It occurs to me that we're dealing with levels of precision here that are at or near the cutting edge of manufacturing capability. This is why there are very few companies that make this kind of hardware.
What we seem to be debating here is the "balance level" of quality required to make a commercially viable product - which involves both making customers happy AND making a profit. Canon certainly needs to do both.
If the factory had to slow down production to, say, half the rate it runs at now so as to take the time to "perfectly" calibrate every lens, it follows that the price would have to go up to double - and I'm sure none of us wants that to happen. One might argue that double the number of lens calibration stations could be set up to keep production at the current rate, but again that would involve significant additional one-time and recurring expense, and lead to that price hike no one wants once again.
The REAL question is whether people are perceiving a general reduction in value.
What is the hourly salary of the Japanese technicans? I would sugest that a well trained tech could completely align each lens in 10 minutes or less with a properly setup automated test jig. Noel; I'm sure that either you or I given the specs and the manual adjustment procedures could design one and write the software to automate it.
Good day all, I've just joined this forum after noticing Doug Kerr posts here and used to enjoy discussions on DPreview where I too had a 300D.
So, without further ado, my 1st question is when I have my lenses calibrated at Canon UK RCC is it preferable to have the lenses calibrated to my 50D body or have them calibrated to their reference body and then make any slight alterations via the lens adjustment options.
Regards John
White Balance so easy, even our 5 year old can do it.- Melissa Strickland
I have Lens Align and a meter stick I throw on the floor and shoot at an angle. Both work but Lens Align is more accurate.
I have 3 zooms I have calibrated using the Lens Align system and a 1Ds III. The 24-105 f/4L IS and the 70-200 f/2.8L IS I have can be corrected for all of the marked focal lengths with a single setting (+3 for the 24-105 and +4 for the 70-200 in for my equipment).
The third zoom is the older 16-35 f/2.8L (not the II version) and that cannot be adjusted for all marked focal lengths. At some focal lengths the lens will front-focus and at others it will back-focus. I have optimized the micro-adjustment for the range from 16mm to about 24mm since it is the only lens I have that covers that range.
If I am reading Chuck’s reply correctly I should send this lens to Canon to be fixed …yes/no?
White Balance so easy, even our 5 year old can do it.- Melissa Strickland
John Maij wrote:
>>when I have my lenses calibrated at Canon UK RCC is it preferable to have the lenses calibrated to my 50D body or have them calibrated to their reference body and then make any slight alterations via the lens adjustment options.<<
It shouldn't make any difference. If you send your 50D in to the Factory Service Center, the technicians will zero it out according to their calibration standards before returning it to you.
Mark Alsop wrote:
>>If I am reading Chuck’s reply correctly I should send this lens to Canon to be fixed …yes/no?<<
Linear Mode
