Live view is an excellent tool for focusing in macro situations. I'd be lost without it. Autofocus will almost always be off by some degree, but it typically won't bother you unless you are shooting at f/2.8 or with macro lenses. If you are A.R. like me, get a Lens Align kit (http://www.lensalign.com/), and calibrate your camera with the micro adjust technique as described in earlier posts on this thread. This only works with Canon's higher-level cameras though. I was surprised how much the focus was off for some of my lenses.