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New D850 Focus Issues

glenerrolrd

Workshop Member
Keep in mind that this information “Could Be “ misinformation . After reading Diglloyds Blog post about an issue with the D850 not aligning the AF with the sensor ...I did the tests he recommended . Since I also have a D810 I could immediately see the differences . When using a manual focus lens (zeiss lotus) the AF confirmation was way off the OVF . I have excellent 20/10 eyesight so I rely on visual confirmation of the focus point even when using AF .

I have made the request for a return to BH as my camera was in the first shipment .

Would appreciate hearing from anyone that has a D850 and can do some of the tests recommended by Diglloyd . I would hate to send this back only to find out ..its a misunderstanding ...but I would be less happy if the darn camera had to go to Nikon to be calibrated .

I can wait until they sort it out .
 

Jack

Sr. Administrator
Staff member
You would think after the D800 AF point error debacle, Nikon would have learned to not release a camera until at least the AF was confirmed to work. I would hate to be "the guy" responsible for this oversight! :ROTFL:
 

Paul2660

Well-known member
There have been other reports of AF tracking not being exact on "high speed" objects.

If this does present a recall, history is not that good for Nikon:

D800 and E both had the AF recall early bodies
D750 2x shutter recalls (both times for mine)
D810 White dot issue on only the first 10K or so bodies shipped world wide, which did include mine.

As I am not a paid subscriber for Lloyd and have found his reviews can be a bit over critical (personal opinion I realize not shared by all) I will wait to see what if anything Nikon does. It will be on Nikon rumors if anything is announced.

Paul Caldwell
 

glenerrolrd

Workshop Member
Agree 100% that DL frequently over reacts to his initial tests . Some times as Paul indicated its a real issue as was found with the D800 focus points ...othertimes its been hard to replicate . My guess would be that AF can be calibrated to produce perfect focus but it seems less likely that manual focus (requiring calibration between the OVF and the sensor ) may be more difficult.

Tomorrow I will try focusing with live view and then see if it matches the OVF .
 
V

Vivek

Guest
Roger, Do you mean the electronic RF (green dot) not agreeing with your manual focus as "the AF of a manual focus"?

I think the AF module is separate from the OVF. It might need tuning to match the OVF.

What is a lotus, btw?
 

Jorgen Udvang

Subscriber Member
In the meantime, our test team is preparing for their D850 focus test, calibrating the AF of the reference camera, the $50 no-name Chinese Samsung copy, hoping that Nikon will eventually make a camera that will improve on the performance and user friendliness of their state-of-the-art gear :watch:

F6 with Samsung 135mm f/2 and Portra 400

 

Mr.Gale

Member
In the meantime, our test team is preparing for their D850 focus test, calibrating the AF of the reference camera, the $50 no-name Chinese Samsung copy, hoping that Nikon will eventually make a camera that will improve on the performance and user friendliness of their state-of-the-art gear :watch:

F6 with Samsung 135mm f/2 and Portra 400

I haven't got a clue about what you are talking about in this post(?).

Mr.G
 

glenerrolrd

Workshop Member
Nice thread in the Fred Miranda forum on this ISSUE? .....appears it may be either (1) corrected thru AF calibration or (2) limited to a few camera/lens combinations . As usual there are a number of MY CAMERA doesn t exhibit this ....but there are also a number of I corrected this issue thru focus calibration . Maybe there is hope .

What I never seem to find is the image in the OVF sharp to the eye when the camera is in focus . This is the true test of alignment between the sensor and the OVF ....not the focus confirmation .
 

Jack

Sr. Administrator
Staff member
What I never seem to find is the image in the OVF sharp to the eye when the camera is in focus . This is the true test of alignment between the sensor and the OVF ....not the focus confirmation .
Roger, stupid question, but could it be as simple as inadequate OVF diopter adjustment?
 

glenerrolrd

Workshop Member
Jack

Nothing stupid about that ....I will do some more thorough testing . Let me restate my issue ..hopefully in a clear manner . I realize that many DSLR need some modest adjustment to calibrate the AF sensor to capture sensor AND that this can vary by lens (assume that is a flange difference ). In most cases this works great and cameras that allow calibration can be very accurate .

These adjustments will not correct the visual calibration of the OVF ..so lets say I am focusing 100% by what I see in the viewfinder ...then I believe I am screwed . This has not been a priority for systems that rely on AF and now LV . In fact I am hearing more and more that its only sharp if you use LV .

If you use AF lenses and calibrate them ..you can get in focus images like a champion ...but visual confirmation would not be perfect .

Let me know if I am misinformed .

Thanks

Roger
 

glenerrolrd

Workshop Member
OK OK I messed up ...must be sloppy testing and Fear Uncertainty and Doubt . I pulled out Lens Align and tested with a 105/1.4 Nikon AF ...focus was as perfect as it gets with NO adjustment required . Then I went back to the Zeiss OTUS 55 ..I put a lot of light on the target to minimize my over confidence in my eyesight ...dead on again .

I will be keeping my D850 and thanks in advance for not rubbing it in that I fell for DL article . Still not so sure about infinity focus with Zeiss Manual lenses ..so if thats your system you better check it .
 

tcdeveau

Well-known member
OK OK I messed up ...must be sloppy testing and Fear Uncertainty and Doubt . I pulled out Lens Align and tested with a 105/1.4 Nikon AF ...focus was as perfect as it gets with NO adjustment required . Then I went back to the Zeiss OTUS 55 ..I put a lot of light on the target to minimize my over confidence in my eyesight ...dead on again .

I will be keeping my D850 and thanks in advance for not rubbing it in that I fell for DL article . Still not so sure about infinity focus with Zeiss Manual lenses ..so if thats your system you better check it .
Great to hear. Hopefully there aren't any major issues with the D850 that would require a recall, but that seems to be par for the course with just about any new camera launch these days unfortunately.

I stopped reading DL a long time ago when it comes to camera gear and would recommend most do the same. He seems to be the king of FUD and cries the sky is falling with anything he finds. I don't necessarily discount his observations, but I think he'd better serve the photography community as a beta-testing consultant for manufacturers rather than a reviewer. I think most people's time is better served getting out and enjoying your gear, and then consult the manufacturer first then the internet after you observe any issues, rather than trying to replicate issues DL finds. People also seem to forget that he's only one data point, and he trashes gear that others have had no problems using.

When I sold my Pentax 28-45, I was contacted by an interested party who claimed to be a personal friend to DL who provided DL with all the 645D gear he reviewed. I got all sorts of questions about optical centering of the elements and corner performance according to DL's observations. I told him I wasn't sure what his relationship with DL had to do with my sale, and that I didn't care about DL's observations, but offered to send RAWs so he could evaluate lens performance himself. Never heard from him again. It was odd.

I do find his recommendations regarding software and computer hardware valuable, but I still take it with a grain of salt as (knock of wood) the only gear I've had fail in recent years was a thunderbolt RAID box from OWC which he highly recommends.
 

Jeffg53

Member
I gave up on him years ago when he compared a 5D to an H3D 39 and declared the 5D to be better. If that was any indication then he seems to draw conclusions on little and flawed evidence.
 

ptomsu

Workshop Member
DL is one of the worst reviewers (or however he calls himself) I have ever seen. I do not read any of his threads since long time.

Having said that I really hope for Nikon that there are no issues with the D850 at all!
 

glenerrolrd

Workshop Member
I never like to discard his findings because the tests themselves are often excellent . Its his habit of calling out cameras as being unacceptable before he has enough experience to know the “WHY”. I think the flange distance on the D850 is very slightly more than the D810 ...its small enough that the D850 has been set up to work well with Nikon lenses . However I still need to see if any issues come out of it at infinity with manual focus Zeiss lenses . Remember when we had to deal with this issue using adapters for the Leica R lenses on Canon gear ? If the adapter was too thick you couldn t achieve infinity focus .


Surprise ..I have never been able to focus any camera consistently more accurately than the D850 and the 105/1.4 AF wide open . At the same time the Zeiss Otus has much superior image quality . The Nikon 105 is the best Nikkor I have used (except maybe the 400/2.8) but its no match for the OTUS . So I am hopeful that there are no issues with the Zeiss lenses . I just don t know ?
 

Paul2660

Well-known member
Hi Roger

I will be interested in what you find with Zeiss lenses. I have been using a Milvus 15mm and love it. Would hate to see Nikon made a physical mount change that makes the Zeiss not reach infinity. That would a certain show stopper.

Paul Caldwell
 

glenerrolrd

Workshop Member
OK I am out of excuses . Infinity focus looks excellent and no problem. The Zeiss OTUS focuses slightly beyond infinity as it was designed . The infinity mark on the lens is quite close and probably could be relied upon if shooting at f8 or f11 . The focus confirmation was dead on .

It appears that I might want to tweak the calibration a small amount ...but that would require more testing than I want to do now .

Bottom line is that I am amazed at how accurate the AF system is and how good the 105/1.4 AF lens is.

Apologies for “crying wolf “ but now I am satisfied .
 
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