Comments on MFA

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Originally Posted by HDNitehawk

My first thought is that maybe I wasted the extra money on the long ruler. I went to the lensalign website and there is a tool that gives you the Minimum Average distance you set up the target. All my lens even the 500mm with a 1.4 extender at the minimum distance the tool says use the short ruler. Now if I go out to about 100' to do the setting on the telephoto's, only then does it recomend the longer ruller.

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Indeed. See, Alan was right! Instead of stating this:

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Originally Posted by neuroanatomist

The standard ruler that comes with the LensAlign appears to be about the same length as the one with theSpyderLensCal, and that's fine for most lenses. But in some cases it's not long enough (i.e. the DoF of the focal length/distance/aperture being tested is nearly as long or longer than the Z-dimension of the ruler, i.e. the base of the right triangle where the ruler is the hypotenuse). Looking at your list of lenses, you'd be fine with either product when testing at 25 x focal length (which is what LensAlign recommends). But there are situations where you'd want a longer ruler - for example, wide angle but slow lenses on FF, a 400mm f/5.6 lens on FF or if you wanted to test your supertelephoto primes at a distance grater than 25 x focal length, such as the 50 x focal length that Chuck Westfall recommends). For those cases, LensAlign has a Long Ruler Kit that magnetically attaches to the standard ruler (and includes a larger focus target that also magnetically attaches).

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...maybe I should have stated this:

• Looking at your list of lenses, you'd be fine with either the SpyderLensCal or the LensAlign Pro when testing at the recommended distances.

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Originally Posted by HDNitehawk

I think the average photographer would never need the $249 Lensalign Pro Plus, and could save the extra $80.

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Depends on what you mean by average. I'd say that if you have a crop body you would never need the long ruler (at the same distance, a crop body has thinner DoF than FF). But someone with a 5DII and a 400mm f/5.6 lens (which includes the 100-400mm) would benefit from the long ruler - those are 'marginal' with the standard ruler.


I just hope there are no Rabbit Lovers on this forum... [:P]

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Originally Posted by neuroanatomist

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...maybe I should have stated this:

• Looking at your list of lenses, you'd be fine with either the SpyderLensCal or the LensAlign Pro when testing at the recommended distances.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by HDNitehawk

I think the average photographer would never need the $249 Lensalign Pro Plus, and could save the extra $80.

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Depends on what you mean by average. I'd say that if you have a crop body you would never need the long ruler (at the same distance, a crop body has thinner DoF than FF). But someone with a 5DII and a 400mm f/5.6 lens (which includes the 100-400mm) would benefit from the long ruler - those are 'marginal' with the standard ruler.


I just hope there are no Rabbit Lovers on this forum... [img]/emoticons/emotion-4.gif[/img]

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John


Actualy I read that post and really took it in to concideration when I ordered and I really appreciate your input. You were indeed right I did not "need" the Plus version. But.....what you couldn't take in to consideration when you recomended just the Pro version, the one variable that I knew, is that I do things to excess. At some point in the future I was sure I would probably want to test at some extreme distance and would regert not having the Plus version. I really don't regret ordering the Plus version, it was just my first thought.


What I was really trying to point out, for someone buying one in the futre would be this(because everyone does not go to extremes like I do):

1. The Lensalign Pro Plus is the same as the Lensalign Pro without the ruller upgrade. No other diffrence. If your not sure you want or need the long ruller, save your money. (you really can't tell by looking at the advertising that they really are the same product)

The reason I didn't go with the SpyderLensCal is that the Lensalign Pro had a way to center the camera so that the target woudl be square. I thought this would prove to be an advantage.

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Originally Posted by HDNitehawk

What I was really trying to point out, for someone buying one in the futre would be this

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Wish I would have got to the thread sooner. I did the same thing months ago and had a little post about it. I tried to pull it up, but didn't seem to get the right words in the search boxI guess.