BackdoorArts
Senior Member
I got an email from my brother yesterday with a subject line of "Coolest Software Ever!!" The body read, "Been using the Pro version all day setting up all my bodies an lenses. It works like a charm! Make sure you read ALL the documentation before using it though, there is a bit of a learning curve."
What hewas talking about is Reikan FoCal Automated Camera/Lens Calibration software. Overly simplified, it seems you connect your camera to your computer with the software installed via USB cable, print out their charts, go through the proper steps and it will produce the optimized set of calibration numbers for your camera lens combination. Seems to be slightly more "automated" on Canon than Nikon likely due to what the USB interface can and cannot do, but my understanding is that it all works the same but there is manual intervention involved on the Nikon side that approximately doubles the time required to produce your numbers (from 1-2 to 3-4 minutes, or so it says). Nikons covered are all the FX cameras and the D7000/D7100.
The "Pro" version is about $100 depending on the daily exchange rate. I'm not thrilled that there's a limit to the number of cameras it allows you to use it with, though I understand why they might do this ("Hey, c'mon over and I'll calibrate your camera and lens for $25!!"). I have the Spyder focus calibration gadget that I use to manually do it, so I'm not planning on immediately dropping any money on this, but I do want to check it out next time I'm at my brothers. If it's truly "the coolest software ever" I'll let you guys know. In the meantime I thought I'd at least point anyone looking to get their cameras and lenses "perfect" might want to take a look at it.
What hewas talking about is Reikan FoCal Automated Camera/Lens Calibration software. Overly simplified, it seems you connect your camera to your computer with the software installed via USB cable, print out their charts, go through the proper steps and it will produce the optimized set of calibration numbers for your camera lens combination. Seems to be slightly more "automated" on Canon than Nikon likely due to what the USB interface can and cannot do, but my understanding is that it all works the same but there is manual intervention involved on the Nikon side that approximately doubles the time required to produce your numbers (from 1-2 to 3-4 minutes, or so it says). Nikons covered are all the FX cameras and the D7000/D7100.
The "Pro" version is about $100 depending on the daily exchange rate. I'm not thrilled that there's a limit to the number of cameras it allows you to use it with, though I understand why they might do this ("Hey, c'mon over and I'll calibrate your camera and lens for $25!!"). I have the Spyder focus calibration gadget that I use to manually do it, so I'm not planning on immediately dropping any money on this, but I do want to check it out next time I'm at my brothers. If it's truly "the coolest software ever" I'll let you guys know. In the meantime I thought I'd at least point anyone looking to get their cameras and lenses "perfect" might want to take a look at it.