Besides for FoCal...

SuzukiGS750EZ · Jan 4, 2017

Are there any tried and true ways to calibrate a lens at home without being a genius? How many of you calibrate your lenses? I keep reading that the majority of lenses come from the factory slightly off so i'm wondering if my lenses would benefit from an adjustment and wonder how much sharper my images would come out.

bratkinson · Jan 4, 2017

Calibration, aka, Micro Focus Adjust, is a requirement, in my opinion. I like my photos as sharp as possible.

As far as how did I do it goes, I've tried several, and if all my photography was done from 30 feet or less, all of the methods work quite well. But the bulk of my photography these days is various indoor events and trains. I need my lenses to be their sharpest from roughly 30 feet to 200 feet, so that puts my MFA target about 80-100 feet away. I used the 'old fashioned' inclined ruler with flat target method, and now get very sharp results.

zombiesniper · Jan 4, 2017

Agree that lenses should be calibrated if your camera body can do it. There are great tutorials on how to do it and the link below is the chart I use. Print it and glue it to something sturdy like thick cardboard or thin ply wood and you're good to go.

diy lens calibration tool

Derrel · Jan 5, 2017

EASY. Take a six foot long strip of duct tape. Tape it to the side of a building, and make regular marks on it. Make an Index, or Aim Point in the middle of the length. Focus on the Index or Aim Point.

With the camera on a tripod, shoot several frames, refocusing each time from Out of Focus, to Focused, at an angle, skimming down along the wall. look carefully, and see if the lens needs + or - correction. Here is an example of my 1992-era 135mm f/2 AF Defocus Control lens.

Here are two AF calibration frames from my 135mm f/2 AF Defocus Control Nikkor lens, lens set at the Neutral or 0 defocus point...and the lens is in perfect AF microadjust form.

ALSO...notice how well the silver-colored duct tape shows longitudial chromatic aberration! Purple fringing to the Front, and Green to the rear of the focus point; very,very typical of many fast primes at wide-open. This stark black-marker on silver tape makes the longitudianl CA very visible, since there is actual "distance" shown. This Lo-CA will be HIDDEN from view if you shoot a flat target from square-on.

Both images were shot at typical portrait ranges, both at f/2.0, at 1/1000 second, tripod mounted.

I did six lenses in about 50 minutes before a big shoot.

SuzukiGS750EZ · Jan 5, 2017

Derrel, your way looks so easy, but i swear your post said 10 feet lol. I think i will try your way as i have plenty of room to focus and i've got tape! and a pen! Is it like a 45 degree angle or closer to 30? 60? I used a ruler on an angle not too long ago and all my lenses passed, but i don't know if it's "precise" enough to gain some sharpness? I don't know enough to have an opinion let's put it that way.

weepete · Jan 5, 2017

I've only done my 150-600mm and that was only a few mm out. My other lenses are pretty spot on.

I did mine using a 1.5m level with a measuring scale on it that I had kicking about the house roughly at a 45 degree angle.

Derrel · Jan 5, 2017

I'd guess 35 degrees angle on my tape-on-the-wall test. It works well for portrait-type distances with these 1-inch marks, and then the connecting angled diagonal lines. Where the diagonal lines cross creates 1/2 inch marks, obviously. This is just a MUCH bigger target than the typical ruler on a desktop, but it is the same concept. This is the only way I've ever done my micro-adjust tests.