Back in the day, I had a Vivitar 80-200. My photos were soft and I swore it wasn’t me but how to quantify my belief? I got a newspaper, taped it to the garage door, leveled out my camera to the newspaper and took some shots. When the film came back, I could see that what I thought, was true. Photographers still wonder if they are getting all they should be from their glass. These days some shooters now that we have an AF system question whether if the AF is delivering all the lens has to offer. There isn’t a day the question doesn’t hit my desk, “do you calibrate your AF system?” Since my system is delivering, and I know that because of the 28foot by 18foot prints made from my files, I’ve not bothered. My images are sharp. But with so many asking, I wanted to quantify what I know. After seeing this excellent piece in Rangefinder I decided to do a little testing (I will refer to this piece later).
I decided to test the AF in my D5 with five lenses: 24f1.4, 50f1.4, 105f1.4, 300PF and 800f5.6. Cutting to the chase, I made no changes to the Set Up > AF Fine-tune after testing for this body and these lenses. Will I test more lenses and more bodies after this? Nope! There are two reasons why: one, I’m not having focusing problems and two, the testing is a pain in the &$#$!) Now if you want to test for yourself because you see focus issues in your photos (you see them, not read about them), here’s how I did my testing.
First, I went and got from B&H the SpyderLensCal Autofocus Calibration Aid which is far superior to a newspaper! I then set up the Sypderlenscal as you see in the lower photograph. The white arrow points to a built in level which works really well. I did double check it was all plum with my laser plum from the garage (which came in handy the whole time). Then I set up the camera with the 24f1.4 first. Using the same laser level I plummed the camera back so the dead center AF sensor lined up perfectly on the center square on the Spyderlenscal (red square in above photo). Once that was accomplished, which is time consuming, I shot at three different distancces from the Spyderlenscal wide open, f/8 and f/22. I did this same thing for all five lenses. After I got all done and went to tare down everything, I noticed the angle calibrator had moved from its default position (red arrow). Argh, I’d knocked it! So after putting gaffers tape on that point so it wouldn’t move again, I did it all over again (I left some set up details out, you get them all in the Rangefinder link above).
Five hours later, I was in PhotoMechanic looking at my results. It confirmed what I already knew, I didn’t need to use the AF Fine-tune. When you do this testing and you find an issue? As the video says so well, you have to make an adjustment in the AF Fine-tune, shoot the test again and check. You might have to do that many times if you have an issue. So now I can honestly say that for at least my D5 and these five lenses, I have tested and don’t need AF Fine Tune. If you have any doubts, I recommend you go through the pain and find the answer for yourself and your gear, is in focus, in focus.
The Think Tank Streetwalker Roller is a great bag! Now darn that Jake though … I was going to do a video on it. But he did such a great job and said it all, why not just share his. Now I had the Streetwalker Roller in England as well and it rocked. Unlike Jake though, mine was stuffed! This is what I had in mine:
I love f1.4! So it’s no surprise that I had the 28f1.4 AFS for a long spin. Bottomline … gorgeous lens, great image quality! I think I say it all in the video, give it a gander!
CARMINE GALLO relates “The Story Teller’s Secret.” Turns out – there’s a science to telling your story. Then on Tech Nation Health, there’s more in your gut than bacteria. Case-Western University Professor MAHMOUD GHANNOUM and his son, AFIF GHANNOUM, the CEO of Pathobiome, about fungus. Decades of NIH-funded research tell us what they do, how they interact with the bacteria, and why that’s important.
After last week’s episode of The Grid, the office has been flooded with calls asking about our business class. Well, the next one is 29 Sept to 01 Oct at our office in Mammoth Lakes, CA. The price is $595 and has a seat left (class holds 8). This is a hard core class starting off with your showing a 30 image portfolio, then going shooting for profit. After that, the work really begins because you HAVE to come to class with a 1500 word article already written! Understand the focus is the editorial market place and how to succeed there to grow your business. So, you wanna make money from your camera, here ya go! To grab that last seat, give Sharon a call 760.924.8632 (plz leave message and we’ll get back to you!).
Light is EVERYTHING in photography! Light is EVERYTHING to the mind’s eye and how it moves through our world to provide us information, entertainment, and enjoyment. How do we bring the two together in our photograph to tell a story? This and so much more is in my new KelbyOne Class on Light. There is no f/stop or flash, ACR or Photoshop, this class is all about how YOU see your world and bring it into your PHOTOGRAPHS for others to see your world.
About Course:
Follow the light! Join Moose Peterson for an inspiring look at how to use light as a means to tell a story with your photographs. In this class Moose draws on his 40 years of experience as a photographer to teach you how to see light, how to understand the way the human brain responds to photographs, and how to bring all of that information to bear to create more evocative and impactful photos. Chock full of examples, stories, and insight, you’ll end up with a deeper appreciation for the qualities of light that you can blend with your passion for image making.
It might just be the most important key to your photography!
