it focuses on the line, do you change it back to manual to lock it, or do you let the autofoucs try to focus the line between the rulers after you adjust the number?
Very helpful and simply put video. Thanks for the info, hope it works for me!
Best of luck!
There is software calles FoCal for automatic calibrate the lens but that is expensive, this method is useful thanks Karl Tylor....
Perfect. So simple 👍
Nice one Karl
Thank you
How often should we calibrate? I've heard also that when driving and the lens is packed away and shaking in the vehicle, that can throw out the focus also
Thank you!!
Karl is on point as usual////
thanks for sharing Master 👌📷🙌🏻
Great content as usual...thanks ...👍...much gratitude
Thank you
Well I never knew that, thanks Karl.
Thanks!
Thank you so much. That is soo Useful tip
Glad it was helpful!
No way! I had no idea this was a thing! Shame I didn't do this before I went out and got my first kingfisher shot today. Thanks for the information.
Awsome tip...Thanks pal 👍😎
Cheers
thanks for the tips! one question: will this technique (with the exception of using the in-camera focus adjustment) work basically the same for calibrating my Tamron 150-600 lens, using my Tap-in console?
Clean and simple. Thanks
thanks
Thank you for your nice video! Why you didnt use LCDfor outofocus? Is is because LCD is based on contrast detect AF?
Great video Karl.
I have EOS R5 but cannot find an option for micro adjustment at all to calibrate my lens
This technique works great AS LONG AS your camera has focus-calibration capabilities. I, like you, am a Hasselblad shooter, which, to my knowledge, does not offer focus calibration. Or does it?? I would presume our only option, should it ever be needed, would be to send it back to the factory for calibration.
thanks a ton
very helpful
Also it will help if one uses some masking tape to secure the white board to prevent movement.
Thank you for sharing this.😊
My pleasure 😊
Extrêmement utile. Merci, Monsieur.
Merci beaucoup
Thank you!
Welcome!
very helpful, thanks
You're welcome
i do this these tests with a remote to reduce movement
Thanks my guy
Thank you very very much, mr Karl! It was really helpful!
Glad it was helpful!
Wow. So educative
Cheers
Great idea, just wanted to ask what lens did you use for this video?
For those of you still using DSLR's, you should know that lens adjustments like this are not necessary for mirrorless cameras at all - even when using a DSLR lens adapted to a mirrorless camera with an autofocusing adapter. This is also partly the reason why 3rd party lenses will work better on mirrorless than DSLR's (no adjustments necessary). In fact, many people who have had reservations about using 3rd party lenses on DSLR's in the past because of AF concerns, are now finding them focusing as well as native lenses. Mirrorless lenses can also autofocus at larger apertures than 2.8 (unlike DSLR's which have to stop down to 2.8 briefly). This itself can lead to more reliably sharp photos at wide apertures. I feel like a video about lens mirco adjustment in 2020 are remiss if they don't mention these points.
There are still many more people using DSLRs than mirrorless cameras so this is of course useful information to those. I use both systems (Sony, Canon and Hasselblad) and personally I still prefer seeing the actual photons compared with a small tv screen.
@@VisualEducationStudio indeed this is super useful information and well presented. I had trouble focusing a Sigma 18-35mm f/1.8 zoom on my wife's Nikon which was unfortunately because that was a killer lens and I missed focus on a ton of great shots while on a medical mission in Haiti. Part of the problem is that many DSLR's out there (probably the majority of them when you consider what DSLR's are top selling ones) are unable to make these lens adjustments because Canon and Nikon didn't see fit to provide this capability to the more affordable models (booo). The other part of the problem is that performing these micro adjustments doesn't always fully correct the AF issues with the lens. Anyway, I sold the lens and camera and now my wife shoots mirrorless along with me. I can't wait until Sigma makes version of their 1.8 zooms optimized for mirrorless cameras because I'm sure the well-known focusing issues of these lenses will be behind us and we can just focus on getting some great shots instead of worrying about micro adjustments etc. Great job on the video though. Cheers.
@@dancos2002 I've got a Sony A7 and I've shot with the Hasselblad X1D, both mirrorless cameras and there's lots of plus points but I still prefer a prism than an EVF, although as they improve I might change my mind. With regards the eye AF there were two Canon cameras the Eos-3 and Eos-5 that both tracked the photographers eye to see where he or she was looking and use that to activate a focus point. That tech was some 20 years ago but I hear that Canon are brining it back into one of their new mirrorless cameras maybe that will be interesting.
Nice and simple, thanks for that. But how do I do it on my Nikon D500 camera, is there any tutorial please.
Yes, verry helpfull this video. I just subscribed.
Thanks for the sub!
thanks
You also need af adjustment settings in camera which most begnier series camera lacks