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    the micro adjust lark

    having had my 1D3 for 6 months + now and the 400mm f5.6 a tad longer ,and got over the initial euphoria ,i have started to notice a major deficiency ,mainly on b.i.f or targets at distance i initially put this down to the 10mp sensor but last night i narrowed it down to the fact that beyond a hypothetical distance (around 150mtrs ?) the birds tended to be blurry .
    i was all set to e/bay the lens this morning when tested it against my sigma 120-400 and found the sigma to be sharper .the alarm bells rang then i thought i have only tested micro adjust over the length of my back garden .so back to the drawing board .
    we have a bus stop around 200 plus yards away and used this as my target ,due to the fact its got a bus symbol ,writing and a nice square grid on it .

    set up the tripod and bolted the camera on ,one shot ,and went through from -20 -15-10-5 0 +5 +10+15+20 quite a rigmarole as you have to set each adjustment . minus 5 came out the sharpest on computer which threw me a bit as i thought 0 was the best .
    i then went through the procedure again from -7-6-5-4-3 and this time -7 came out as being best i have now set this to the camera and hopefully it will improve things ,below is one of the first shots with the adjustment which i think proves the point .

    angels with dirty wings by blackfox wildlife and nature imaging, on Flickr

    #2
    Re: the micro adjust lark

    I've been using hire lenses lately and have tested them all for micro adjustments. The 24-70 and 70-200 needed no adjustment but the 85 needed a +4. I was largely shooting wide open at 1.2 so the focus was critical. The micro adjustment seemed to do the trick, so I would recommend it to everyone if they are missing focus more often than usual with a particular lens. It's a bit of hassle, but you only have to do it once!
    Canon 5DMKII | Canon 550D | EF 50mm f/1.8 II | EF 35 f/2 IS USM | EF 85 f/1.8 USM | Speedlite 430EX II | 2x Yongnuo YN-622C | MacBook Pro 2.7GHz i7 | Lightroom 5 | Hama Traveller Mini Pro Tripod | Lowepro Stealth Reporter D400W | Flickr | 500px | Website

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      #3
      Re: the micro adjust lark

      I invested in Reikan FoCal some time ago and was surprised at how much variation there is in required MFA across lenses. Reikan have an interesting on-line tool which shows the statistical distribution of MFA required by lens/camera, there are some interesting (and surprising) results, mainly with third-party lenses and/or cheaper lenses, but most decent Canon lenses (EF 400 f/5.6 included) seem to require similar MFA (at least within +/-5. BUT, the Reikan test has the same shortcomings as the computer-screen-pattern test, it has to be undertaken at around 50x focal-length which isn't necessarily representative of how you'll be using the camera/lens combination in the real world.

      I've tried using Reikan FoCal at long distances (50m or so) but results were poor, so I ended up setting the Reikan Focal suggested MFA, and then manually fine-tuning at my desired distance.

      At the end of the day all this analysis and setting up is academic, and judging by the shot you posted you've nailed the MFA with the 400 f/5.6 now
      Steve's kit - Canon 6D/EG-D/BG-E13/60D/EF-D/BG-E9/600 EX-RT/17-40L/24-105L/40/100L/70-200L/70-300/2x iii/Sigma 8-16/Yongnuo YN-568EX (x2)/YN560EX II/YN622C-TX/YN622C (x4)

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        #4
        Re: the micro adjust lark

        my problem if you can call it that was that inside a certain range the focus was totally spot on,its just that i noticed that above that range the pics where soft ,i put it down to sensor size ,atmospherics etc till i got to grips with that test today .havent yet tried it to see if theres an improvement close up yet ,but will do .
        and as i said before any MFA has been done with my normal sloping tester at just normal garden range probably about 30ft away .also got the wife to second opinion every shot to make 100% sure today .

        another example to show in focus range now ,full shot uncropped about 200+ metres imho

        664O6252 by blackfox wildlife and nature imaging, on Flickr

        and a cropped and edited version of the same shot pleased with the sharp defined edges at that range

        tester by blackfox wildlife and nature imaging, on Flickr

        and finally a around 100% crop .think i can say job done

        100% crop by blackfox wildlife and nature imaging, on Flickr
        Last edited by the black fox; 12-07-2014, 15:15.

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          #5
          Re: the micro adjust lark

          Maybe the next Canon cameras will offer MFA not just at wide & tele ends, but close and far focus as well!
          Steve's kit - Canon 6D/EG-D/BG-E13/60D/EF-D/BG-E9/600 EX-RT/17-40L/24-105L/40/100L/70-200L/70-300/2x iii/Sigma 8-16/Yongnuo YN-568EX (x2)/YN560EX II/YN622C-TX/YN622C (x4)

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            #6
            Re: the micro adjust lark

            Certainly is JOB DONE.

            Alan
            Canon 7D...Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L is...Canon EF 300mm f4L is...Canon 1.4x extender MK ll...Canon 28-135mm f3.5-5.6 is usm...Canon 50mm f1.8 stm... speedlite 430 EX11...Canon EOS-M3...18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 is stm...

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