Calibrating Canon lens

Morph3ous

Morph3ous

Messages
598
Edit My Images
Yes
I still think my Canon 17-55 f2.8 is a little soft wide open on my 60d. Both the lens and body are in warranty. Do Canon UK offer a calibration service similar to Sigma, where I can send in my body/lens? If so, anyone used it? Is it free under warranty? I've read good things over on POTN about the Sigma service and how it sharpened up copies.
 
Its just not THAT sharp. Doesn't perform as well as my 50mm 1.8 for example.
 
Morph3ous said:
Its just not THAT sharp. Doesn't perform as well as my 50mm 1.8 for example.
Click to expand...

Post some samples with 100% crops, and indicate focus target.

Canon can calibrate it, but don't forget that they have extremely generous tolerance levels (ie. if it prints ok as something like 7x5 it is probably good enough)
 
they calibrate lens.. around 60 quid last i checked.. but they tend NOT to calibrate to the body like sigma do.. they calibrate lens and or body to the right calibration ...then they shoudl work.. they dont test the lens on the camera

sigma calibrate a lens to the body and have the lens chipped

different thing... but i got my lens calibrated by canon for a new body and all worked out perfect..
 
In warranty Canon will calibrate lens and body for free. The question to consider is whether the problem is simply a focus calibration mismatch or something more fundamentally wrong with the lens, or both. Either way, Canon should fix it, but it might help to steer them in the right direction to make sure they address (all) the problem(s) fully.

I've also had lenses calibrated outside warranty by Canon at Elstree and IIRC the price was more like £25 per lens (possibly plus VAT) whether zoom or prime, from 50/1.4 up to 70-200/2.8 IS. I think I was told that the zoom would be more, as calibration is done on a T&M basis, but I'm sure it ended up costing no more than the primes, to my pleasant surprise. Maybe they did me a job lot discount. ;)
 
tdodd said:
I've also had lenses calibrated outside warranty by Canon at Elstree and IIRC the price was more like £25 per lens (possibly plus VAT)
Click to expand...

60 quid at lehmans in stoke.. official canon outlet :(
 
Thanks for the comments.

tdodd said:
In warranty Canon will calibrate lens and body for free. The question to consider is whether the problem is simply a focus calibration mismatch or something more fundamentally wrong with the lens, or both. Either way, Canon should fix it, but it might help to steer them in the right direction to make sure they address (all) the problem(s) fully.

I've also had lenses calibrated outside warranty by Canon at Elstree and IIRC the price was more like £25 per lens (possibly plus VAT) whether zoom or prime, from 50/1.4 up to 70-200/2.8 IS. I think I was told that the zoom would be more, as calibration is done on a T&M basis, but I'm sure it ended up costing no more than the primes, to my pleasant surprise. Maybe they did me a job lot discount. ;)
Click to expand...

I've sent an email to Canon UK asking them what the process is.

Here are some images taken with the 17-55 and 50mm 1.8 for comparison, including 100% crops. I took them on a tripod, in manual mode with the IS turned off. The AF was on the centre point and it hit bang in the middle of "AF - MF" switch. Images are unedited, exports to JPEG.

17-55 left, 50mm right

6855934413_2b22dfff8a_z.jpg
6855929777_fc843b1ffa_z.jpg


100% crops - 17-55 left, 50mm right

6855930609_0abe1834b3_z.jpg
6855925333_b353ab7648_z.jpg


Okay granted, these dont look too bad, and I suppose the prime is always going to be a little sharper. Its more handheld stuff that always seem a little soft. Take this for example. Handheld, AF, centre spot again which hit on the small hole in the centre of the middle peg.


Pegs by Minnis Photography, on Flickr

100% crop - not that sharp is it...


Pegs 100% crop by Minnis Photography, on Flickr
 
Morph3ous said:
Okay granted, these dont look too bad, and I suppose the prime is always going to be a little sharper. Its more handheld stuff that always seem a little soft.
Click to expand...

If thats the case then its got nothing to do with calibration..
 
Last edited:
KIPAX said:
If thats the case then its got nothing to do with calibration..
Click to expand...

Yes. And on a subject like the pegs, ie three-dimensional and at an angle, you can never be sure exactly where the camera has focused - the AF point is quite a lot larger than the little square in the viewfinder.

If you are going to be critical, you have to be critically careful and eliminate all other possible areas for error. Experience round here suggests that nine times out of ten it's user error rather than equipment shortcomings. Plenty of threads about testing AF accuracy properly, and I've posted a rough 'good copy' test procedure quite a few times.
 
Last edited:
KIPAX said:
60 quid at lehmans in stoke.. official canon outlet :(
Click to expand...

That's why I always use Canon themselves (plus it's convenient for me). It's not the first time I've heard of third parties charging considerably more than Canon. Mind you, I guess it's also possible for the reverse to be true.

There was a thread a while back, talking about repairs to a 100-400, I think. IIRC figures of around £260 were banded about for a third party repair. Canon at Elstree did mine for a fixed price of £127.50 including UPS shipping back to me and a six month warranty on the entire lens, not just the repair itself.

I recently suffered shutter failure on my 7D. Hoping to gain some benefit from the SOGA I took it to Jessops, who supplied the camera. Their repair estimate (not a firm quote) was £331, using an unnamed, but approved repairer. I declined their service and yesterday took it into Elstree. I don't yet know the cost, but I'm hoping it will be (substantially) less.

EDIT : Got the quote from Canon - £282 including UPS shipping back to me. I had a chat on the phone to one of their engineers and managed to haggle the price down to £210, with a reduced charge for labour. The repair required involves not only the shutter mechanism but also the mirror box (to be replaced) and full clean/test/calibrate.
 
Last edited:
Morph3ous said:
Its more handheld stuff that always seem a little soft. Take this for example. Handheld, AF, centre spot again which hit on the small hole in the centre of the middle peg.
Click to expand...

You're working with what appears to be pretty shallow DOF and expecting precision focusing and sharpness to appear when viewed at 100% whilst handholding the camera. Why? You only need to wobble by a mm and your focus will be thrown off. If your results are good with a tripod but go tits up when you handhold where do you honestly think the finger of suspicion should point?

Furthermore, it's a zoom lens, and attached to a 60D, which together with the 7D and 600D has the highest pixel density of any Canon DSLR released to date (AFAIK). Maybe the prime is a little sharper, but the zoom appears to be turning results which are more than good enough. Have you stopped to think what sort of enlargement you are applying when viewing a 60D image at 100%. On almost any normal monitor it's colossal. My monitor has a high pixel density and a 60D image viewed at 100% would be the equivalent of 40" on the long side. On most monitors it would be bigger than that and a normal viewing distance for an image of such a size would be from around 48" away or more. Try shooting some pictures instead of some pixels. Or use a tripod. Or bump up the sharpening a little (especially output sharpening after resizing). Or stick to primes.

I don't see anything here that warrants a trip to Canon.
 
Again, thanks for the replies. Appreciate it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top