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Would you send your lenses for Calibration?

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E L

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Hi...

Am considering sending ALL my lenses to be calibrated with my 30D..

17-40, 24-105, 70-300, 50

Will definately be sending in my 70-300 IS for the lens fix... hence was wondering whether to send the rest in for a checkup...

Don't intend to shoot any walls or charts to test my camera and lenses.. Quite happy with my stuff...except that I cannot get those super sharp pics seen here on the forum.... not sure if its the equipment or me?

My local Canon Service Centre provides a free service for a check ups... to see if your lenses and camera need calibration...

If calibration is required....
no charge .... if within warranty period...

My thinking is that things cannot get any worse than my current setup... if anything it can only get better

Questions....

Is there a possiblity that my lenses and camera might get screwed up after this exercise?

Or if it ain't broke... don't fix it...

Any advice would be greatly appreciated...

Thanks
 
If you can do that, then it would be great to have your all you lenses callirbrated to your camera. Go for it.
--
Ed
 
And how much would it cost?

Mark
 
If your equipment is new and still under warranty...

Otherwise, there will be a charge - flat fee - for the calibration... which is I feel a token sum

it works out to
~ 2% of the cost of the 24-105 F4 L IS or
~ 10% of the cost of the 50 F1.4
 
E L said:
Hi...

Am considering sending ALL my lenses to be calibrated with my 30D..

17-40, 24-105, 70-300, 50

Will definately be sending in my 70-300 IS for the lens fix...
hence was wondering whether to send the rest in for a checkup...

Don't intend to shoot any walls or charts to test my camera and
lenses.. Quite happy with my stuff...except that I cannot get those
super sharp pics seen here on the forum.... not sure if its the
equipment or me?

My local Canon Service Centre provides a free service for a check
ups... to see if your lenses and camera need calibration...

If calibration is required....
no charge .... if within warranty period...

My thinking is that things cannot get any worse than my current
setup... if anything it can only get better

Questions....

Is there a possiblity that my lenses and camera might get screwed
up after this exercise?

Or if it ain't broke... don't fix it...

Any advice would be greatly appreciated...

Thanks
Click to expand...
 
Canon does not calibrate your lenses to your camera. They only calibrate the lenses to their standard camera and camera to their standard lens. This is actually a good thing since it ensures your calibrated lenses will be good for all your future (calibrated) cameras and vice versa.

Most people say either the lenses get better or stay the same after calibration. Don't remember hear any say it gets worse. So it's definitely something worth doing especially if it can be done for free.
Edward In Toronto said:
If you can do that, then it would be great to have your all you
lenses callirbrated to your camera. Go for it.
--
Ed
Click to expand...
 
I had exactly the same dilemma - and in the end I decided to send in my 30D, 24-105 and 70-200 for calibration, as I suspected a very slight focus issue.

It turns out that both my lens were just fine, but Canon made a small adjustment to the camera body AF. I have them back now, and I can see the improvement.

Worth doing IMHO, especially considering its free under warranty. Why spend all that money and not have something performing at its best?
--
http://www.picturepunk.com
 
I sent in my 20D and 400f5.6. Cost about $35 to ship and insure. Canon did not charge even though the 400 was out of warrenty. They also did not chare me for return shipping.

I plan to have my next camera and the 500 calibrated. Not sure I would mess with WA as focus is usually manual at high f stops. Since my 400 has already been calibrated, no need to do it over.

--
http://www.pbase.com/roserus

Ben
 
not the body. If you send the body in they might calibrate the lenses to work with that body only, and later when you change body, you need to send everything in again.

I sent 4 of my lenses in because they have front/back focus issues on the 20D (much less obvious on the 1DS2), but I didn't send the bodies in. All lenses came back with perfect focus on BOTH bodies...

Max
 
Do you need to proof that there is a need for calibration by sending pictures that illustrate/document that a problem exists?

Or

Do you just sent the equipment requesting that it is calibrated to spec?

--
Miguel Angel Aleman
 
Not true. Canon calibrate the lens and camera independently against it's standard camera and lens respectively. It will never calibrate the lens to your camera even you send them in together. This is to ensure all calibrated lenses work with all calibrated cameras.

Sometimes it may be wise to send your camera to check not just lenses. Several of my lenses front focusd on my 20D. After Canon calibrated my camera they are all focus right on.
maxz said:
not the body. If you send the body in they might calibrate the
lenses to work with that body only, and later when you change body,
you need to send everything in again.
I sent 4 of my lenses in because they have front/back focus issues
on the 20D (much less obvious on the 1DS2), but I didn't send the
bodies in. All lenses came back with perfect focus on BOTH bodies...

Max
Click to expand...
 
No proof is needed. You can register work request on the Canon website. It will give you a work order and instruction to send in the lens automatically.
Miguel Angel Aleman said:
Do you need to proof that there is a need for calibration by
sending pictures that illustrate/document that a problem exists?

Or

Do you just sent the equipment requesting that it is calibrated to
spec?

--
Miguel Angel Aleman
Click to expand...
 
I didn't send any misfocus images with the lenses. I called canon service and told them what the problem was, then sent the lenses in the next day. Even if people send in misfocus images with the lenses, it could still be user error thus the images doesn't prove anything. Instead they will test the lenses in their controlled tests and find out what the problem is.
Max
 
carlk said:
Not true. Canon calibrate the lens and camera independently
against it's standard camera and lens respectively. It will never
calibrate the lens to your camera even you send them in together.
This is to ensure all calibrated lenses work with all calibrated
cameras.
Click to expand...
What you said should be the right way they calibrate lenses and bodies. But I don't know how they do it in reality. Canon service center told some users if you send your camera and lenses in, they will make sure they work together but don't guarantee they work with your other lenses/bodies. There's quite a few posts on this in the past.

A friend's of mine had to send his 10D and 70-200/4 in. after he got them back, the focus is very accurate but his other lenses started to misfocus. He end up sending everything in and get them recalibrated again.
carlk said:
Sometimes it may be wise to send your camera to check not just
lenses. Several of my lenses front focusd on my 20D. After Canon
calibrated my camera they are all focus right on.
Click to expand...
true. Sometimes it's the body's fault. my lenses would misfocus on both bodies but less severe on the 1Ds2. Therefore I figured its the lens' problem.

Now when I think about it, it could be the higher pixel density of the 20D 'magnified' the problem, even the misfocus behavior is the same on both bodies...
Max
 
When I brought my lens in to be calibrated, I brought the body along just in case they needed it too. The tech guy at the Canon repair center told me yes, leave the body also that way I can check them together.

A while later when I phoned to see if it was ready, so that I could come in and get it (I live 15min away). They told me yes, it’s ready, but the tech guy wants to spend some time using them tomorrow, to make sure it’s ok, so we’ll phone you in one or two days.

There was a separate form for the lens and camera.

On the lens paper work was written;

Under customer complaint; Lens is front focusing. Included is EOS Rebel XT for reference Estimate subject to change

Under Technician’s Notes; Adjusted focus, Cleared foreign substance, please see samples are in K drive.

On the camera paper work was written;

Under customer complaint; Camera being booked in only to accompany customer’s lens calibration.

Under Technician’s Notes, same as the lens paper work; Adjusted focus, Cleared foreign substance, please see samples are in K drive.

When I got the camera back, it was cleaned on the out side, looked like new, except the scratches I put in. The camera sensor was cleaned for free. The lens is dead on accurate now. It’s a good thing I did it, what a treat to use now. By all means take your lens and camera in, you’ll be glad you did.



--
Ed
 
maxz said:
not the body. If you send the body in they might calibrate the
lenses to work with that body only, and later when you change body,
you need to send everything in again.
I sent 4 of my lenses in because they have front/back focus issues
on the 20D (much less obvious on the 1DS2), but I didn't send the
bodies in. All lenses came back with perfect focus on BOTH bodies...

Max
Click to expand...
Great Advice...

If my lenses are calibrated to the standard body..... &
my 30D body is calibrated to the standard lens.....
... then everything should be standardised.....

:-)
carlk said:
Canon does not calibrate your lenses to your camera. They only
calibrate the lenses to their standard camera and camera to their
standard lens. This is actually a good thing since it ensures your
calibrated lenses will be good for all your future (calibrated)
cameras and vice versa.
Click to expand...
The Canon Service Staff did actually ask me to bring in my 30D body so that they could calibrate the lenses to my body....

But going by the above arguement...Have decided to send the lenses and body on seperate days...

Have just dropped off the lenses this morning..

The Canon service centre is just a 5 min drive away...
 
carlk said:
No proof is needed. You can register work request on the Canon
website. It will give you a work order and instruction to send in
the lens automatically.
Click to expand...
Do you have the link? I couldn't find anything.

Mark
 
Mind me asking where in T.O you brought them? Canon ca referred me to a 3rd party in Scarboro. Ive been thinking of sending mine in during the fall or early winter prior to the warranty expiring.
 
Canon center told me to send the body and lenses in along with the pictures, so they make sure that they work together. This did not make much sense to me since lenses/bodies have to be interchangable.

I did not send anything yet, but plan to...
 
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