Lensalign Pro. Is there a better and lower cost alternative?

[mrmarks]

Is there a good or better alternative product to the Lensalign Pro which is lower in cost? Thanks

[PicSniper]

I don't believe there is. By the way, the Lensalign Pro is pricey, but worth it, in my opinion.

[bohdank]

Yes and it costs nothing.

Put camera on tripod. AF (Quick) using Liveview. Look at image in Liveview and MF to see if you can improve focus. If so, MA and do it all over again. When you think you have it right....

MF in Liveview (Quick AF). Don't use the contrast detect focusing since I have discovered it never hits perfect focus with any of my lenses.

Once MF'd, watch the distance scale on lens and Quck AF. If there is no movement (lens does not refocus), your lens is now perfectly calibrated to your body.

[lannes]

I found this post by Yvon Bourque very useful, especially as the charts he designed are created to give you the correct 45 degree angle when the focus target appears round in the viewfinder. Probably just as accurate as lens align and it's free. Different charts are used for different lens types. Try this first before you invest in lens align, the post is in 2 parts.

Part 1
http://pentaxdslrs.blogspot.com/2008...or-pentax.html

Part 2
http://pentaxdslrs.blogspot.com/2008...or-pentax.html

[Wilt]

Here is an extremely cheap alternative (go spend the money on some other accessory you really need!...if you threw out any VCR tapes, go splurge & buy some from the Thrift Store) Box fronts are the AF focus target, ruler at 45 is to help assess accuracy of focus.




And in this example, the '9' on the ruler is exactly aligned to the front of the target VCR tape box used for AF, and it is clearly in sharp focus, indicating good AF alignment.

[mrmarks]

Originally Posted by bohdank

Yes and it costs nothing.

Put camera on tripod. AF (Quick) using Liveview. Look at image in Liveview and MF to see if you can improve focus. If so, MA and do it all over again. When you think you have it right....

MF in Liveview (Quick AF). Don't use the contrast detect focusing since I have discovered it never hits perfect focus with any of my lenses.

Once MF'd, watch the distance scale on lens and Quck AF. If there is no movement (lens does not refocus), your lens is now perfectly calibrated to your body.

Bohdank, what type of chart or image do you typically use for this purpose? Do you zoom into the image in Liveview? Thanks

[bohdank]

I use the back of a Western Digital 1.5TB drive. The printing on the label is extremely fine and clear edged. I stand it up on a table. When perfectly in focus there is no ambiguity.

Yes, Liveview, 10x.

The 45 degree angle is not needed and serves no purpose other than to tell you if you are front/back focusing. I only want to know that what I am focusing on is at it's sharpest. Now, depending what/how you shoot you may prefer certain lenses slightly front/back focus.

I have found that using this method, the results are repeatable...in other words, every time you do the test, the result is exactly the same. There is also no danger that the camera may AF on something other than you intended.

And best of all, no images to review.

[mrmarks]

Thanks Bohdank, I like the idea of using liveview as this is faster and more convenient. I will try this using a Moire interference pattern which I downloaded from http://www.northlight-images.co.uk/a...djustment.html

[crn3371]

You might want to take a look at this thread. Forum member TeamSpeed has developed a low cost alternative that you might want to look at.

[TeamSpeed]

Thanks CRN, here is my free version as well...

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/...d.php?t=750736

[mrmarks]

So here are some examples of my microadjustment settings in my 5D2 made with the liveview method and a moire interference pattern on my laptop:

16-35F2.8L2 (0)
50F1.2L (-5)
24-105F4L (0)

Camera was mounted on a tripod and lens IS was disabled. My lenses were set to max aperture via aperture-priority, low ISO (400) and I manually set the focus on the lens to infinity before allowing the camera to autofocus the reference target. Camera-to-subject distance is 50 times the focal length of the lens. The squareness of the sensor plane to the laptop monitor is checked by the symmetry of the moire pattern. The liveview was set to 10x zoom so that the moire pattern fits the LCD screen. Focusing sharpness was easy to see via the moire interference pattern and there's no ambiguity and repeatable. I just have to adjust the microadjustment and check the moire interference pattern until I get the correct microadjustment.

Thanks for all your inputs especially bohdank.

[tvphotog]

Originally Posted by PicSniper

I don't believe there is. By the way, the Lensalign Pro is pricey, but worth it, in my opinion.

I second this. I've had very reproducible results with it, again and again. If I have any trauma to the lens or body, I can check it with the LensAlign to see if it's been thrown off, and send it to Canon.