Lens Calibration Services

Ray610

Hi. Wondering if anyone could recommend a really good and reliable professional lens calibration service. I'd like to do my lenses when I get the camera.

Thanks.

Photobug

If your Nikon DSLR is still covered with the warranty, they only charge for each lens. If the lens and DSLR are new and covered by the warranty, there is no charge. I have see several numbers floated by several people but don't now what it cost.

Vipmediastar_JZ

There is Lensalign with the software version. You can do it yourself and the software will tell at what setting its sharpest for each lens

Golf007sd

What body and lenses do you have?

If you feel that your gear is missing focus, IMHO, it is best to send the body and the lenses...assuming both are Nikon, and have Nikon do all the calibration for you.

Ray610

I don't yet have the camera. I will be getting the D610, though, shortly. One reason I'm asking is that I've noticed on DXO their lens sharpness ratings in megapixels. I'm also wondering how large a lens megapixel sharpness rating is desirable for sharp photos with the D610, with most prints being 8x10, but with some 11x14's and a very few at 20x30.

I understand that these lenses are a little long in the tooth, but I've still got to dance with them for the present.

My Nikon Lenses
17-35 F2.8
AF 50D F1.8
AF 85D F1.4
105 F2.8 Macro
80-200 AFS F2.8

Or am I looking at this thing the wrong way?

Msmoto

What experience do you have in making 20" x 30" prints? That is, what camera body/lens combo have you done this with in the past. What subject matter do you want at this print size? Are you planning on pixel peeping or just viewing from a normal viewing distance? (Normally a minimum of 1.5 - 2 times the print diagonal).

Almost any of the Nikon Pro lenses will allow a 20" x 30" image from a D610 if the original capture is properly accomplished.

As to the DxOMark ratings, I believe these are based upon the sensor pixels used. So, make certain you are comparing the same camera body. My suggestion would be to simply look over the results on DxOMark and pick out the ones which are the best. A lot of opinions may be made on other factors and each of us has very unique preferences in equipment.

Ray610

I don't have experience with 20x30's. Just want to be able to do it if I can. A little story...Back in the age of the dinosaurs, I did a big one on my own. When I was around 12 or so and had some experience developing and printing B&W negatives, I occasionally would rip off my dad's supply of paper and do some enlarging. One day I used one of the negatives from his 4x5 Speedgraphic and a huge sheet of paper he had. I turned the enlarger toward the wall, focused and shot it. Turned out excellent after ruining a couple of sheets of that EXPENSIVE paper, believe it or not. You can't believe how much trouble I got into for rigging up the baths and using up his chemicals. He started me off with a Brownie when I was 10, and I took pictures and enlarged them for folks for a buck apiece. All profit. Later, when my Brownie shots stopped being blurry he let me use another camera. The Argoflex was better, and then the Rollei. Finally got to use the SGraphic later on. Fun...what 14 year old doesn't look important with a Speedgraphic. He wouldn't let me put a "Press" card in my hat!!
Sorry for this long thing, memory got a jolt of juice I guess.
Anyhow, I'm hoping that if I could figure out those early light meters (Weston) I will be able to figure out this digital camera thing, but 'ol Pops sure got irritated with me for taking so long to learn it. Oh well, there's always that Sunny 16 thing (I guess it still applies).
The End...No More Like This, I Promise!!
Oops. That print was 30x40, by the way. Neat, huh?

ThomasHorton

Ray, Sounds like you had some awesome experiences growing up.

I can just imagine that if my father and I were in the same situtation..... Well, lets just say I probably would not be typing with both hands. LoL

TriShooter

@Ray610 LOL. Great story. I used my bathroom, when I was in high school, as a dark room and mounted my enlarger on top of the sink as I recall. The enlarger was probably as old as me, and built like a tank. Today we have so many options available to enhance our images; you are going to have a blast with the new technologies. Good luck.

Ray610

Yep, it was a lot of fun. A couple of years later my mother told me that my dad (he grounded me for a day) was actually pretty tickled that I could do that enlargement without him.

He was a frustrated reporter, anyhow. Owned the local funeral home for his day job. He was the sports photographer/reporter du jour for decades around here. He covered the high school and college games, and I got to sit with him in the press box, and walk around with him on the side lines at times. Back then, as soon as the games were over, he/we would run home to his dark room and develop the 4x5 negatives, hang them and squeegee them, and go to the bus station with the story and photos. They got to the Arkansas Gazette in time for the next day's paper. Those were fun times, alright.

The college team made me their mascot when I was eight. Had me a real uniform made and I sat on the bench during games. When it was cold a friend and I would sit in a big cardboard box to keep warm. It worked, too!
That year our college pranksters went to a rival school and stole their mascot...a mule (The Muleriders). Word got out that they were going to steal ours the next year. State trooper friends drove me everywhere until the game was over. They made a big deal of escorting me on the field to the bench. Hard to live with me for a while, but dear 'ol Dad soon deflated my big noggin.\

The big picture I made? It was at a football banquet at the country club. Two of the star players, Harry Zinn and Freddy Smith, were standing behind a table with a cake, and I'm standing between them.

Still got that picture somewhere, I hope.

Postman

https://nikoneurope-en.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/51633/~/how-to-use-the-af-fine-tune-function

There you go. Whatever you do don't spend money on Lensalign or any of that nonsense.

Vipmediastar_JZ

I tried the nikon way and the other nonsense but I am glad I did the lensaling way at the end. My wife even made me a DIY version but it was not perfect and the ruler and book method kept sliding or moving. I just wanted something consistent to have a good final result.
I do have the sigma usb dock that I can go back and compare with lens align and sigmas dock to see if the results compare.

rmp

What is the average or typical size of adjustments you have made?

Thom Hogan indicates that the lensalign is reliable in my D800 manual (p. 444). I guess approval just depends upon a users perspective.