{"id":1029,"date":"2008-12-16T11:28:24","date_gmt":"2008-12-16T02:28:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2008-12-16\/1029"},"modified":"2008-12-17T00:31:26","modified_gmt":"2008-12-16T15:31:26","slug":"lensalign-focus-calibration-system","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2008-12-16\/1029","title":{"rendered":"LensAlign Focus-Calibration System"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f\/2.8 @ 200 mm, cropped — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>200 sec, f<\/span>\/2.8, ISO 4500 —\nfull exif<\/a><\/span>\nLensAlign In Action<\/span>\nwith my Nikkor 70<\/span>-200mm f\/2.8 zoom<\/a>\n<\/div>\n\n

Almost two years ago I created and released my autofocus test\nchart<\/a>, for testing the autofocus accuracy of a camera<\/span>\/lens combination.\nAccompanied by a detailed<\/span> discussion about how to test autofocus, and of\nissues that might crop up, it has garnered a lot<\/span> of attention. My daily<\/span> logs tell me that it's still one of my most popular posts.<\/p>\n\n

About a year ago, I was contacted<\/span> by Michael Tapes of Michael Tapes Design<\/a> (makers of the\npopular WhiBal white-balance reference card). They were working on a device<\/span>\nto allow much more accurate\/repeatable testing than my chart allowed, and\nhe wanted to discuss my chart and my autofocus-testing experiences.<\/p>\n\n

A year and many discussions (and many prototypes) later, they've finally\nreleased their LensAlign\nFocus Calibration System<\/a>. It's better<\/span> than my chart in every way,\nexcept price (my chart is free, and you can't beat that).<\/p>\n\n

Speaking of free, I should<\/span> issue an anti-disclaimer: I was<\/span> not paid for my\nconsulting, nor for ideas from my chart that have been incorporated into LensAlign. I had<\/span>\/have no\nfinancial relationship with Michael and his company. I freely<\/span> gave of my time, opinions, and designs\nbecause in the end, I benefit<\/span> from having this product available to me. Along the way, I sort of<\/span> figured that I'd get a free<\/span> unit once it was done, and indeed, a final<\/span> prototype arrived here in Kyoto yesterday.<\/p>\n\n

The unit I received yesterday (shown above) is essentially the same as\nfrom the production run of the “Pro” version they're starting to ship this\nweek (which is apparently already\nsold out). The timing<\/span> was sort of bad for me because I've been insanely\nbusy, but since I've been itching to try this final version, I spent<\/span> a few<\/span>\nminutes with it this evening.<\/p>\n\n

You can read a detailed discussion of what LensAlign is, why it's good,\nand how to use it at Imaging\nResource<\/a> so I won't<\/span> repeat that here, but I'll say that a lot<\/i> of\neffort and testing has gone into this design to make it very good at what\nit was built to do. One of its<\/span> key features is how the design allows you to\nensure that the focus target is absolutely parallel to the image sensor,\nand how that assures you of a repeatable,<\/span> understandable result, every time.<\/p>\n\n

\nAdjustment-Mode Bull's Eye<\/span>\nSighting Site “B<\/b>”\n<\/div>\n\n

I took these test shots hastily in my poorly-lit living room this evening\n(at ISO 4500!), but it's still pretty easy to see that the lens I used<\/span> is\nin good shape (which it should be, since it went to Nikon twice for\ncalibration<\/a>). Now that I<\/span> have this final production unit, it's very\nhigh on my todo list to check all my lenses (and when I do,<\/span> I'll write up\nmore about the LensAlign testing procedure).<\/p>\n\n

First, though, I need to<\/span> get the appropriate mini\/full HDMI cable to\nconnect the camera to my TV so that I can<\/span> view the D700's “Live View” while\nin front of the lens, adjusting the position of LensAlign. I was disappointed<\/span> when I checked<\/span> the D700's box and found no such cable, only a\nlower<\/span>-quality composite cable, so I had<\/span> to settle for that. Neither HDMI nor Live\nView are required when using LensAlign, but they make the setup easier.<\/p>\n\n

Again, I'll write more about it after I test<\/span> all my lenses, but I wanted<\/span>\nto mention the product right away because I know<\/span> some readers will be\nexcited about getting one. It can be<\/span> ordered from Michael Tapes Design<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Almost two years ago I created and released my autofocus test chart, for testing the autofocus accuracy of a camera\/lens combination. Accompanied by a detailed discussion about how to test autofocus, and of issues that might crop up, it has garnered a lot of attention. My daily logs tell me that it's still one of my most popular posts.<\/p>

About a year ago, I was contacted by Michael Tapes of Michael Tapes Design (makers of the popular WhiBal white-balance reference card). They were working on a device to allow much more accurate\/repeatable testing than my chart allowed, and he wanted [...]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1029"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1029"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1029\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1029"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1029"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1029"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}