Reikan FoCal Software

[Warrenden]

Has anybody used this software to calibrate there camera and lens and is it worth purchasing. Also is it worth purchasing the pro version.

http://www.reikan.co.uk/focalweb/

Many thanks

Phil

[jimsphotography]

Re: Reikan FoCal Software

Why do you want to spend money buying something when manual and very accurate lens adjustment can be done for nothing ?
Even the free focus target is better than the paid for ones - you can get one free from here with instructions:-

http://www.northlight-images.co.uk/article_pages/cameras/1ds3_af_micoadjustment.html

Hope this helps (and saves you money)
James

[paul linton]

Re: Reikan FoCal Software

Hi Phil
I've just done most of my lenses with the focal software 100mm macro/200mm prime and 400mm prime didn't bother with the 24-105 and it won't do the 400mm with the x2 extender as i don't have the pro version.
if your going to use this software it's best to have a laptop computer so you can set up and shoot anywhere either around the house or in the garden as it's best done in good light.

I found the easiest method was using the TurboCal settings as the others use charts and graphs and didn't seem to make readings very clear.
This way Focal controls your lens and focuses on the target but then you have to manually adjust the micro adjustment yourself it tells you when and what to do.

Basically you start at -20 and go through to +20 (-20-16-12-8-4 0 +4+8+12+16+20)then out of those readings it give you the best settings for your camera and lens compo.

My 100mm is now set at +7 the 200mm is set at +15 (that was a bit of a shock)and the 400mm is -3.

I've tried the 100mm and 200mm and they are both looking good but I'll have to wait till the weekend to test the 400mm.

I won't know 100% if it's worth doing till I've being shooting for a little longer but it takes the guess work out of doing it yourself and as James says you can always try and do it for free with his link.

Paul

[DrJon]

Re: Reikan FoCal Software

I've used the 2.0 Pro test release (TR4) a lot in the last couple of weeks as it was the first version to support my 5Dsr. I have 22 completed tests and 3 interrupted when it crashed (it is a beta). I will add to Paul's comments that you don't have to do the Micro Adjust changes yourself on all cameras, just on some recent models.

I think it lacks consistency but does tend towards the correct result. I also completely disbelieve its astigmatism number (which you don't have to care about but is supposed to be a measure of how well aligned your lens is). For example with the 100mm macro I ended up choosing my own MA number after running the test 5 times, with varying results, however it was close to where they suggested. Then again the results for the 85mm f1.2 II were just excellent, which is handy as it's the most critical of my lenses. The results for the other lenses were less convincing, but it's usually not that far away. I used one of its values (as I sometimes ran the tests multiple times, depending on the result quality which it also measures) for all but one of my tested lenses.

Sometimes it can't find the target in a shot when it doesn't seem that hard to find. This mostly happens with fast lenses and big adjustments. The annoying thing about that is the what-to-do-next dialogue is pretty unclear. Version 1 did the same.

On the same subject other dialogues have options that don't seem all that user-friendly. For example after it's got its first guess result the option to carry on and do some more testing is "No". I think some other selection method with clearer choices would be better and have suggested it to them.

You do need a fair bit of kit to do the testing plus the ability to print the targets at decent quality ideally on card. Also a decent light source to illuminate it, a decent amount of space to do the tests (I used ranges from 6 to 9+ metres) and a Notebook computer is very handy.

They have added some quite handy graphs to the end of the pdf documents - I did Automatic Calibration with the number of tests set to an increased number.

If anyone wants to see some of my reports just PM me an e-mail address (oh, and explain why).

My conclusion is a bit mixed, I already owned it and so didn't have to pay to get the 5Dsr version. I think if you have the kit to do the testing, plus have several fast and not short lenses, it's just about worth the money, especially as it does a lot of tests so helps rule out you making manual adjustments based on shots where the AF didn't do that well. I'm not sure how much you lose in not having the Pro version, so can't comment at the moment on that.

I do like that they are upgrading all v1 users to v2 at no charge (especially as my support ran out literally a few days ago, although I don't plan to repeat my tests with the released version as I've had quite enough of it for now).

[David Morison]

Re: Reikan FoCal Software

I can't see where it can be of use using Sigma Global lenses with the USB lens dockas that gives you adjustability at many focal lengths and distances. Has anyone seen where this facility is available.

David

[paul linton]

Re: Reikan FoCal Software

I can't see where it can be of use using Sigma Global lenses with the USB lens dockas that gives you adjustability at many focal lengths and distances. Has anyone seen where this facility is available.

David

If you have sigma compatible lenses then the usb docking station is the one to use,but not sure if you can use other brand names with it.
Were as foCal will check every make of lens and up to a focal length of 400mm. (if a bigger lens you need the pro version)

Paul