{"id":363,"date":"2007-01-19T21:01:41","date_gmt":"2007-01-19T12:01:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2007-01-19\/363"},"modified":"2007-01-19T21:01:41","modified_gmt":"2007-01-19T12:01:41","slug":"my-lens-focus-issues-are-fixed-or-i-told-you-so","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2007-01-19\/363","title":{"rendered":"My Lens Focus Issues Are Fixed, or “I Told You So”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
<\/a>Nikon D200 + 70-200mm f\/2.8 @ 200mm\n— 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>350 sec, f\/2.8, ISO 400 — full\nexif<\/a><\/span>Autofocus Doesn't Get Much\nBetter Than This<\/span>The up\/down range of what's in focus is indeed centered on the focus point<\/div>\n\n

\n\nAs I mentioned the other day, my camera was in the shop<\/a> to repair poor\nautofocus. It's back now<\/span>, and my first quick tests show that its autofocus\nis now excellent<\/b>.\n\n<\/p>

\n\nThat Nikon accepted it for repair made me feel a bit<\/span> vindicated, because\nthere are those that reflexively accuse “it's your poor\ntechnique” whenever someone suspects a focus<\/span> issue, never allowing\nthat someone might indeed have faulty equipment. In particular, one loud\nmouth active in these forums, Leonard\nShepherd<\/a>, was incessant in his accusations of ineptness to everyone\n(including me), even in the face of clear evidence that the person he's\naccusing understands the issues well.\n\n<\/p>

\n\nThe feeling of vindication was short-lived, because unfortunately, the\nsituation was worse when I got<\/span> the equipment back from Nikon.\n\n<\/p>

\n\nI think I pretty much understood the problem early on: the 70-200 zoom\nneeded to be calibrated. What Nikon did was adjust my D200 body to match\nthe miscalibration of the 70-200 zoom, rendering the body miscalibrated for\nany other lens. Sigh. Was I being<\/span> unreasonable\nfor wanting good autofocus?<\/a>\n\n<\/p>

\n\nI do<\/b> expect equipment at this level to work, so I had<\/span> to send it in\nagain, this time with more explicit instructions. That I<\/b> have to\nexplain camera repair to Nikon is well beyond my understanding, but it\nseems to have done the trick.\n\n<\/p>

\n\nSo, I got it<\/span> back yesterday, and today did a few<\/span> quick test shots with my\npro glass, the 70-200\/2.8 and the 17-55\/2.8, and found autofocus to be\nexcellent.\n\n<\/p>

\n\nSo, what did Nikon do this time? Here are the reports....\n<\/p>\n\n

For the D200 body:<\/b><\/p>\n\n

<\/a><\/div>\n\n

\n\nI'd first run into problems with the Nikon 70<\/span>-200 f\/2.8<\/a> that I\ngot<\/span> in November. I posted<\/span> about it on the Nikon SLR Lens forum on Phil\nAskey's Digital Photography Review<\/i> (this\nthread<\/a>) and was told that the problem could well be my fault for not\nunderstanding what I should<\/span> expect from the autofocus system. In hindsight,\nconsidering the test photos I sent,<\/span> those comments were fair. So, I went about<\/span> testing with a focus\ntest chart<\/a> that I designed<\/span> myself, and confirmed that indeed the\nequipment was having issues. So, I brought it to Nikon<\/a>, and\nafter inspecting it out for three hours, they accepted it for repair.\n\n<\/p>