*VIDEO* - Fixing Nikon Auto Focus Issues

jfk said:

Read recently where another nikon owner with a D3100 adjusted his autofocus, but stated that he initially adjusted the wrong way. He then corrected by adjusted CW to fix a backfocus issue.

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If it is a cam screw, it can go either way to achieve the end effect. Depends where on the cam lobe it is when you begin the adjustment.

Think if it needed to raise the mirror: It may need to turn Counter-Clockwise to raise it, or it might go Clockwise on the opposite side of the cam lobe for the same end effect to raise it.

Both C-C turning and C turning of the screw can be either wrong or right.

Mack

AmatureMike said:

Excellent,

Yesterday made this simple adjustment on my D7000 (it only has ONE hex wrench to adjust--the lower right: the upper one holds the reflex-mirror assembly--don't adjust it).

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Interesting! I thought it would only affect manual focus due to the fact with other bodies that is where the manual focus adjustment screw is located. The autofocus adjustment screw is the one being adjusted in the video.

Have you done any more testing to make sure focus is correct, including manual focus?
How much did you adjust?
jfk

Follow-up:

1) manual focus (using viewfinder indicators) is SPOT on. Switch it to auto-focus and it stays at SAME focus plane: this means, manual focus is perfect--the cart follows the ox.

2) Live view is SPOT on as well (thankfully).

3) How much did I adjust: looking at an angle finder, I'd say + - 25 degrees (travel on allen wrench is about an inch). This however is SUBJECTIVE, depending upon how severely (back) focused your D7000 is. Mines was pretty bad before. Also, the allen wrench needed is NOT 2 mm: I used a digital-caliper to gauge that allen wrench and its exactly 1.5mm METRIC.

I'd put a flat cereal box with SHARP lettering to focus on & position it across your living room as far as you can (ex. 85mm) and shoot wide open. Move half-way towards that cereal box, shoot. Then finalize your results shooting a min. focusing distance allowed by THAT lens you have mounted. Put enough light on that target so the AF doesn't hunt around.

HOW do you know you've GOT it as sharp as you can? Simple, use AF-micro adjust: test it + or - 5 vs. your 0 setting. When 0 is the sharpest, you've nailed it. However, depending on your lenses condition (be it back/front-focusing), you've got to find a sweet spot and TEST ALL your most used lenses to find a medium as to where you feel the AF (at 0 micro adjust) should be. There is absolutely nothing scientific about this test, except making sure the image is captured sharply.

I THINK a huge problem with the D7000's AF system is its NOT that consistent IF the subject is 3-dimensional (ex. humans!). Inconsistent by way that it tends to AF-micro-focus even when locked on a heavy tripod and the subject is still (use a doll). Darn thing drives me nuts, but if at least the plane of focus is well within focus zone/depth-of-field (whatever you call it), the image will be quite acceptably sharp (hence doing this tweak to GET the D7000's focus dialed in).

My results have been quite positive: ALL the lenses are tack-sharp wide open, even using the outer most focusing point wide open is not a problem (now).

I went ahead and did some tracking (AF-C) servo tests and the AF is spot on with my 70-200mm lens.

Hope this helps: tune at your own risk.

AmatureMike,

Made the adjustment on my D7k that you described...worked like a charm. Lenses appear to be tack sharp with 0 fine-tune adjustment now.
Thanks for the info.
jfk

I have also performed this procedure on my D7000. It had exhibited backfocus on all my lenses, but fiddling with the hex screw has so far corrected it, at least indoors. My next test will be outdoors tomorrow. Hoping infinity focus won't be affected.

Will post an update after I have tested it some more.

Update from last night: All my lenses are spot on and the AF is razor sharp. My methodology pretty much consisted of placing the D7k on a tripod, shooting at my LensAlign kit and switching between live view and regular/phase-detect AF. If switching to phase-detect AF resulted in any adjustments from LV, I would adjust the hex screw in the appropriate direction.

I should have made these adjustments from the beginning instead of going through three different D7000 bodies and sending my kit to Nikon several times.

Also listening those saying NOT to adjust the hex wrench was bad advice.

I highly recommend this procedure. The Op deserves a man of the year award.

Good for you!

My only concern would be this is not a 'fix-all' for someone with a bunch of lenses. I have five lenses I switch between and the AF Tuning is +12 on a Tokina 11-16mm, -2 on 18-200mm, 0 on a 14-24mm that Nikon had fixed, -4 on a 24-70mm, and +5 on a 70-200mm. They vary from a positive to a negative range all around the zero point where only one lens of mine is spot-on at zero.

Now if your stash of lenses "are all" towards one side or the other and by a lot, say + / - 17 or so, then yeah, it could help if you feel you are mechanically inclined to do it, or have Nikon address it which may also be a boon if they have made some parts updates to the body as well.

My personal opinion is the D7000 does have some BF issues in that "most all" reports seen here are for BF and not FF issues. If the body were zero'd correctly, I would expect to see an equal amount of FF and BF reports from owners independent of whatever settings were made in the camera, but they tend to be more BF related than not so the Bell curve tends to be pushed from center to the BF side of the chart. Hard to find anyone reporting FF issues in mass.

Mack

I adjusted my D5100 to my 85 1.4 G. The 85 and my 35 are sharp now. My 18-200 is beyond hope. If I adjust it for the 18-200 then all other lens are very front focused. I am going to try my 28-300 vr2 today.

I'll update more later.

versello said:

Update from last night: All my lenses are spot on and the AF is razor sharp. My methodology pretty much consisted of placing the D7k on a tripod, shooting at my LensAlign kit and switching between live view and regular/phase-detect AF. If switching to phase-detect AF resulted in any adjustments from LV, I would adjust the hex screw in the appropriate direction.

I should have made these adjustments from the beginning instead of going through three different D7000 bodies and sending my kit to Nikon several times.

Also listening those saying NOT to adjust the hex wrench was bad advice.

I highly recommend this procedure. The Op deserves a man of the year award.

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So you started with a spot on camera and lens as indicated by you here..

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1034&message=39084292

Then everything went south in 2 months and you got out the hex wrench. After the hex wrench correction...is the 35mm lens still spot on?

Thanks for doing a background check. Seems like a lot of that goes on around here.

Only thing I changed since then was flashing the firmware to the latest - 1.03? Since then the 35mm just never delivered consistent results, nor did my 17-55mm f/2.8 which has been serviced by Nikon for backfocus multiple times.

I've also tried two different Sigma 17-50mm f/2.8 lenses. First copy had back focus on the long end. Second copy had back focus on the wide end.

Now if you don't mind, I have better things to do.

versello said:

Thanks for doing a background check. Seems like a lot of that goes on around here.

Only thing I changed since then was flashing the firmware to the latest - 1.03? Since then the 35mm just never delivered consistent results, nor did my 17-55mm f/2.8 which has been serviced by Nikon for backfocus multiple times.

I've also tried two different Sigma 17-50mm f/2.8 lenses. First copy had back focus on the long end. Second copy had back focus on the wide end.

Now if you don't mind, I have better things to do.

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So flashing the firmware caused your lens to then mis-focus which in turn was fixed via a hardware change. I'm sure that will be helpful to someone here who has also the same firmware problem. I appreciate your sharing the details and providing clarification. I don't mind and wish you the best with those other things.

Update:

I recently added a mint 80-200mm af-s Nikkor to my collection and yes, tested that thing also with my D7000.

I've settled on the current AF fine-tune settings: (I borrowed a mannequin head to test my lenses--no test charts as I only shoot people, plus "she" don't move or say much when I've got the darn camera bolted down on heavy tripod).

With the mannequin head slightly turned camera right (to give more 3D contrast--easier to judge sharpness on eyes vs. it facing straight at camera), I've finally settled on the following numbers (on my body):

50mm 1.4D: +10 ( -5 on my D700)
85mm 1.4D: 0 (same on D700)
80-200mm AF-S: +5 (same on D700)
28-75mm 2.8: 0 (same on D700)
35 f2D: 0 (same on D700)
24 f1.8 0 (same on D700)

All lenses test at close focus range (usually where I would shoot head and shoulder length portraits) and 10-15 feet away (for the far away full body shots). I wanted to make SURE all distances were equally sharp.

The results have been consistent under dim lighting (both tungsten and fluorescent ) and all focus points (edge to edge--especially the center).

The camera had been to Nikon twice for calibration before I made the adjustments myself, so I'm quiet satisfied.

Amaturemike.

Thanks Cruch!

The OP has taken a lot abuse from this post, but due to his video and some tips from other posters, all of my lenses have gone from a fine tune of -17 to -20 to 0 to -1. I am really happy and the procedure was not all that intrusive and pretty easy.

I've owned my camera since November 2009 and have been extremely satisfied with it, but this AF adjustment make me feel a little better about my cam. Now I have a lot more fine tune wiggle room if I need it in the future!

--
***************
Robbie
D7000 | LX5
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rvaughn

RobbieV said:

Thanks Cruch!

The OP has taken a lot abuse from this post, but due to his video and some tips from other posters, all of my lenses have gone from a fine tune of -17 to -20 to 0 to -1. I am really happy and the procedure was not all that intrusive and pretty easy.

I've owned my camera since November 2009 and have been extremely satisfied with it, but this AF adjustment make me feel a little better about my cam. Now I have a lot more fine tune wiggle room if I need it in the future!

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What camera model? The OP's video was for the D55100 and the D7000 wasn't released until late 2010. Glad it's working much better now.

Every time I read a message here lately, it's some p*#sing contest or a competition for the worst least funny put down possible.

The OP made mistakes, and they were pointed out and corrected (possibly saving others confusion or damage to their gear). That was constructive but unfortunately it was also the full extent of the positive coming out of this thread (and a tiny portion of it).

Bullying, "comical" put downs, and discouragement due to those mistakes are idiotic. Big noting oneself on a camera board and putting down others is a sign of deep insecurity worthy of seeing a therapist for. Who do you think you people are that you can tell someone what advice they should or should not share? I suppose none of you have ever said anything in error on this board? You people have nothing better to do? Go take a photo for pity sake!

--
Sammy.

My forum postings reflect my own opinions and not those of my employer. I'm not employed in the photo business.

Mako2011 said:

What camera model? The OP's video was for the D55100 and the D7000 wasn't released until late 2010. Glad it's working much better now.

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I have the D7000 and bought it in November 2010, my mistake. The new year must have me all confused!

I know the OP's video was for the d5100, that's were the other posters tips came in handy.
--
***************
Robbie
D7000 | LX5
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rvaughn

You stated in your video that the D7000 has a focus defect, I wish I would have watched your video before I went out shooting last week, I never knew, thanks!

Hi, I'm new here, sorry for bringing this up again! I'm just a hobbyist and I need some friendly advice

I have recently upgraded from a D60 to a D5100. I've had the 35 1.8 for quite a while and it gave me consistently good results on the D60. On the D5100 I started noticing mixed results, with a much higher percentage of shots being blurry or out of focus. Using Live View, the photos always come out in perfect focus even at 1.8 and I'm impressed with the image quality that LV gives me. Lately I purchased a 16-85 and the experience has been the same. After doing some basic tests I can confirmed that the camera is backfocusing when I use the viewfinder, and this becomes more apparent when using the long end of the 16-85.

So I started looking online for similar experiences to mine and I learned that this could be happening because of some mirror miscalibration issue, and eventually I came across this thread and I saw the video with instructions on how to tune this using a hex wrench.

Now, my camera is still under warranty, but unfortunately here in Malta we don't have a Nikon service center, so I would need to send the camera to the UK for example, and just hope that they do a good job the first time around and that the camera comes back to me in one piece. The other option is to just go buy a hex wrench and try to tune it myself.

I need some advice... How long should I expect to wait if I had to send the camera to the UK for service? I read some stories online that the Nikon service can be quite lousy at times. Is the 'hex' procedure easy enough that I should just skip all the hassle and try to do it myself?

Thanks!

Looks like a lot of mixed opinion here. Can anyone confirm if this actually works? And I don't understand how it could possibly work across the board for all lenses.

nfpotter said:

nfpotter wrote:

And I don't understand how it could possibly work across the board for all lenses.

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I would expect that it should work across all lenses. For example:

You have a stange camera - the focusing sensor is at the back where the image sensor normally is and the image sensor is at the bottom where the focusing sensor normally is.

A point source of light at, let's say 20 ft emmits rays in all directions. Some of these rays hit the lens and, at some adjustment of the lens, they all come together at one point on the focusing sensor. If we now add a 45 degree mirror sending the light rays down to a image sensor and the distance that they travel from the lens to the mirror to the image sensor is EXACTLY the same as the distance they travel from the lens to the focusing sensor, the point source of light should be in focus on both the image sensor and the focusing sensor for the same focus adjustment of the lens. Now, change lenses and adjust the focus so that the point is in focus on the focus sensor. It should also be in focus on the image sensor because the distance traveled in each case is exactly the same.

Or am I missing something?