tony gant
Senior Member
did the f100 show up?
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Multiple G3 defective units UPDATED.
- Thread starter Greg Henry82713
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tony gant
Senior Member
Olga Johnson
Forum Pro
That worked. I can see what you mean. None of my two cameras had any such slant.
Olga
CsabX
Well-known member
Now the link is good, and can see the tilt in case of the Canon.
giveitatry
Active member
Am I the only one when I clicked the next picture to see the other camera, thought that that camera did not look straight as well?
Basiltoo
Well-known member
I measure the A70 at 1.2 degrees out of alignment. The F100 is not correctly aligned with the mirror (look at the lens barrel) so it is not worth measuring that one. You must use the LCD to look straight into the reflected lens if this test is going to be reasonably accurate.
My new G3 is 0.33 degrees out and I find that noticeable and a nuisance when using the optical viewfinder so 1.2 degrees must be a real PITA on that A70.
It seems that an acceptable error would be in the order of 0.1 degrees especially in the more expensive cameras. Perhaps reviewers should include "A Standard Mirror Test" to test alignment accuracy. How about it Phil?
I cannot believe that this is not going to cause Canon a major problem now that general awareness level is increasing. How many cameras are going to be returned as a result of this? What level of accuracy should be acceptable?
Finally, my Fuji 2600Z has no error.
Regards,
Baz
Olga Johnson
Forum Pro
I had not clicked the next picture. But you are right. That doesn't look straight either.
Olga
kenyee
Senior Member
For my test, I used a tripod w/ a built-in level. Then I aimed the G3 at a stove w/ a 3' long carpenter's level on it and took a picture. Looks pretty straight to me.
I hope you're pushing Canon to cover this under warrantee...
ken
Basiltoo
Well-known member
The mirror test is much easier and MUCH more accurate. Photograph the camera by placing it about 2 feet from a mirror (tripod is easiest). Take great care to line up the centre of the lens as seen in the mirror with the centre of the LCD screen. No worries about angles, straight lines or spirit levels since the method takes care of all that. If you correctly align the lens in this way the camera is 'normal' to the mirror.
You can measure the deviation from the horizontal, in software, to a high level of accuracy. The G3 is excellent for this because of the clearly defined line on the front of the camera. It is possible to measure to about 0.1 degrees.
I have repeated the test several times and always get an error of 0.33 degrees with my G3. This may sound negligible but I can assure you that it is detectable in practice and irritating, especially when lining up the vertical line of a building, for example, with the crosshairs or the edge of the frame in the OVF. There are obviously no problems when using the screen for framing but this is not the point and there are occasions when use of the OVF is preferable.
I hope that the current awareness of this problem will force the manufacturers to improve their quality control. Digital camera reviewers should carry out this 5 minute test on our behalf.
Regards,
Baz
Hey Tony, ever happen to notice that your A70 isn't sitting flat on the tripod????? Oops. Guess that can explain a lot. Now, if you want to debate whether or not the tripid mount is in the camera straight, that I am willing to do. But until you take a pic with a level on top so I can see the bubble dead center to know that the camera is EXACTLY level, I don't believe you have a problem with your CCD.
Basiltoo
Well-known member
The beauty of the mirror test is that you don't have to level the camera at all. A photograph of the refection of the camera will ALWAYS show the carera horizontal even if you have it at 45 degrees!
Any deviation from the horizontal is the alignment error.
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Regards,
Baz
kenyee
Senior Member
ok. Do you mean vertically or horizontally when you say "line up the centre"?
I faced the camera to the mirror and the lens/body looked parallel to the mirror. I levelled the tripod and head (both have circular spirit levels) and took the mirror picture. I also included the carpenter's level test below. I think it is off a little because I can see it being off if I try cropping at the lilne
ken
kenyee
Senior Member
The top of the G3 isn't exactly flat...
Basiltoo
Well-known member
Both!!
Ken, I don't know what you have done but your pics don't make sense to me!
What you should see is something like this:
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Regards,
Baz
Basiltoo
Well-known member
I have saved your G3 pic which was so huge that I couldn't see the wood for the trees!
You seem to have it pretty well set up. I measure the misalignment (using guidlines in PhotoImpact and rotating the camera by 0.1 degree steps until it is perfectly horizontal) to be 0.5 degrees. This is slightly annoying but you probably won't notice it unless you are aligning things very carefully using the OVF.
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Regards,
Baz
You seem to have it pretty well set up. I measure the misalignment (using guidlines in PhotoImpact and rotating the camera by 0.1 degree steps until it is perfectly horizontal) to be 0.5 degrees. This is slightly annoying but you probably won't notice it unless you are aligning things very carefully using the OVF.
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Regards,
Baz
kenyee
Senior Member
For the range stove pic, I put a carpenter's level on the stove. If you look at the middle horizontal bubble level, you'll see that it's level. I then leveled the tripod head and mounted the G3 and took a fully zoomed out picture.
For the mirror image, I levelled the tripod and head (both have levels), then mounted the G3, then zoomed all the way in. The tripod was at approximately 2' from the mirror.
I'll center the lens and take another picture. Your picture looks like you centered the body of the G3 in the image (the lens is vertically off-center...down maybe 1").
ken
kenyee
Senior Member
If you look under the camera, the mounting plate appears to be not parallel to the camera (the visible gap doesn't seem parallel):
Distance is approx 1.5', fully zoomed in. Tripod and head levelled.
Distance is approx 1.5', fully zoomed in. Tripod and head levelled.
kenyee
Senior Member
Didn't have to center vertically because tripod head was level...
Basiltoo
Well-known member
Yep 0.5 degrees on this one too.If you look under the camera, the mounting plate appears to be not
parallel to the camera (the visible gap doesn't seem parallel):
Distance is approx 1.5', fully zoomed in. Tripod and head levelled.
Ken, I must stress again that you don't have to level the camera.... The photographed reflection will ALWAYS be horizontal... (or it should be!). Turn the camera through 90 degrees and take a portrait shot then look at the pic!! You will then see what I mean.
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Regards,
Baz
kenyee
Senior Member
You're right. All you have to do is make sure the camera lens is centered within the focusing rectangle display on the LCD.
I flipped the QR mount (there's an arrow on the bottom that points in the lens direction), so if the QR mount is misaligned, this would have caused the image to be angled the other way, but it's not:
I then took a picture w/ the camera in portrait mode (it's a 3way head, so it's pretty easy). Exact same results (left side looks lower than right):
Everyone please forward a link to this thread to Canon tech support so we can try to get some official response to this
ken
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