Blade Canyon
Senior Member
I saw this in another Nikon forum, and it worked so well it's worth sharing. I have the Focal software, and it's slow to use and a hassle to set up. For this method, you don't even need to take any pictures.
For beginners, high-end Nikon bodies have a feature in the set-up menu called "AF fine tune." You can make tiny AF adjustments to make each lens sharpest right where you are focusing, and the camera body remembers this adjustment for each lens.
The simple idea here is to use Live View zoomed in to achieve perfect focus, then use the viewfinder's focus indicators to know how to adjust.
With camera on tripod, do these steps in order.
1. Set camera to manual focus.
2. Turn on Live View and zoom it all the way in (using the + button) on your chosen focus chart or other busy subject. Manually focus to perfection. Live View shows you exactly what's on the sensor, so if it's in focus in Live View, it should be in focus in your photographs.
3. Turn off Live View and LOOK THROUGH THE VIEWFINDER, and depress the shutter button slightly so the focus indicators turn on (bottom left of the info bar). Again, you should still be in Manual Focus mode, so touching the shutter button should NOT cause the lens to refocus.
4A. In the viewfinder, IF the round green circle appears while putting pressure on the shutter button, your auto focus system agrees that your manual focus was correct. Lens is calibrated. Stop here and try another lens.
4B. But, looking through the viewfinder with the shutter button partially depressed, if the round green circle does not appear, it means the auto-focus system in the camera does not agree that the image is in focus, so you have to make adjustments to the calibration WITHOUT CHANGING THE POSITION OF THE CAMERA OR THE FOCUS YOU ALREADY SET MANUALLY. In other words, you are teaching the camera body that the existing setting is the correct focus.
5. If the arrow points to the right, the camera's AF system believes you are back focusing, so go to AF Fine Tune in the menu. Make sure the AF Fine Tune feature is set to ON. Set the number value to -5. SAVE IT. Look through the viewfinder again and see if the focus indicator has changed. If the green circle now appears, your lens is calibrated. If the arrow still points to the right, change to -10. If the RIGHT arrow appears at this point, your initial change was too much, so reduce it to -3, for example. Keep making adjustments until you get the round green circle in the viewfinder. You would do the exact opposite if the initial reading of the focus indicator pointed to the left.
That's it. Remember to save your settings. Test the settings by putting the camera back in AF mode, and shooting down a ruler or along a bookshelf to see if the focus point you select is the same one that is sharpest in your photos.
For beginners, high-end Nikon bodies have a feature in the set-up menu called "AF fine tune." You can make tiny AF adjustments to make each lens sharpest right where you are focusing, and the camera body remembers this adjustment for each lens.
The simple idea here is to use Live View zoomed in to achieve perfect focus, then use the viewfinder's focus indicators to know how to adjust.
With camera on tripod, do these steps in order.
1. Set camera to manual focus.
2. Turn on Live View and zoom it all the way in (using the + button) on your chosen focus chart or other busy subject. Manually focus to perfection. Live View shows you exactly what's on the sensor, so if it's in focus in Live View, it should be in focus in your photographs.
3. Turn off Live View and LOOK THROUGH THE VIEWFINDER, and depress the shutter button slightly so the focus indicators turn on (bottom left of the info bar). Again, you should still be in Manual Focus mode, so touching the shutter button should NOT cause the lens to refocus.
4A. In the viewfinder, IF the round green circle appears while putting pressure on the shutter button, your auto focus system agrees that your manual focus was correct. Lens is calibrated. Stop here and try another lens.
4B. But, looking through the viewfinder with the shutter button partially depressed, if the round green circle does not appear, it means the auto-focus system in the camera does not agree that the image is in focus, so you have to make adjustments to the calibration WITHOUT CHANGING THE POSITION OF THE CAMERA OR THE FOCUS YOU ALREADY SET MANUALLY. In other words, you are teaching the camera body that the existing setting is the correct focus.
5. If the arrow points to the right, the camera's AF system believes you are back focusing, so go to AF Fine Tune in the menu. Make sure the AF Fine Tune feature is set to ON. Set the number value to -5. SAVE IT. Look through the viewfinder again and see if the focus indicator has changed. If the green circle now appears, your lens is calibrated. If the arrow still points to the right, change to -10. If the RIGHT arrow appears at this point, your initial change was too much, so reduce it to -3, for example. Keep making adjustments until you get the round green circle in the viewfinder. You would do the exact opposite if the initial reading of the focus indicator pointed to the left.
That's it. Remember to save your settings. Test the settings by putting the camera back in AF mode, and shooting down a ruler or along a bookshelf to see if the focus point you select is the same one that is sharpest in your photos.
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