Pixiq

I recently watched as a photographer adjusted his camera’s AF Micro Adjustment as if he was adjusting the dioptre correction for the viewfinder. Weird… I though. And then I decided to write about this new trend.

When Canon launched, recently, the new EOS 60D, presented as the substitute for the EOS 50D (that has MA) and “forgot” to include the Autofocus Micro Adjustment system, many people claimed it’s a wrong move. Some say it’s marketing, a way to make people go and buy the EOS 7D. Some say they will change brand… the usual stuff, really.

Canon might just be tiring of getting so many questions about the right way to MA all lenses. And that may be the problem. Everybody – well, almost everybody wants to fiddle with MA – and it seems that it was not exactly that Canon (and the other camera makers using it) had in mind. A photographer in a forum on the web claims that a Canon service rep told him the MA “was to be used only for an emergency – not constantly” and that  “lenses often don't suffer from a consistent amount of MA correction for all lengths (in the case of zooms) and focal distance. Instead, they could need different MA at different lengths and focus distances, and only they had the software and systems capable of doing that job.”  

The market reality, we know it, is quite different. The ghost of front focus and back focus in modern DSLR’s seems to be the culprit of it all. Suddenly, sometime ago, people started complaining that their camera’s lenses were not focusing properly, either focusing in front or behind the targeted subjects. First, camera makers had to take the cameras back, the lenses also, sometimes, and try to get things working properly.

Guess what? Many of the problems were not real, were more the result of too much pixel-peeping at high magnifications, higher expectations than the price paid for the lenses, and represented a “me too” fever that somehow has caught people at a fast speed because of the way things work in these Web days; the faster the information (and disinformation) travel, the more people it affects.

Camera makers looking for a solution for that came up with the AF Micro Adjustment option in the cameras, first on top professional models then on more and more models even at a more popular level. Suddenly almost everybody could correct the bad focus of their lenses, and everybody started doing that and writing down their own recipes. And passing them along as the solution.

The problem is that one man’s solution can be the other man’s headache, because no two lenses are equal. That said, you’ve to test for a specific combination of lens and camera to get things right. Or what you think is right for you. And also, you can adjust for a focal length and distance and totally mess the other focal lengths…

So, with AF Micro Adjustment camera makers can build lenses without caring much about Quality Control or Quality Assurance, say some photographers, trusting that their clients will test their lenses and adjust them. And so everybody is doing that now, and even complaining if their new camera does not have the feature, forgetting that we lived without that for ages… and many probably would have a more happy life without it.

I recently saw a photographer showing of the results of his tests made at home, and changing the AF Micro Adjustment over and over, to explain people around him how it worked;, but still he was not sure if it worked, how and if the results were any better. And he had done all the testing at home, with a target, following some of the test methods shown on the web. Then, he though, we was ready for some great outdoor photography, resulting in tack sharp pictures.

What he seems to forget, and many more people too, is that, in the case of Canon, for example, they state that “it is best to make the adjustment at the actual place to be photographed. This will make the adjustment more precise." (info taken from the EOS 50D manual).

So, Canon states that for the results to be the best you’ve to make the adjustment in the place we’re you take the pictures. Good solution for someone working at a studio, but does it make any sense for people moving from place to place? Does it make any sense for photojournalists? Does it make any sense for the amateur that goes out a whole Saturday afternoon snapping pictures here and there? I guess camera makers should come out and explain clearly what they think is the best way to adjust the AF. And who should do it.

Also, it seems to be common sense now that you should adjust your lens – if you’re using the tools – for the distance you mostly use, because there’s no “one adjust fits all needs”. Still, people don’t seem to be aware of that, as they are willingly changing settings over and over, looking for something that is not there: the completely perfect focus. Because AF systems do have tolerance margins. And are also affected for things that we can not calibrate altogether: a photographer’s shaking hands, a day when one’s eyesight is not at its best (if it ever is…), and many other things that can influence how sharp a final image is. Starting with one truth: for the adjustment to be precise it has to be done to the actual distance to the subject to be photographed. Try doing that every time you take a picture.

In fact, in my opinion, new lenses are usually just fine, and if they show strange results, then maybe you’ve got a bad copy. Send it back if it’s within the warranty, or try to find out what can be wrong. But don’t just blame AF and start fiddling with it, especially if you don’t know what you’re doing. Most of the new lenses are within the tolerances accepted, so if you “discover” that all your lenses need adjustment, there must be something wrong, probably with your eyesight. Still, I am finding people now that claim they needed to “fix” all their lenses.  And when I hear that, I just ask/think to myself… “and to what distance did they fix them all too?”

In fact, AF Micro Adjustment is here to stay, for better or worse. It can be a useful tool for some, but can be a new headache for many others, that will spend more time changing settings in their cameras than using them in what they were really made for: taking pictures.

Think about that when you think you need MA. And if in doubt, ask a friend to look at the images taken with your camera. This might be a good start. Or the end of all fears.