Reikan FoCal - Automatic AF Micro adjustment software

[bob williams]

Well, I spent a good part of the afternoon with the FoCal software and all of my lenses. Overall, I am impressed and believe that this software is considerably better than my eyes when looking at images of focus charts and rulers. I did finally get the software to see my target---It was a lighting issue. I ran at least 3 fully automatic tests/adjustments on all of my lenses and discovered the following:

I ran at least 3 tests on each lens at approximately 50 times the focal length as recommended.

1. On the short lenses (50 1.2L/100 2.8L macro/10-22) The software performed very well--Easy target ID and consistant adjustments on each lens with the following results:

50 1.2---+8
100 2.8----+6
10-22 @ 22--+4

With my two long lenses (500L and 100-400 L), I had a little more difficulty and will have to re-run the tests tomorrow. When testing these lenses, the software kept giving me an "inconsistant results" error and suggested that this might be due to vibration, camera, or lens problem or "something else" --which wasn't real helpful. I did manage to narrow down an adjustment after several attempts, but my confidence is low so I will re-try in the am on these two lenses.

Some issues I noticed with the software:

1. The red/green target adjustment indicators are very difficult to see (of course I am red/green color blind-so that may be a factor) I would suggest to the author that he decrease the transparency on the target indicators to make them easier to see.

2. After testing two lenses, I rec'd an error on the third lens telling me to set the camera to single point AF---It was, and I did---checked it and rechecked it and it still gave me the same error. I finally realized that the AF was turned off on the lens. Once that was corrected, the software worked fine---Something you may want to note if you use the software---maybe the author can fix this in the next revision.

As I said before, I am impressed with this software and am confident it will provide better AFMA than me trying to visually adjust. When I get a chance, I will set up my homemade target and ruler and see how they compare.

I am very happy with this purchase.