Nikon D500 focus fine tune

I know we have some D500 threads but when the answer to this is known i thought it shouldn't be buried in another thread,auto fine tune on the D500,what i need to know and loads of others will is it only with Nikon lenses,if yes is there a manual fine tune for Tamron ect.
With Nikons history of adopting the attitude its not there responsibility to make sure other makes of lenses work properly on Nikon bodies, they are conceited enough to only allow fine tune with Nikon lenses and not provide an alternative.

mikew said:

I know we have some D500 threads but when the answer to this is known i thought it shouldn't be buried in another thread,auto fine tune on the D500,what i need to know and loads of others will is it only with Nikon lenses,if yes is there a manual fine tune for Tamron ect.
With Nikons history of adopting the attitude its not there responsibility to make sure other makes of lenses work properly on Nikon bodies, they are conceited enough to only allow fine tune with Nikon lenses and not provide an alternative.

Click to expand...

It would be a matter if the other lens adapt. It is a birder camera and they sell birder lens (200-500 and 300mm). How much should nikon spend to accomadate third party lans? Should they spend a dime for this?

mikew said:

I know we have some D500 threads but when the answer to this is known i thought it shouldn't be buried in another thread,auto fine tune on the D500,what i need to know and loads of others will is it only with Nikon lenses,if yes is there a manual fine tune for Tamron ect.
With Nikons history of adopting the attitude its not there responsibility to make sure other makes of lenses work properly on Nikon bodies, they are conceited enough to only allow fine tune with Nikon lenses and not provide an alternative.

Click to expand...

Well, all the other Nikon bodies that support AF Fine Tune support two third-party lenses and twelve lenses total (12 "slots" if you will), if memory serves me correct. I think it's safe to assume the new D5 and D500 will follow that course but that's just me talking. Sigma offers their USB Dock which fine tunes the firmware on the lens itself, so you can bypass the Nikon imposed third-party lens limitation that way, to some degree, but other than that...

Here's my understanding. It has the normal AF Fine tune available in current bodies. It also has the Auto Fine Tune that allows you to set the Fine Tune on Nikon Lenses using Live View's more accurate focusing. It's a situational override for the stored AF Fine Tune. You might wonder why you'd need that, but say you've calibrated you 70-200mm, or better yet a 200-500mm at the long end and you suddenly are out somewhere and shooting at the near end, you can calibrate it at another point in the zoom for the situation and know that it's not going to be "close" but it'll be spot on. I suspect it doesn't buy you a lot for fixed length lenses, but for zooms it's a great option. Wish it worked with all glass.

BackdoorHippie said:

Here's my understanding. It has the normal AF Fine tune available in current bodies. It also has the Auto Fine Tune that allows you to set the Fine Tune on Nikon Lenses for a given focal length and range using Live View's more accurate focusing. The latter is more situational, say for a photographer parked in an end zone. Calibrate your focus under current light conditions for a given range during a huddle and know that you're not going to be off a little during a play. It's a situational override for the stored AF Fine Tune. You might wonder why you'd need that, but say you've calibrated you 70-200mm, or better yet a 200-500mm at the long end and you suddenly are out somewhere and shooting at the near end, you can calibrate it at another point in the zoom for the situation and know that it's not going to be "close" but it'll be spot on. I suspect it doesn't buy you a lot for fixed length lenses, but for zooms it's a great option. Wish it worked with all glass.

Click to expand...

That sounds promising hope you right

mikew said:

That sounds promising hope you right

Click to expand...

If you go here... Nikon D500 specifications and features explained (confidential Nikon internal document) | Nikon Rumors

...and scroll down to Q25 you can see a bullet that says "Autofocus can be tuned automatically". This implies to me that it's not the only way to autofocus. No matter how much Nikon may want to screw with 3d party lens manufacturers, for them to release a pro body with no way to fine tune what's already in someone's bag would be suicidal. I have to believe that it will only autotune (or possibly guarantee the accuracy of autotune) on Nikon lenses.

I just checked the listing on B&H and this is what it says, "Lastly, a unique auto AF fine-tune function can be employed to ensure the best possible focus for each mounted lens. Rather than relying on photographing distance charts, this function lets you achieve precise focus manually in live view, and then have the AF system calibrate itself to the fine-tuned focus position in order to alleviate front- and back-focusing issues."

It doesn't say that it's for Nikon only or the only way to do it, so I wouldn't worry that the manual fine tune system is going away. It says the same things on the D5. You guys worry too much. LOL

Well for 'fun' I just finished auto fine-tuning all my AF lenses. I have Nikon, Tamron, Tokina and Sigma and they all were fine tuned - how fine that tuning was is really hard to judge.

This was the set up I chose - used the lid of my 'new' antique Kodak 1940's camera for a target - lots of contract. I used an LED trouble light to get good harsh light. Set this on a TV table and used a tripod set to the right height. Using a box allowed me to know that I was square on when I could not see any of the sides of the box. Not 100% 90° but I'm hoping that would be close enough.



i did find that if redid the calibration for some lenses each time the adjustment would be close (within one or maybe two points) but for others it came up with much wider range of adjustment values, do it once, get -12, then again get -8, then again get -15, then again - 9. So I'd do it til I got a value somewhere in the middle of the range of suggested adjustment values. A few lenses came in a zero adjustment needed, e.g. my Siggy 50mm which does not surprise as that lens is tack sharp, my 200-500 was also very close to zero (I think it came in at -1) and the closer to the O adjustment needed the less the range of suggestions. Some lenses went up to minus 20. I just completed this exercise and have not used any of the lenses yet to see if there is a real world difference.

BUT this exercise is going to cost me.

I now have 13 calibrated lenses listed on my D500 - can't have that. I must buy another AF lens.

I do have more lenses but they are not AF - I don't think you can use this system to calibrate a manual lens - correct me if I'm wrong on that.