What's a reasonable fine tune for most of your lenses?

Let's say, for example, that you have six pro lenses, and five of them require -15 and one requires -5.

Pretty clearly that suggests that your camera body is probably running at about -15, and that's the camera body error level, and one lens is likely at +10.

Is -15 a reasonable adjustment for a $3,000 camera?

How about -20??

IOW, is a D800 body at the maximum correction of -20 acceptable? Or does it go in to Nikon for adjustment?

How about a camera body running at -15?

Do you think Nikon would say, "Hey, -20 is within specs! We won't work on it!"

Ditto for -15??

We all recognize that autofocus is a very hairy electro-optical-mechanical function, and we can't expect perfection. In fact, we can be glad we can get what is available. But the big question is, "What's reasonable for $3,000?" (Heh! 5 years ago the question would have been, "What's reasonable for $5,000?" Or "$10,000.")

(We also realize that a user could have 5 bad lenses and a perfect D800 body. So all this is a bit hypothetical, however unlikely. Looking for "reasonableness" here.)

AviSys

I'll bite, but first let me say that while I own a D800 I have never tested the lenses or camera in any way other than to use them.

To me, any system that is working within the scope of it's adjustments is not broken. in other words, who cares what statistics say is the "Body" error as long as you can adjust it. That is what the adjustments are for. If the error is beyond your ability to copensate with available adjustments, then it is time to send it in for repair.

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You can't have a light without a dark to stick it in.
-- Arlo Guthrie --
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-Michael-

More Pictures : http://pbase.com/mboswell

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As Michael stated anything within +20 to -20 that works is fine and it is not broken.

Visit my Nikonians gallery.

I feel less than +/- 15.

If one is at 20, you have run plumb out of further adjustment room.

I am not being D800 specific, I have been tuning all my cameras since 2007.

Edited to add. I'm currently wrestling with my D4 and 500VR with Tc14. It's at +12 which under controlled conditions is the value I came up with. But in the field I'm getting results that are lacking that snap I get with my D7000 sitting at +14. I feel like the D4 needs more to get me that snap, maybe +16 or more but I'm not certain.

Best regards, SteveK

'A camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera.' -- Dorothea Lange
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If you are at 20 you can't tell if 21 or more would be even better. Hitting the maximum is not good.

Gary in SE Michigan, USA. Co-organizer of the Southern Michigan Chapter
Nikonians membership - My most important photographic investment, after the camera.
D4, D800e, D300, D90, F6, FM3a (black), FM2n (chrome)
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>If you are at 20 you can't tell if 21 or more would be even
>better. Hitting the maximum is not good.

If you are at 20 and you are in sharp focus, why would you need to look further?

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If, while doing the AF fine tuning, you are clearly at the peak of the tuning curves for every lens within +-20, then my concern would be focus at infinity...not autofocus. If you have lenses that you want to have focus at infinity, then you could have an issue.

Larry Jordan

D800E, 14-24, 50, 24-70, 70-180 Micro, 70-200, 80-400mm AF-S

Website:
http://larryjordan.smugmug.com/

I have just used the Spyder LENSCAL target and ruler to check 2 brand new 105mm micros, on 2 new D800 bodies. My first attempt was a poor setup with, what seemed very bad results on one camera and lens, I ran out of adjustment at 20...still seemed out.
Next day I set up the target with a studio light on a tripod and was more precise with angles and distances etc. Ended up with much more accurate pattern and brought one lens to 0.0 on most used F stops with a -2 adjustment. The second camera/lens came good at -3 AF fine tune. What started out like one good camera/lens match and a VERY poor second set. Actually was my fault in being sloppy. I am much relieved that both D800 and Lenses are very close out of the box. 2 of my other lenses were so close I didn't adjust at all.
But I personally think that unless its for marco work or VERY precise commercial work.....its not going to make any visible difference.

RickJ

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For those of you interested in AF fine tuning, you might like the series of articles I am posting on the NANPA forum at the following link:
http://www.nanpa.org/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=36

The Equipment Calibration and Testing forum category was just added after the NANPA Summit earlier this month.

I use a D800e for the current testing I talk about. I used a D800 and a D300 for calibration testing last year. I sometimes refer to those tests as well.

Larry Jordan

D800E, 14-24, 50, 24-70, 70-180 Micro, 70-200, 80-400mm AF-S

Website:
http://larryjordan.smugmug.com/