Deal: Datacolor SpyderLensCal Autofocus Calibration Aid – $39 (reg. $69, today only)

SpyderLensCal Autofocus Calibration Aid

Only for today (10/23/20) B&H Photo has a 43% discount on the Datacolor SpyderLensCal Autofocus Calibration Aid.

Get the Datacolor SpyderLensCal Autofocus Calibration Aid on sale at $39. Compare at $69. While $39 will likely not break your bank, there is an even less expensive way to calibrate autofocus on your lens.

Datacolor SpyderLensCal key features:

  • Fast, easy solution for your interchangeable lenses and recent DSLR bodies provides razor-sharp auto-focusing, using modern DSLR autofocus micro-adjustment technology
  • Compact, lightweight and durable, with integrated level and tripod mount, making this the most convenient way to adjust your own camera gear
  • Save time and hassle of sending your equipment in for service. Now you can check or calibrate your own lenses
  • Accurate and repeatable calibration of your lenses and recent DSLR bodies
  • Worthwhile investment to ensure your camera is focusing your lenses as precisely as possible

The SpyderLensCal Autofocus Calibration Aid from Datacolor is a focus test chart, designed for use with select DSLRs that support autofocus adjustment. The chart allows you to test the autofocus accuracy of your camera, making it easy to fine-tune it for optimum performance.

The SpyderLensCal features a built-in level and tripod mount, allowing you to create precise testing environments. Cameras that support autofocus adjustments such as the Canon 5D Mk II, 5D Mk III, 1D Mk III, 1D Mk IV, and 1Ds Mk III, as are supported. Please consult your owner’s manual to confirm that your camera supports autofocus adjustment.


Get DxO PhotoLab 4 with a 30% discount.

More hand-picked deals are listed here.

Today’s Gold Box and one day only deals at Amazon USAmazon DEAmazon UKB&H Photo, eBayAdorama.

Refurbished lenses and DSLRs at Canon Store (best deals might be found here)

Save $10 on Luminar 4 and/or Aurora HDR 2019 using our code “WATCH” at checkout.

How To Calibrate Lens Autofocus Without Expensive Tools

How To Calibrate Lens Autofocus

Is your lens back- or front-focusing? Don’t despair, you can calibrate the lens without expensive and complicated tools. Here is how to calibrate lens autofocus.

Karl Taylor posted a short video where he explains well how to proceed to calibrate your lens. He says:

Have you ever noticed your lens isn’t always pin-sharp when using autofocus? This lens autofocus problem can happen because lenses can drift over time. You want your autofocus to be pin-sharp – I demonstrate how to simply calibrate your lens autofocus without needing to buy a lens calibration tool or calibration chart.

All you need to accomplish it is:

  • A piece of whiteboard
  • A standard ruler
  • A pen or pencil
  • The lens for calibrating
  • Your camera with tripod

And here is the 5 minutes video explaining how to calibrate your lens:

More tips and tricks are listed here.

How To Do Autofocus Microadjustment On Your Lens (tutorial)

Autofocus Microadjustment

Here is something useful. A video about hot to do autofocus microadjustment.

The 14 minutes video below by Michael The Maven shows how to microadjust autofocus on your lens using a cereal box and a ruler. He uses a Canon EOS 90D to show it.

The cereal box and ruler method allows photographers to quickly visualize where their lenses are focusing and to verify if they are out of alignment. This video demonstrates the philosophies of MFA (micro focus adjustment) and some of the principles to become familiar with if you decide to try this on your own.

If you prefer there is a neat written tutorial about how to do autofocus microadjustment by Canon itself and you can download it here.

Let’s Talk Eye-controlled Autofocus On Canon Cameras

Eye Controlled Autofocus

Recently a Canon patent application was spotted that discussed technologies for an eye-controlled autofocus system. Something Canon already offered back in the film days with the Canon EOS 3.

Taking inspiration from the above patent, DPReview TV’s Chris and Jordan consider what a modern eye-controlled AF system might mean to photographers. The following topics are discussed in the 5 minutes video below:

  • The Canon EOS 3
  • Eye-controlled AF
  • Eye-controlled AF challenges
  • How a new eye-controlled AF system could work
  • Selecting faces and eyes
  • Do we need updated eye-controlled AF?

Enjoy.

Can Panasonic DFD (Depth from Defocus) Hold Up To Canon Dual Pixel Autofocus?

Dual Pixel Af Panasonic Dfd

Panasonic’s proprietary autofocusing technology, Panasonic DFD (Depth from Defocus), is not everyone’s darling.

Panasonic DFD is a technology that calculates the direction and the amount to move the focus lens at a single movement by predicting it with 2 images that have different depth of field (more here).

Canon’s Dual Pixel AF is an established technology and the reference in the industry. The next iteration of this autofocusing technology has already by filed as patent application.

The video below by DPReview TV, Chris and Jordan discuss Panasonic DFD and how it compares to Canon Dual Pixel AF.

Latest Canon Patent Applications (celestial AF, improved viewfinder, IS on tilt-shift, telephoto)

Canon Patent

US Patent Application 20490158760 discusses how to get better autofocus performance when picturing objects in the sky, like the moon.

In recent years, the number of pixels in image capturing apparatuses such as cameras and videos has increased, a slight defocus state of an image has become conspicuous and, more precise focusing is desired. This is the same in shooting an image of celestial bodies (stars, moon, and so forth) in the night sky. 

Focusing on celestial bodies is performed by calculating a focus position at which an area represented by high brightness signals is strictly minimized when regarding each celestial body as a point light source. As stars and the moon which are subjects in astrophotography at night are located substantially at infinity and there are specific exposure settings for astrophotography, there is an independent shooting mode for astrophotography different from other scene modes. Hereinafter, a mode for shooting the moon as the main subject is referred to as a “moon shooting mode”. 

Normally, the focus position at which an object located substantially at infinity is in focus is uniquely determined by performing infinite focus adjustment in individual image capturing apparatus. However, due to a difference between temperature at a time of the infinite focus adjustment and temperature of the image capturing apparatus at a time of actually shooting a celestial body, a difference in posture, and so forth, the focus may shift during shooting. For this reason, it is necessary to often adjust focus even during shooting a celestial body whose distance from the image capturing apparatus does not substantially change during shooting. 


Japan Patent Application 2019-078959 describes am improved viewfinder which improves on aberrations and magnification while maintaining a long eyepoint.

[…] the focal length of the eyepiece is about 65 mm, and the finder magnification is about 0.8 or less when the standard lens with a focal length of 50 mm is mounted as a photographing lens. 
Therefore, in a camera using a so-called APS-C size sensor in which the size of the image circle is smaller than a 35 mm film, the finder image becomes smaller than the conventional silver halide film camera. 
Further, in the prior art disclosed in Patent Document 2, although the finder magnification is as high as about 1 time, it is difficult to sufficiently correct axial chromatic aberration and lateral chromatic aberration. 
Therefore, an object of the present invention, while increasing the magnification while maintaining high optical performance, is to provide a finder optical system capable of ensuring long eye point. 


Japan Patent Application 2019-078903 describes how to implement an image stabilisation system on a tilt-shift lens while also lowering the power consumption.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a lens apparatus capable of reducing the power consumption while being able to shoot under an eyebrow and correct the shake, and an image pickup apparatus using the same. 
To achieve the above object, a lens device of the present invention, 
  – an optical system comprising a plurality of lenses, 
  – the shake correction lens of the plurality of lenses the optical system A – driving unit for moving in a direction crossing the optical axis;

A tilt unit for tilting the optical system and a control unit for controlling the drive unit are provided, and the control unit is configured to make the tilt amount of the optical system generated by the tilt unit smaller than a predetermined tilt amount. When the first tilt amount and the shake amount applied to the optical system are the first shake amount larger than a predetermined shake amount, the shake correction lens is in a direction crossing the optical axis. The drive unit is controlled to move in a direction intersecting the optical axis with a first drive amount smaller than the maximum drive amount of the shake correction lens 
  According to the present invention, it is possible to provide an imaging apparatus using the lens apparatus and which capable of reducing power consumption as well as a possible tilt shooting and shake correction . 


Japan Patent Application 2019-078948 describes various optical formulas for telephoto lenses and how to reduce chromatic aberrations.

  • focal length 392.55 
  • f-number 2.90 
  • half angle of view 3.15 
  • image height 21.64 
  • total lens length 372.00 
  • BF 60.70 
  • focal length 292.46 
  • f-number 2.90 
  • half angle of view 4.23 
  • image height 21.64 
  • lens total length 273.98 
  • BF 62.03 
  • focal length 488.82 
  • F number 4.10 
  • half angle of view 2.53 
  • image height 21.64 
  • lens total length 411.90 
  • BF 71.62 
  • focal length 778.70 
  • F number 5.83
  • Half angle of view 1.59 
  • image height 21.64 
  • lens total length 486.03 
  • BF 71.54

US Patent Application 20190155003 describes optical formulas for more telephoto lenses. As with the previous patent application, here too reduction of chromatic aberrations is discussed.

In an ultra-telephoto lens, generally, the longer the focal length, the more axial chromatic aberration or magnification chromatic aberration occurs. As a technique for excellently correcting these types of chromatic aberration, a technique for increasing the number of lenses placed on an object side and causing the lenses to share the action of correcting chromatic aberration is known. However, the effective diameter of a lens placed on the object side of the ultra-telephoto lens is likely to be large. Thus, if an attempt is made to correct chromatic aberration by the above technique, the weight of an imaging optical system increases.