Calibrating Sigma lens w/ USB dock, which body?

sk66

sk66

Advertiser
Messages
8,671
Name
Steven
Edit My Images
Yes
So I've just ordered the new 60-600 with the dock and I plan on doing the full calibration at some point. But it raises the question as to which body should I calibrate it too? I have the D5 and D850, but obviously calibration is only going to be optimal for one of them.

Off hand, my thinking is to calibrate it to the D850 as that body will be more critical of any errors (at pixel level). And then maybe the more generic in body calibration could adjust it overall for the D5? Or is it more likely that I'll have to choose which body I'm going to use it with and just go with that (probably the D850 anyway)? I suppose I could do both bodies, note the settings for each, and rewrite them to the lens if I want to change bodies... but that's not really a choice when in the field. Or I could get lucky and the settings work well for both, or maybe average them...

Anyone have experience with this? It seems to be such a long/involved process that I'm wanting to keep it as simple as possible...
 
Not sure I can offer anything particularly constructive, other than simple moral support.
I've gone through the calibration process with my 150-600mm (c), and it took me practically a whole day!!
The shorter focal lengths weren't too bad, but at the 600mm end I had to pack my gear and drive to a nearby carpark to measure out a 30 metre distance for my target...maybe overkill, but my garden isn't very big.
.
After a few fruitless round trips, connecting, adjusting etc, I just left it at the default (zero adjust) - I couldn't discern any difference in sharpness at that range....maybe because of my knackered eyes, or perhaps atmospheric effects.

I found that mine didn't seem to need any large adjustments overall anyway.... perhaps I got a good-un!

Nevertheless, I opted to calibrate it with my A camera only, since it needed only minor adjustments.

I've wondered if the custom buttons can be programmed with separate calibrations....that would be handy....not sure if they do though, I have only just thought of it....maybe I'll give it a look.

Best of luck to you, on what I hope isn't as arduous and laborious a chore as it was for me.(y)
 
The custom settings only apply to OS and AF speed/limit options, not the focus tune settings. I'm going to set C1 for wildlife/sports, C2 for video (which I almost never use), and the Off position is the standard defaults.

With the huge zoom range of the 60-600 I'm expecting this to be tedious and with quite a bit of variety between settings... hopefully I'm wrong.
 
Last edited:
sk66 said:
The custom settings only apply to OS and AF speed/limit options, not the focus tune settings. I'm going to set C1 for wildlife/sports, C2 for video (which I almost never use), and the Off position is the standard defaults.
Click to expand...

Ahh, understood, thanks for clarifying.
I wasn't sure having only thought of it ten minutes ago....shame it doesn't, it would have been ideal.
 
I would calibrate the lens using the Sigma dock for the body that you're most likely to use the camera with, and then if your 2nd body has microfocus adjust in the body, use that for calibration of the 2nd body.
 
andrewc said:
I would calibrate the lens using the Sigma dock for the body that you're most likely to use the camera with, and then if your 2nd body has microfocus adjust in the body, use that for calibration of the 2nd body.
Click to expand...
Pretty much my thinking as well, but it's a bit of a choice/commitment.
The purpose of the lens is as a lightweight/travel lens, and I think the ability to use a higher res DX crop on the D850 would make it even more versatile. But being a pretty slow lens I can see where using the D5 with it would be more advantageous.
I'm not "replacing" my bigger/heavier/faster lenses so I'll still have those with the D5 for more demanding situations... I'll probably set it up for the D850 and see what that gets me.
 
sk66 said:
So I've just ordered the new 60-600 with the dock and I plan on doing the full calibration at some point. But it raises the question as to which body should I calibrate it too? I have the D5 and D850, but obviously calibration is only going to be optimal for one of them.

Off hand, my thinking is to calibrate it to the D850 as that body will be more critical of any errors (at pixel level). And then maybe the more generic in body calibration could adjust it overall for the D5? Or is it more likely that I'll have to choose which body I'm going to use it with and just go with that (probably the D850 anyway)? I suppose I could do both bodies, note the settings for each, and rewrite them to the lens if I want to change bodies... but that's not really a choice when in the field. Or I could get lucky and the settings work well for both, or maybe average them...

Anyone have experience with this? It seems to be such a long/involved process that I'm wanting to keep it as simple as possible...
Click to expand...

That's how it's supposed to work isn't it? The doc is basically a DIY quality control adjustment device to correct any errors that may have crept into the manufacturing process, pulling everything in line at all settings.

It should then be perfect on any camera after a normal in-body lens-to-camera micro-adjustment.
 
HoppyUK said:
That's how it's supposed to work isn't it? The doc is basically a DIY quality control adjustment device to correct any errors that may have crept into the manufacturing process, pulling everything in line at all settings.

It should then be perfect on any camera after a normal in-body lens-to-camera micro-adjustment.
Click to expand...
Since the adjustments are made based upon use with a particular body it would be a "sum of errors" type thing; and they might not work well on another body.
Still, I don't see it being any worse than the single in body adjustment I have available with my Nikon lenses... assuming the lens adjustments don't put it beyond the range.
 
sk66 said:
Since the adjustments are made based upon use with a particular body it would be a "sum of errors" type thing; and they might not work well on another body.
Still, I don't see it being any worse than the single in body adjustment I have available with my Nikon lenses... assuming the lens adjustments don't put it beyond the range.
Click to expand...

That's not quite how I see it. The doc sorts out the internal variables within the lens, pretty much as they should be from the factory if quality control is 100%. Then the only possible error is the calibration between the camera and lens, fixed in the normal way.
 
HoppyUK said:
That's not quite how I see it. The doc sorts out the internal variables within the lens, pretty much as they should be from the factory if quality control is 100%. Then the only possible error is the calibration between the camera and lens, fixed in the normal way.
Click to expand...
I was hoping it would be that way... like the dock had it's own sensor placed at optimal flange distance, but it doesn't. And since you are using images taken with a given camera body to adjust from, that automatically means any peculiarities specific to that body are included in the adjustments. But as long as the sum of the adjustments for one camera do not put it outside of the AFMA range of the next body, I think it should work fine.

It almost seems like it might be a better idea to start with an overall AFMA adjustment to get the body tuned to the lens, then use the USB dock to fine tune all of the settings. Basically, adjust for flange distance/sensor depth error first... that should/could make the USB adjustments more body independent.
 
sk66 said:
I was hoping it would be that way... like the dock had it's own sensor placed at optimal flange distance, but it doesn't. And since you are using images taken with a given camera body to adjust from, that automatically means any peculiarities specific to that body are included in the adjustments. But as long as the sum of the adjustments for one camera do not put it outside of the AFMA range of the next body, I think it should work fine.

It almost seems like it might be a better idea to start with an overall AFMA adjustment to get the body tuned to the lens, then use the USB dock to fine tune all of the settings. Basically, adjust for flange distance/sensor depth error first... that should/could make the USB adjustments more body independent.
Click to expand...

What peculiarities? There is only one possible variable with DSLR bodies, and that's the lens mount to imaging-sensor distance must be exactly the same as the lens mount to AF-sensor distance. That's what the AF microadjustment calibration sorts out.

Any other variables are in the lens and should be fixed by the doc, so it'll behave exactly the same on any body once calibrated to it.
 
HoppyUK said:
What peculiarities? There is only one possible variable with DSLR bodies, and that's the lens mount to imaging-sensor distance must be exactly the same as the lens mount to AF-sensor distance. That's what the AF microadjustment calibration sorts out.
Click to expand...
And that's why the same lens requires different AFMA settings on different bodies. If there was no difference/tolerance per body then it would be the same for all of them, regardless of what the lens is set for. If I tune it for a greater sensor distance on the body in use, and the next body has a lesser sensor distance, then I will have compounded the issue.
If the dock had it's own sensor, then you would be adjusting it independent of the camera error. And then each body would also need an AFMA adjustment for the particular difference in distances on that body. The way it is normally done is w/o an AFMA adjustment... i.e. you're tuning the lens to the body rather than tuning the body to the lens, but in both cases the error is in the body (at least potentially).

But that does beg the question, HTH does in lens focus adjustments convince the camera's AF module that it is in focus? That doesn't quite make sense to me... but it obviously works. In-body adjustments make sense in that it's a setting/offset for the AF module itself... must be something in the electronic communication of these newfangled lenses :eek:.
 
Maybe you're over thinking it ;)

I would set in-body AF adjustment to zero on the D850, calibrate with the Doc, swap to your D5 and adjust in-body calibration. The lens should then be perfect on both bodies (or as good as it can be, assuming the camera firmware actually recognises this new lens).

I'd also cross-check the AF speed settings on both bodies. It's only a guess, but the D5 may respond differently/better with a tweak, perhaps depending on what/how you shoot with each body.
 
HoppyUK said:
I would set in-body AF adjustment to zero on the D850, calibrate with the Doc, swap to your D5 and adjust in-body calibration. The lens should then be perfect on both bodies (or as good as it can be, assuming the camera firmware actually recognises this new lens).
Click to expand...
That is the current plan; especially given that the weaknesses of the lens are more pronounced on FF and I can use the D850 in DX mode (or crop in post) to good effect... but there's probably no getting away from the D5 and the bigger/faster lenses for more demanding/critical situations.
IDT it matters much if it works equally well across the board.
 
I thought it adjusted the lens itself to suit any camera? Sort of like updating the firmware. I never really went in depth tweaking the 35 1.4 using the deck, just let it do it's thing, used it one time ... the lens was focusing better and I was getting sharper shots wide open after running it through the dock
 
sk66 said:
The custom settings only apply to OS and AF speed/limit options, not the focus tune settings. I'm going to set C1 for wildlife/sports, C2 for video (which I almost never use), and the Off position is the standard defaults.

With the huge zoom range of the 60-600 I'm expecting this to be tedious and with quite a bit of variety between settings... hopefully I'm wrong.
Click to expand...

Why bother with video, set C1 for one camera C2 for the other both for wildlife. then camera AF adjustments at 600mm and only switch on for video.
 
Cagey75 said:
I thought it adjusted the lens itself to suit any camera? Sort of like updating the firmware.
Click to expand...
Nope, not really... that's just not possible if you are making the adjustments based on images output by one camera. Apparently Sigma suggests using an in-body AFMA in order to get it closer for multiple bodies if you're having problems.
 
sk66 said:
Nope, not really... that's just not possible if you are making the adjustments based on images output by one camera. Apparently Sigma suggests using an in-body AFMA in order to get it closer for multiple bodies if you're having problems.
Click to expand...

Hmm, I did only use the one Sigma lens I had at the time on the one camera body. When I sold the 35 1.4 I threw the dock in along with, I had only used it the once.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top