Do most/all lenses generally need a little MF adjustment?

Do you MF your lenses?

  • Yep - straight out of the box!

    Votes: 3 14.3%

  • Depends - if my shots show some focus issue I'll play about with it

    Votes: 13 61.9%

  • My camera doesn't have Micro Focus Adjustment feature - so am lumbered with poorly focused shots

    Votes: 3 14.3%

  • I just send my body and lens off to Canon as soon as I buy the lens for them to calibrate!

    Votes: 2 9.5%
  • Total voters
    21
D

danski

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470
Name
Dan
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Yes
I've read quite a few threads on here of people 'complaining' about their lenses either back or front focussing, with more often than not the explanation being either wrong focus point, poor technique or getting used to new gear, whether it be body, lens or a combination of them both!

However, as someone who's invested in 4 new lenses over the last 12 months as well as a new body, the question springs to mind as to whether all lenses need/benefit from some MFA when coupled up to a body? Taking into consideration quality/manufacturing tolerances at a unit level, I guess they might.

So what's the opinion on here? Do you all undertake some focus tests and subsequent MF adjustments when you add a new lens to your kitbag or do you just shoot away and be happy with what you shoot, unless it's clearly front/back focussing?

thanks as always
 
To be brutally honest it's more likely to be a case of user-malfunction than the lens being out.

People tend to allow the AF to lock onto the subject and then either move themselves or allow the subject to move - or they didn't focus correctly in the first place.

While some lenses can be slightly out, it's fairly uncommon. I've gone through about 25 lenses of various (Nikon) types in the past eight years and have conducted focus tests on all of them. None have been 'out' that I could detect in a home test using a downloaded test chart.

And remember it's only a software problem - the lens isn't out so much as the camera's distance-sensing algorithm 'thinks' the lens is out and corrects by the wrong amount.
If you can see it's in focus, then it is in focus.

Any percieved focus problems will be as a result of user-error or firmware problems, rather than a physical problem with the lens itself.
 
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What do you mean by "MF adjustment"

Does MF mean manual focus? Not sure you are asking the right question...?

None of my lens need any adjustment at all - shooting Nikon and Sony. All are 100% accurate.
 
puddleduck said:
What do you mean by "MF adjustment"

Does MF mean manual focus? Not sure you are asking the right question...?

None of my lens need any adjustment at all - shooting Nikon and Sony. All are 100% accurate.
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I think he means do any of our lenses require manual-correction using the AF-fine-tune facility in the set-up menu because the Auto-Focus is slightly out - that's my understanding.

Hence my earlier response... if you have the latest firmware update there should be no focus issues on AF.
 
Arkady said:
To be brutally honest it's more likely to be a case of user-malfunction than the lens being out.

...
Any percieved focus problems will be as a result of user-error or firmware problems, rather than a physical problem with the lens itself.
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yup, this.

That and people searching for things to do with their cameras other than take photos... while desperately searching for this 'top IQ' and 'sharpness'.

Never had any issues whatsoever.
 
OutLore said:
There's also no "I sent my body back to Nikon for calibration" :D
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I've never had to calibrate any of my Nikon bodies/lenses so perhaps your suggestion is unecessary :D:D
 
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sorry all - being a Canon user I was using their terminology

MFA = Micro Focus Adjustment

not sure what the Nikon equivalent is - could well be AF Fine Tune by the looks of it.

dave - I agree that some people probably look for 'problems' with their focusing, rather than spending their time taking pics. I don't think I fall into that camp, as I like to snap away. However I do sometime question if the focus was correct when reviewing on screen! I think it's more of me just wanting to make sure that I've got things as well set up as possible to minimise where things can go wrong - and yes, my technique is probably the area most lacking in fine tuning :D
 
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I've never had a problem with any lens/camera combination

I kinda think (hope) that considering the micro tolerances used in their production they get it right waaaaaaaaay more often than they get it wrong

So as Arkady says, I generally assume user-error to be the most common fault

DD
 
itsdavedotnet said:
yup, this.

That and people searching for things to do with their cameras other than take photos... while desperately searching for this 'top IQ' and 'sharpness'.

Never had any issues whatsoever.
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Well said that man.....

I've never noticed a problem with any of my lens/body combinations......
 
If I had a problem it would go back! body or lens.I never ever had a problem with lenses or bodies before they put MA on them so im not going to start correcting canons problems for them.
 
I'd have a play, but my past experiences haven't been great with micro-adjustment! I was convinced my Sigma 70-200 was front-focussing because I'd read about some guy on some site somewhere on the internet who's brother had one and it wasn't good, and I decided that this was the only reason my shots were coming out OOF. It couldn't possibly be that it was my first time using a f/2.8 telephoto, I was using it wide open, or it was my first time shooting sport.

Anyways, convinced that the lens was out, I spent an afternoon 'callibrating' it, making it front-focus magnificently, only to remedy that with an even worse back-focussing effect. I found that the best setting was when I left the thing alone :D

I had a similar experience with my Sigma 24-70, and have since vowed to leave that setting alone. If it's serious enough to bother me, it'll probably need sending back anyway! :D
 
malla1962 said:
If I had a problem it would go back! body or lens.I never ever had a problem with lenses or bodies before they put MA on them so im not going to start correcting canons problems for them.
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I absolutely agree.

There was a thread on this over on Dyxum, as we pretty much all thought that is not good for end users to "band aid" over QC problems. Warranty should take care of this, and warranty returns encourage manufactures to sort of whatever QC errors they have.

http://www.dyxum.com/dforum/to-owners-of-a900-850-and-the-70200-ssm_topic66428.html
 
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chris321 said:
I'd have a play, but my past experiences haven't been great with micro-adjustment! I was convinced my Sigma 70-200 was front-focussing because I'd read about some guy on some site somewhere on the internet who's brother had one and it wasn't good, and I decided that this was the only reason my shots were coming out OOF. It couldn't possibly be that it was my first time using a f/2.8 telephoto, I was using it wide open, or it was my first time shooting sport.

Anyways, convinced that the lens was out, I spent an afternoon 'callibrating' it, making it front-focus magnificently, only to remedy that with an even worse back-focussing effect. I found that the best setting was when I left the thing alone :D

I had a similar experience with my Sigma 24-70, and have since vowed to leave that setting alone. If it's serious enough to bother me, it'll probably need sending back anyway! :D
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You sound a bit like! if its not broke dont fix it, and if it is broke send it to a man who can.:D
 
malla1962 said:
You sound a bit like! if its not broke dont fix it, and if it is broke send it to a man who can.:D
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Not at all! I'm an engineer, and male, so the process is more like:

If it's not broken: don't fix it, if it is broken: try to fix it, inevitably make it worse, realise I have less than no knowledge about what I'm trying to fix, then state categorically that it's beyond repair. (Then send it for repair when no-one's looking :D)
 
chris321 said:
Not at all! I'm an engineer, and male, so the process is more like:

If it's not broken: don't fix it, if it is broken: try to fix it, inevitably make it worse, realise I have less than no knowledge about what I'm trying to fix, then state categorically that it's beyond repair. (Then send it for repair when no-one's looking :D)
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So true in my household!!! :lol:
 
I did micro adjustment on ALL my lenses and noticed a vast improvement.. However mine are f1.8 f2 and f2.8 .. using these wide open you know if it needs adjusting... at say f4 or +f4 you wont notice that it needs micro adjustment because your DOF is covering it..

I work shooting subjects a good distance away and wide open.. so i notice the difference...
 
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