View Full Version : Camera-lens calibration?
Hello,
Do cameras and lens need to be calibrated with each other? I have all Canon equipment that I don't use all the time. Sometimes the equipment will sit for as much as a few months. I have a 30D and 3 L-series lens. I have heard that the equipment needs to be sent into Canon to be calibrated. Is this true?
Thanks in advance,
Tank
Sean Setters
10-06-2009, 06:41 PM
Well, lenses need to be sent in to Canon if they seem to be misfocusing. If calibrating the lens doesn't work, then Canon will ask for you to send your body in with the lens for camera-specific calibration.
If your lenses are taking great pictures while connected to your camera, then there's no need to do anything. Also, if you had a camera with a microadjustment feature, then you could do a certain amount of adjusting yourself (if necessary).
dsm363
06-28-2010, 07:42 AM
Is this worth having done while everything is still under warranty? Everything seems to be working fine but have heard having the lens calibrated to the body might be a nice thing to have done. Thanks.
Dave
neuroanatomist
06-28-2010, 08:23 AM
Is this worth having done while everything is still under warranty? Everything seems to be working fine but have heard having the lens calibrated to the body might be a nice thing to have done.
I'd echo Sean's comment on this - if everything is working, no need for calibration. You can print AF test charts such as this one ("http://focustestchart.com/focus21.pdf) which, when used properly, allow you to see if everything really is fine.
One potential issue with sending in one lens and the camera is other lenses. Professionals used to send their body(ies) and entire collection of lenses into Canon so they could all be calibrated together. If the service tech needs to adjust the body to match one lens, it may throw off the other lenses.
As Sean also stated, if you have a body with the AF Microadjustment feature, you can perform smaller adjustments yourself - that's usually all that's necessary. Personally, I use a LensAlign Pro ("http://www.lensalign.com/) for my AF testing, and most of my lenses have a small adjustment applied (generally ranging from -3 to +3).