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645Z-Is Fine AF lens tuning always expected.

D&A

Well-known member
Makes sense to 1st test the lenses you use most often. Are you comfirming if focusing is off by using cameras autofocus to 1st focus a lens wide open at a given distance and then determining acccuracy via focus peaking?

Dave (D&A)
 

algrove

Well-known member
Makes sense to 1st test the lenses you use most often. Are you comfirming if focusing is off by using cameras autofocus to 1st focus a lens wide open at a given distance and then determining acccuracy via focus peaking?

Dave (D&A)
Yes, AF wide open aiming at LA . I guess I could do what you suggest.
But I am taking shots so that I can later use Focus Tune software for evaluating best nesr focus setting. But I do use replay and then zoom in to see what worked with various settings.
 
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D&A

Well-known member
Yes, AF wide open aiming at LA . I guess I could do what you suggest.
But I am taking shots so that I can later use Focus Tune software for evaluating best nesr focus setting. But I do use replay and then zoom in to see what worked with various settings.
Sounds good Lou. Often it was long distance accuracy with legacy lenses shot near their max. apature that seemed to have the moat difficulty.

Dave (D&A)
 

algrove

Well-known member
Sounds good Lou. Often it was long distance accuracy with legacy lenses shot near their max. apature that seemed to have the moat difficulty.

Dave (D&A)
Do I assume the 300/5.6 and 150/2.8 are included above?
 

D&A

Well-known member
The 150mm f2.8 definitely but that was one of the legacy lenses I found that had very good consistancy from sample to sample. Still its a fast f2.8 lens with minimal depth of field when shot wide open. I didn't test enough samples of the 300 f5.6 lens to get a consensus, but the 300 f4 absolutely required af fine tuning.

Dave (D&A)
 

algrove

Well-known member
Well, what a day and not a sip of beer yet. I had to scrap the Focus Tune feature since 645Z files do not export EXIF data containing the AF Fine Tune setting number. So I reverted to the old manual method. So near is completed. Now onto mid distance next.

The only 2 lenses that were different from all the others was the 150/2.8 and the 80-160. None came out perfect to my eye, but we will see how other distances go.
 

D&A

Well-known member
Lou, how far off in focusing accuracy as well as what a given user can accept of course varies. Simply put, many legacy lenses I tested did not fall in the relm of acceptabilty unless adjusted by a notable and fairly significant amount. Everyone's milage will vary.

Dave (D&A)
 

algrove

Well-known member
With the exception of the 150 and 45-85 all lenses came in at -10 and I wish it had -20 just in case. The 2 exceptions came in at +10. So much for near focus. No beer involved here either. Oh, both camera bodies registered identical.

Is it stupid to setup the Lens Align for medium focus distance if I am working at distances out to 25-30 feet?
 

D&A

Well-known member
Wow -10 is quite a bit. Thats why af fine tune especially with 645 digital bodies I believe is so important, and of course with regards to the legacy lenses. I too always wished that it went to -20 like Nikon bodies and thought when the 645z came around that they would expand from the original 645D.

My question to you were these settings required at min focus? If so I'm curious what if anything changes at infinity. I wouldn't use lens alight at mid or infinity. At mid tange set up aome sort of targets) to shoot at.

You do know with a few good strong beers, the over riding concern will be what time the tavern closes...not the af fine tune settings :)

Dave (D&A)
 

algrove

Well-known member
Wow -10 is quite a bit. Thats why af fine tune especially with 645 digital bodies I believe is so important, and of course with regards to the legacy lenses. I too always wished that it went to -20 like Nikon bodies and thought when the 645z came around that they would expand from the original 645D.

My question to you were these settings required at min focus? If so I'm curious what if anything changes at infinity. I wouldn't use lens alight at mid or infinity. At mid tange set up aome sort of targets) to shoot at.

You do know with a few good strong beers, the over riding concern will be what time the tavern closes...not the af fine tune settings :)

Dave (D&A)
I have some very nice German Hefe Weizen glasses that could make good targets.

Midrange starts tomorrow since right now I have to make another beer run. I'm debating selling here and moving closer to Total Wine.
 

D&A

Well-known member
Don't forget Total Wine got its beginnings here in the mid Atlantic region.

Keep in mind you might come across the situation where a lens or lenses say needed -5 setting when used at close range but only a -2 for example when used at infinity. Often times a compromise setting is required. With 35mm DSLR's, most of the time you use the min distance af fine tune adjustment and let the larger depth of field shooting at infinity cover any descrepancy in focusing at infinity. UnfortunatelyI found this doesn't always apply to some 645 lenses utilizing this method. Lets see what you fine at longer distances first.

Dave (D&A)
 

algrove

Well-known member
Well, i was lazy and tried all at mid distance, about 30 feet, and nothing changed so next is infinity.
 

D&A

Well-known member
Well, i was lazy and tried all at mid distance, about 30 feet, and nothing changed so next is infinity.
Lou, see what infinity shows. I have some thoughts regarding selecting 30 feet as the mid distance range for aome of the tested lenses...but permit me to reserve comments until you finish infinity testing. Thx so far for the informative feedback.

Dave (D&A)
 

algrove

Well-known member
I see I did not follow my own suggestions as for mid point distances. Rain and bad weather have hampered my efforts somewhat. I leave in a couple of days and have lots of "other stuff" to do before departure. So will manual focus if I have to, which I often prefer to do anyways. I found the focus peaking less than ideal for trees and vegetation, but I put a little yard flag I stiffened with cardboard and stuck between some dark pavers and then I could see the focus peaking looking like snow where in focus and not in focus. I wish the focus peaking had color selections since white is very hard for me to see well. I tend to like the red as on the Leica M.
 

D&A

Well-known member
Agree Lou that focus peaking ia not perfect on the 645z but adaquate. You picked up my thoughts regarding that 30 foot distance for the mid distance point. Somewhat shot for certain longer focal length lenses. With time constraints its understandable you can only do so much testing prior to your trip.

Funny thing though is there is always enough time for one more glass of good beer :)

Dave (D&A)
 

algrove

Well-known member
Beer is easy-open fridge, pop top, pour into glass if German and begin drinking. Lens calibration is so boring it almost puts me to sleep, but as you know it takes some effort to do this even with 5-6 lenses. I will probably work on it after sunrises when I would not be doing much else except for hunting for better sunrise/sunset locations and taking the occessional M246 shot. I can get more enthusistic when doing that than here at home messing with flags on patio pavers.
 

D&A

Well-known member
As boring and tedious as lens testing can be, I keep reminding myself what it was like to do the same sort of thing in the film era. Rolls and rolls of film shot in each lens testing session and then of course the task of developing and printing. I often preferred using print film as opposed to transparencies for this use and still much to the chagrin of famy members, have boxes upon boxes of now mostly useless printed images from lenses tested going as far back to the 70's.

Want to know which f stop and focal length gives highest resolution in the then state of the art angenieux 28-70 f2.6-2.8 lens and at what distance, just ask. LOL!

Excessive lens testing can become some form of disease of which the only cure is to stop and have a cold one (or two). Sadly the cure is only temporary...LOL!

Dave (D&A)
 

algrove

Well-known member
You know I'm lucky and unlucky as far as old transparencies and negatives/prints go since Hurricane Andrew in 1992 took it all away in one evening. What I miss most were my National Geographic quality lionesses and cubs shot in Amboseli during a very early morning sunrise. Nikon with either 500 mirror or 80-200.
 

D&A

Well-known member
Thats heartbreaking when you lose irreplaceable cherished items such as you described. Sometimes no matter how many precautions we take, the inevitable happens.

Some would say look at the bright side and make every attempt to recapture and better previous images lost and the new adventure brings new memories and satisfaction.

Of course cherished personal images such as family members who are no longer with us are the true loses when their captured images are lost as you described. Those situations are truly unfortunate.

Dave (D&A)
 
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