Nikon AF Fine Tune - Easiest and Best Way I've Found

Fast talk on something that's really important. AF Fine Tuning Your Lenses.

[thesourcerer]

Great tutorial. I tried to take my camera in to our local Nikon dealer to adjust the focus and sharpen it as it was unsharp. He said he did not know how to do it. Anyway after this tutorial I did it myself with a Nikkor 50mm f1.4 G lens. Now it's bang on at +4. Thanks very much much appreciated since I know how to do it myself without all the investment in extra paraphenalia or gear. (And just so by the way I did the test using a one dollar bill focusing on George Washington's head on a tripod using a camera shutter release with mirror lock up and a 3 second delay on the shutter release for extra accuracy and sharpness. Easy practical method.)

[RodAllsopp]

I found its useful to take your first frame with live view as this doesn't use the cameras AF, but uses the sensor to focus thus alway giving you good focus (in this situation). Then start at 0 with view finder AF and continue with this method until you find the setting that is closest to the LV image.

[alexhanel]

Just bought a new nikon prime, live out of the US far from any camera service centers, and have been struggling so hard over how to best fine tune it without the fancy tuning boards and what not. Impeccable timing and great video!

[TheJoeRides]

Taylor, Just found your video on AF fine Tuning along with a few others and wow, what a difference it has made with my lenses. I'm disappointed in myself that I haven't found this before now. I don't understand why this tip doesn't make it into all the intro to photography videos YouTube videos. Thanks

[petrvokurek]

I thought I was dull doing it this way but now I see I was actually clever and not the only one :) Thanks for the video!

[andrewtrayner]

Thanks for this Taylor, the information here, for me, has proved highly valuable. Thank you mate!

[popoypinoyvlogs]

Thank you so much. I have my sigma 35mm 1.4 for 1 year now and really disappointed with its focusing. After fine tuning it, I learned - 10 is the perfect value. You rock.

[westpalmdoc]

would definitely chuck it on a tripod but the general idea is superb. huge thanks.

[dannytuomo]

You legend! I thought I was freaking out with my sigma art, worked out absolutely perfect on +12 but as soon as I took it out to different distances it was absolutely useless again, so this is super handy to know

[DrussAFCA]

1 Q: do you put the flat and sharp adjustment back to default after all the tests ?

I have Nikon d7100 for couple of days, and with my Nikon 55-300mm I can't seem to get sharp photos. Not even with standard mounted to camera and vr off.

Quality is good. But zooming shows just not sharp enough.

And maybe it's that sharpness setting and flat setting that will improve my photos :)

[tamarapounds]

OMG Taylor, you save me so much misery! This was so reasonable, easy and applicable. Thank you so much! I'm going to subscribe now!

[montygiavelli]

I've tried most of the methods for fine tuning autofocus. I never had much luck with the ruler method, so I taped an amazon card on a wall and it gave me a pretty good approximation. The Dot Tune method seemed logical but I got wildly varying results and never got a result that worked. So - I sat my wife down in a chair, put my camera on a tripod and used the wireless ML-L3 to trigger my camera with the mirror up. It's much easier to evaluate a portrait photograph than a ruler or a picture. When the eyes and very fine peach fuzz are in sharp focus your know it right away. I have a 28-85mm AF 3.5 to 4.5 lens and I tested it at 85 mm for portraits. The Dot Tune method told me to set the AF fine tune to +8 and the portraits came out fuzzy. The portraits I took told me to set the AF fine tune to -1 and I got very sharp photos. My wife hated the incredible detail in her photo. I had my camera set to +8 like the Dot Tune method suggested and I was ready to buy an 85mm prime for portraits, but now I may not need it. The 28-85mm is a fantastic lens once you get the AF fine tuned.
So I think you should start with what Taylor Jackson did in the video and then test the lens using real world photos. Do it on a tripod with a remote trigger and the mirror up.

[lukejames]

Thanks Taylor, Ive always wondered how to fine tune the AF

[ivayloyordanov]

great video, after when we adjust the value, should we bring back the sharpness to the same level it was before? :))))

[catchlight]

Thanks Sir for Vdo,
But I want to know if I use the same technic to checksharpnes for any zoom lanse like 18-105 MM or 24-70 MM Lanse...

[geneliebler]

I agree with the other comments about the tripod, but once you use this method on a tripid what a great system. I could never use those scales worth a darn. Thanks for posting this video, really helpful.

[LinuxArch]

Love it straight to the point. Thanks for the tips

[Androth]

With the d850, I propped it up on the tripod. Turned silent shutter on, thus not having any sort of vibration that could cause the image to blur. Set it to a comfortable shutter, and it seems to work well. My eyes start playing tricks on me as i start to second guess. Seems as if I see color change more than sharpness. Hard to pick up the small change.

[wooxsx]

Will this technique work on the ‘Hot Fudge Brownie’ flavour of the mug cake?

[DrinkhtooO]

Very valuable. Thank you. Damn you talk fast...LOL Had to backup several times to catch up