D800E calibration with Reikan FoCal

After a huge amount of frustration with fine tuning focus on my D800E (after of course having the left side focus issue corrected by Nikon), I finally caved in and bought Reikan FoCal pro.

I went through the test this afternoon with my 24 f1.4, 35 f1.4, 50 f1.4, and 85 f1.4.
Essentially this software takes several shots of a test target at fine tune settings of -20, -10, +10, and +20, and then narrows it down from there, closing in on the right adjustment. After each shot, it focuses to infinity or nearest focus distance (your choice) to reset.

I tested at distances of about 40x the focal length-- the software suggests between 25x and 50x.

Ran each test at least three times on each lens, until I got consistent results.
results:
24mm before: +8     after: +7
35mm before: +13   after: +9
50mm before: +1     after: +1
85mm before: +12   after at 40x (about 11ft): +17/18
                             after at 8ft: +17
                              final setting: +17

The 85mm seemed particularly problematic, getting results at the 40x (about 11 ft.) distance of +16, +18, +19, +17, +17, and +18 and retested at 8ft ( more like the distance I normally shoot this lens) +17, +17, and +17 --I assume this is because if the shallowness of the depth of field at 85mm and f1.4 together, and it seems to me, the autofocus system is not up to absolutely handling super high (36 megapixels) resolution AND minimal depth of field with 100% accuracy. Granted, the differences between +16 and +18 were pretty minimal, and I doubt you would be able to readily see them.

I feel FAR more confident with this method than my own prior efforts-- totally worth the price.

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