Would you send your lenses for Calibration?

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...

Click to expand...

No, no!!

Send the body too!

Remember, the body does all of the AF "brainwork". If the body is out of calibration, you'll end up with OOF images, regardless of how good the lens calibration is.

What they do is calibrate the body to standard lenses, calibrate your lenses to a standard body, and then test your lenses on your body to verify.

DEFINITELY SEND EVERYTHING!

Dan

DanInSoCal said:

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...

Click to expand...

No, no!!

Send the body too!

Remember, the body does all of the AF "brainwork". If the body is
out of calibration, you'll end up with OOF images, regardless of
how good the lens calibration is.

What they do is calibrate the body to standard lenses, calibrate
your lenses to a standard body, and then test your lenses on your
body to verify.

DEFINITELY SEND EVERYTHING!

Click to expand...

Here's an example: this ended up being a body calibration issue (lenses were fine as far as focus goes):



Dan

Mississauga Canon Customer Service Center, around the Dixie and just north of Hwy 401 area, I think CortneyPark. They're open 9-5 mon-fri. I phoned them first and they said I don't have too, just bring it in, no appointment nessessary. If you fell like taking a boot across Toronto, just go there and take a number. They want you to also include a sample of what's wrong. I printed out a few pictures, but I noticed everyone there had their samples on a CD-R.

Wuff said:

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.

Click to expand...

--
Ed

I have a Sigma 120-300 which I wasnt too happy with. Sigma told me to have my 20 d checked by Canon first and then they would calibrate the lens to the camera.

The Canon service centre told me my Cameras AF was on the limit of acceptibility and would need adjusted. They said Canon had new software available for service centres with which they could adjust focus in the bodies more accurately.

I had mine corrected at a whopping cost of £160.00 as my camera was out of warranty. Canon insist that authorised service centres charge certain prices.

I sent my corrected 20D to sigma and they adjusted the lens to the newly calibrated (within spec) body. Initial tests show quite an improvement, I will test it more thoroughly soon.

Initially Sigma said my lens was front focussing. They checked it as they do with all Canons against a 10D which they keep. When they checked it with my corrected body they said it had bad back focus and calibrated it accordingly.

Altogether i was without camera and lens for a month. As i say Initial quick check seems to show it was worth it but I need to check for flare and fringing which were quite bad.

If you have any doubts about you body or lenses and are under warranty get them checked and insist the use the latest Canon AF software.
Out of warranty its up to you if its bad enough to pay the cost.

Mark

without doubt send all...

my 50mm f1.8, 100macro and 17-85 came back noticeably better...were cleaned up.. along with camera

all under warranty..
when I get another camera.. I will try one lens at a time with out camera

unless there are issues..

they did a bang-up job..

I guess I'm the only one with this view but I would only send in a lens or body if I knew or strongly suspected it had a problem. There are faulty lenses out there but generally there is too much paranoia about lens performance. Having said all that I had a big problem with my 17-40L, but it was obviously faulty.

well...I was of the view that it was riskier to send then just use..
but all warranties were ending..
and the 50mm was a little off..had used for almost a year..

I thought the 100macro was fine..it was my reference..
the 17-85 was pretty much ok

the macro came back slightly improved... the 50 was really good..

and the 17-85 was sharper than I thought..

I recently compared it to the 17-55 and it was sharpe enough (along with its 85mm reach) to let me return the 17-55 (of course 17-66 slightly sharper)

I was impressed by the whole improvement of the kit

so I can see NOW that this was the right move.. even though I hesitated...

if I KNEW all were FINE..then I would have left them alone..
I sent the macro as a 'control' sample.. but it was made sharper too..

but I agree with caution too..
they all move in different directions.. so it was not just the body..

just my experience

Just to update all who have been following this thread...

Collected all my lenses today...and also had my 30 D checked...

Here's what happened..

All lenses - told by the Service Staff "all within specs" - No calibration needed

30D - AF - "spot on"

70-300 IS - part of the lens was changed....

So... the sceptics out there might say ' Great, all that for nothing, the staff probably could not be too bothered and did not do a very detailed test... hence everything is within specs - a wide range of error..."

BUT

The truth is that the staff was extremely helpful..

Now I have reaffirmation that my equipment are in tip top condition...

So any blur, out of focus pics are going to be due to user error...

Will probably make it a point to send all my newly purchased lenses & bodies for a check up once I get them...

Thanks CANON...

Great Staff... Great Service.... Great lenses and cameras...

The money spent so far has been worth it..

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