Dear Soft Focus

There is probably no other topic that makes me as uncomfortable, that perfect moment or unrepeatable image that you're so excited about but when you open the image on your computer, failure, the focus is off. Sometimes it's off by millimeters, other times it's off by yards. Being self taught and just being a photographer in general if any image misses focus I blame myself. 

I really want to hone in my gear and make sure everything is performing optimally. After doing a little research I came across some really helpful youtube videos and information on manually fine tuning auto focus in camera. This isn't a feature in all cameras but all full frame DSLR's and several others offer a variation of AF fine tuning. I shoot a Nikon D810 and also carry around an old Canon 5D Mark II, both Nikon and Canon offer some variation of AF Fine Tuning. 

For full instructions on how to fine tune each of your lenses check out this article: https://www.slrlounge.com/calibrate-focus-on-your-dslr-af-fine-tune/

It IS NOT recommended that you fine tine telephoto lenses but here are the lenses that I calibrated:

Nikkor 60mm f/2.8G ED I previously had this calibrated by a professional and it was set to -20, I tested it and it was tack sharp. 

Sigma EX Lens for Nikon F ‑ 30mm ‑ F/1.4 I manually adjusted this today to -5, the focus was close but now it's tack sharp.

NIKKOR 85mm f/1.8G I manually adjusted this today to -10, the focus was just a little behind but is now tack sharp.

Tamron SP 24-70mm f/2.8 I manually adjusted this today to -20, the focus was 2 feet behind but is now much sharper. I would be very careful about manually adjusting your telephoto lenses. I'm doing this as an on going experimental process. I'm happy to share my results with you all but please be careful about doing so.

Here are some links to youtube videos I found useful:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2tKs1zQ58E
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JPTnz_mimo
​https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52fBIp4BI84​

​I'm really excited to share these types of tips and tricks with whomever is interested. If you have any questions about this or any other topic don't hesitate to contact me :)

I will post some sharp images from my trip soon!

Happy Shooting!

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