Lensalign

[ravncat]

To purchase lensalign, or not, that is the question. whether tis more a waste of time to suffer the mirrors and rulers of the lite or spend money on the pro.

What say you photographic denizens?

Lens align pro vs lens align lite

Home made solution vs taking all my gear to nikon

or just , forget about it all

[OsmosisStudios]

Download a focus test chart and be done with it. It's only of any use if your body has autofocus microadjust, otherwise you HAVE to send it to Nikon. Unless your having serious issues, i wouldnt bother.

[inkista]

Rent one.

And if you're doing AF microadjust, use the lensalign, vs. a homemade solution. The problem that lensalign solves is that of keeping the lens perfectly perpendicular to the target, and having a precise target to aim the AF system at. Slanted rulers and test charts don't help you with getting your camera lined up, and slanted rulers don't actually make sure your focus target is where you think it is; which is why the slanted ruler "test" of AF accuracy isn't one.

[ravncat]

I find myself wondering if I can pull a bit more out of tweaking my microadjust on the d700. Overall things seem ok, but I don't actually know where the tolerances really are.

I use alot of fast primes, and don't expect night and day, but have noticed slight issues with some careful portraits. With the state of my eyesight getting worse, the viewfinder standard focus screen not being so great for faster than 2.8 and not wanting to deal with calibrating shims for a catzeye system, I am relying more and more on AF system.

Osmosis, you seem to have a low opinion of microadjust, care to elaborate a bit ? ( nikon is also about 40 minutes away and can likely do things in a day or two I just have no idea on the cost of having them more tightyly calibrate an out of waranty body and 12 or 13 lenses

Inkista, thanks for the link, I would love to do that, but lensrentals doesn't ship internationally to japan. I'll have to look around here.

[OsmosisStudios]

Quite the opposite: Microadjust can be a life saver. I dont know where you got that idea.

The thing is, most people dont NEED microadjust and just wanna be able to fiddle with their stuff.

[ravncat]

Osmosis - I see, I just misinterpreted "Download a focus test chart and be done with it" and probably assumed there was a more negative tone of voice there than needed.

I`d rather not fiddle with stuff if I don`t have to - problem is, I`m not quite sure if I need to. Sometimes, looking at shots I get the feeling that the focus is consistently off on some of my lenses, but not by a large amount - I can`t see it in the viewfinder, but I see it in the images on screen. If I do fiddle, I want to be sure that I`m fiddling accurately. =D

[OsmosisStudios]

A focus test chart can help you at least diagnose it, but it will take some doing to get right.