Quick AF Microadjustment question

Does the + move the focus in front of the subject and the - behind the subject? Or the other way round?
See what I am thinking is... That if you adjust to focus a couple of mm in front of subject you might get a better in focus keeper rate, but of course this will not work in a really shallow DOF Situation. Anyone else thought about this?

+ puts the plane beyond the subject.

Curious, why do you think setting it to front focus a bit will make it more accurate? My experience is that setting it to be perfect yields the most accuracy.

Nick_Reading.UK wrote in post #16547664
Does the + move the focus in front of the subject and the - behind the subject? Or the other way round?
See what I am thinking is... That if you adjust to focus a couple of mm in front of subject you might get a better in focus keeper rate, but of course this will not work in a really shallow DOF Situation. Anyone else thought about this?

I believe it's the other way around. That is, + moves the focus point farther from the camera and - moves the focus point closer. If you have a setup that gives you a clear result of where the focus point is, a few test shots at 0 then + and - 10 should show clearly which way it goes. If you don't have a test setup that shows clearly where focus and dof are, may be better not to fiddle with micro adjust.

I did consider along the lines you are. I almost always focus to a front part of my subject so why throw away DOF in front of this point. It might be worthwhile in very specific set ups (specific lens, portraits, known f stop, at a specific distance) but in the end I decided it wasn't worth sacrificing sharpest focus at my focus point, especially as you noted with fast lenses wide open. I have heard of photographers setting the camera to focus back a bit for exactly this reason. Perhaps someone more knowledgable will chime in.

JeffreyG wrote in post #16547697
+ puts the plane beyond the subject.

Curious, why do you think setting it to front focus a bit will make it more accurate? My experience is that setting it to be perfect yields the most accuracy.

Not more accurate, just maybe more of a keeper rate, example if you focus on a tip of someone's nose but move the camera a fraction then the tip of the nose might be out a little.. Just thoughts nothing else..

Nick_Reading.UK wrote in post #16547703
Not more accurate, just maybe more of a keeper rate, example if you focus on a tip of someone's nose but move the camera a fraction then the tip of the nose might be out a little.. Just thoughts nothing else..

Or, you could move the camera a fraction in the opposite direction and burger it all up even more