Lens Calibration Software

Good evening Nikonites, I hope all is well. Dose anyone have any experience with Reikan FoCal 2.0 Pro Lens Calibration Software? If so what is your impression? Thanks.

NikonShutterBug said:

Good evening Nikonites, I hope all is well. Dose anyone have any experience with Reikan FoCal 2.0 Pro Lens Calibration Software? If so what is your impression? Thanks.

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Most likely I'm an outlier when it comes to using FoCal but my experience was not good. I really, REALLY wanted FoCal to work because I'm a *big* believer in fine-tuning the auto-focus on my lenses. I started working with FoCal at home but I kept getting horrible results and wild variations in suggested auto-focus adjustments. All of my lenses had been manually adjusted prior to using FoCal so went in having some idea of what was needed. My biggest issue was that FoCal would not give consistent results. After getting fed up with such piss-poor results I packed up my laptop and camera kit and hauled everything to the college campus where I work and have arguably ideal conditions to do this sort of testing: huge interior spaces with concrete floors, lots and lots of natural light, no shortage of 500-watt daylight-balanced lamps (should additional light be required) and a proven-reliable tripod.

After spending the better part of a precious weekend trying to make FoCal work as it should, I threw in the towel. When, and IF, the software would fully cooperate, which was about half the time, the resultant reports still gave values that were all over the map and clearly out of whack. After numerous emails with pics of the studio setup where I was testing and attaching FoCal-generated reports to the FoCal people, even they had to admit something was clearly not right. They never did figure out what the problem was, but after numerous attempts at troubleshooting they (grudgingly) refunded me the purchase price.

All that being said, I still encourage fine-tuning the auto-focus on your lenses, big time; I just wish FoCal had worked out for me.
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I have used it on a D7100, D7200, D750 and a yesterday a friend's Canon 5D MkIV . He was so happy he ordered the software to use on his other two Canons.

I would not own a camera or lens without using FoCal on it.

Now you have two totally opposite opinions.

I have found that anything other than natural light does not work well. Open shade tends to be the best. distance from the target is critical but the software will tell you if you are to far away or to close. 50 times the focal length is a good place to start. It will warn you and tell you to correct it. Printing the target is important. I bought MATTE Photo Paper and printed it in high quality. I then went to to Office Depot and bought form core board that is sticky on one side. Mounting it keeps it flat.

Follow the directions and figure out the way your camera works and it is great.

Don Kuykendall said:

I have used it on a D7100, D7200, D750 and a yesterday a friend's Canon 5D MkIV . He was so happy he ordered the software to use on his other two Canons.

I would not own a camera or lens without using FoCal on it.

Now you have two totally opposite opinions.

I have found that anything other than natural light does not work well. Open shade tends to be the best. distance from the target is critical but the software will tell you if you are to far away or to close. 50 times the focal length is a good place to start. It will warn you and tell you to correct it. Printing the target is important. I bought MATTE Photo Paper and printed it in high quality. I then went to to Office Depot and bought form core board that is sticky on one side. Mounting it keeps it flat.

Follow the directions and figure out the way your camera works and it is great.

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I agree with all that Don said. If you take a little trouble with the setup it is awesome.

Don, what do you think if I were to do this process out doors on a sunny day? Its winter and the days are usually sunny here in Florida. I understand I don't want a partially cloudy day.

NikonShutterBug said:

Don, what do you think if I were to do this process out doors on a sunny day? Its winter and the days are usually sunny here in Florida. I understand I don't want a partially cloudy day.

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With my friend last week we set up in his garage with the target outside in bright sun or in open shade and it worked quite well. The software will tell you if you do not have enough light. Whatever you do just try to have the light constant throughout the test.

My experience with FoCal has been similar to Paul's. Consequently, right now I just don't trust it.

I'm not convinced that my problem is not related to running the app natively on Mac, vs Windows. I've tried running the windows version of FoCal on a Windows VM on my mac and had better reliability ... but still had crazy results with the adjustment recommendations.

I haven't been active enough in pursuing the problem to say that it's not my setup ... that's entirely possible, so I don't mean to put down the product. I just haven't gone after it much after 3 times giving it a go. Setting it up outside is my next step ... all my prior tests were done indoors with 1000w shop lights on the calibration target.