Lens Fine Tuning Question.

NikonShutterBug

Senior Member
I have just finished fine tuning my prime lenses. Now I am ready to do my Nikon 18-140mm lens. The question is, do I set the lens to its 50% point, say 80mm and then make the adjustment? I would assume I only get one adj per lens. Thanks.
 

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
I have just finished fine tuning my prime lenses. Now I am ready to do my Nikon 18-140mm lens. The question is, do I set the lens to its 50% point, say 80mm and then make the adjustment? I would assume I only get one adj per lens. Thanks.
With the Nikon lens, yes; you'll only have the one adjustment setting. That being the case, I would test at three points along the focal length and use the average as the actual saved setting. With any luck, all three measurements will be very close to begin with.
 

Whiskeyman

Senior Member
With the Nikon lens, yes; you'll only have the one adjustment setting. That being the case, I would test at three points along the focal length and use the average as the actual saved setting. With any luck, all three measurements will be very close to begin with.

That is one way to do the adjustment, and with a bit of good luck, the adjustments for each of these three will be the same (not likely, though) or very close to one another. If that is the case, good for you!

If they tend to be divergent in AF Fine Tune requirements, then I would set the AF Fine Tune setting to the one that corresponds to the focal length that I use most often. You could always place a label on the bottom of the camera with the respective settings at different focal lengths and change the setting as needed.

WM
 

Camera Fun

Senior Member
Also remember that even after going through a fine tuning process, real world photos will help you determine if you have the correct setting. Don't be afraid to change the setting from what the process determined.
 

csgaraglino

Senior Member
This is a tough question for all the reasons posted. So when it cones time for me to tune my lenses, I look at each lens in Lightroom from the past year and get the top shot focal length-ish and tune for that.

My thoughts is, if I have a 70-200 and 80% of all shots average to 190mm - then, I'll set Apature to f/2.8 (or the lowest f for the lens) and that's what I should tune for.
 
Do it at 140 mm ( I have 2) and at F8 ..you will find the image so much sharper than at F5.6 ..use jpeg sharp +9 and view on your computer at 50 and 100% both mine were at +5 . Buy a tube of superglue for when the ring on the front of the focus barrel falls off ( six small spots)
 
Do it at 140 mm ( I have 2) and at F8 ..you will find the image so much sharper than at F5.6 ..use jpeg sharp +9 and view on your computer at 50 and 100% both mine were at +5 . Buy a tube of superglue for when the ring on the front of the focus barrel falls off ( six small spots)


You are not trying to make it as sharp as you can by changing the aperture. You want the lens wide open so that the smallest change shows up while fine tuning. And what are you talking about with the super glue?
 
You missed the point ..at F5.6 photographing a ruler the markings ( 1 mm ) are so blurred as not to be clear whats in focus and whats just blurred . I usually do the FF stopped down a bit to improve the clarity of the image ...Some lenses are sharp enough wide open others not.

The 18-140 has a problem with the plastic ring at the front of the zoom collar ...it breaks off ...so get the superglue ready both mine have done it and there have been questions about this on forums.
 
You missed the point ..at F5.6 photographing a ruler the markings ( 1 mm ) are so blurred as not to be clear whats in focus and whats just blurred . I usually do the FF stopped down a bit to improve the clarity of the image ...Some lenses are sharp enough wide open others not.

The 18-140 has a problem with the plastic ring at the front of the zoom collar ...it breaks off ...so get the superglue ready both mine have done it and there have been questions about this on forums.

I had and used the 18-140 for along time and tuned it with no problems Ali's never had a problem with breaking anything. A good fiend here has the lens now and we fine tuned it for him also.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Blacktop

Senior Member
You missed the point ..at F5.6 photographing a ruler the markings ( 1 mm ) are so blurred as not to be clear whats in focus and whats just blurred . I usually do the FF stopped down a bit to improve the clarity of the image ...Some lenses are sharp enough wide open others not.

The 18-140 has a problem with the plastic ring at the front of the zoom collar ...it breaks off ...so get the superglue ready both mine have done it and there have been questions about this on forums.

Do it at 140 mm ( I have 2) and at F8 .



You seem to be missing the point of AF-Tuning entirely. The whole point of it is, to have the lens focus exactly where you place the focus point. Not behind it and not in front of it. This is why you need the largest aperture
If you're fine tuning at f/8 you are defeating the purpose and just wasting your time. (unless your shooting everything at f/8 or wider)
 

Fred Kingston

Senior Member
Here is what I did... I use LR to catalogue everything. I searched in LR for my last 3 or 4 years images with that lens, and then averaged what focal lengths I actually used... then used that as my fine Tune setting.
 
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