My new D800 has Left/Right AF issues too :(

TOF guy wrote:

Well, telescopes are big ! So they carry more momentum even for the same weight.

For the record I do it differently. I use a fixed laser pointer (not attached to the camera) and take an image of the laser dot. The dot will appears as a random line in the picture, which provides a recording of the camera motion. The time it takes to see how long it takes to settle is measured by taking several pictures at different shutter value (the time it takes for the dot to just barely returned to its original position). It also gives an extent of the vibration.

This can be awfully sensitive. I use a wireless a few feet away from the camera.

But there is no need to discuss our differences in the approach: we've had this discussion already