Micro Focus Adjustment - Cereal Box / Ruler Method - MFA How to Check Lens Alignment
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Many Canon 90D owners have complained that their images are not quite as sharp using the optical viewfinder as they are in Live View.  The cereal box and ruler method allow photographers to visualize where their lenses are focusing and 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. I think learning how to do this manually is a good exercise because sometimes you may need to make an adjustment and not have access to certain tools.
I did decide to keep my micro-focused adjustment at -15 simply because I was getting better peak sharpness at that point.
It may appear that the Live View focus is off. A couple notes: MFA doesn't change Live View focusing, Im wayyyyy zoomed in, and finally, it is normal for cameras to focus towards the front of the DOF.
If you haven't seen it already, please check out the 5 focusing tips before trying MFA: • 5 Tips For Focusing Pr...
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Hi Michael. Thank you for putting together this very informative video. I’ve had my 90d for 2 weeks. Paired with the 100-400 L II I already have, it’s an awesome combination. I’ve been a bit worried reading of some of the issues, and thought I’d test my lens following your instructions. Please to say I had 2 almost identical images. Now to get out there and improve my skills. Thank you again. Graham.
This was a life saver. My 50mm 1.8 was having issues with soft focus so I gave up on it. Followed this setup to the T and it was focusing 3 cm in front of the cereal box. Made the adjustments and now its perfect. Thanks
I knew my 90D had AF micro adjustment I just couldn't find it in the menu, thank you very much, also I didn't know that only adjusts the view finder focus, great video thanks 👍
Good video. I made a device in my shop that has lines and a scale flat as well as angled. It's very similar to what you can buy. I've always tested and calibrated at f/2.8. I may need to look again at this as you said. I have Nikon zoom lenses such as 24-70. I test at 24,35,50 and 70. The adjustment is not the same across all focal lengths. So my reading at the closest, i.e. 70mm is what I set it at. It does work pretty good. I wish Nikon offered the same adjustment at the low as well as the high end for focal lengths like Canon does. It seems like they could do something in a Firmware upgrade. But I won't hold my breath.
Your video is absolutely incredible! You explain the smallest of details. Alit of videos on RUclips seem to assume that the person watching, already know what to do.
Teaching or instructing videos seem to assume too much but this one, it covers basically everything and is VERY well explained.
I recently as two weeks ago purchased the Sigma contemporary 150-600 mm lens and I'm using it on my Canon 70D.
I own a Sigma dock but just realized that it's good only to update the firmware of the lens. Using it to calibrate the lens itself is extra work and requires the lens to be constantly dismounted from the camera body. This creates unnecessary wear and tear so instead, using the DSLR to do the AF Micro adjustment is a much better option, Imo anyways!!
Learning about how the camera adjusts both itself and the lens in order to get tack sharp focus is a very important task. You teach it well!
The more one reads and watches, the more things start to make sense. The better the explanation of what ever the video is about, the more people will ' like' that video...
You deserve all the 'likes' you get and then some!
Great video Michael - Also a good idea to "Enable Mirror Lockup" when using the OVF.
mirror lock up is a great tool to reduce shake, especially when using manual focus with telephoto lenses and long exposures. In the case of Auto Focus however, it will flip the mirror up, blocking the viewfinder and preventing AF from happening.
Thank you so much for your video. Now I know how to adjust my 90D
I had to make adjustments on my 1DX2 with 600 F4. I had read so many different things on the distance to test at I didn’t know what to believe, I ended up just going with about 30 feet and it worked.
It was the first time I had to do it and wasn’t sure if it was just the low resolution of the body, I was used to shooting the 5dsr but after the adjustments the images are what I expected from.
Kilo Hotel In a perfect world, you want to adjust your lens under “real world” conditions. You would want to use the expected lighting conditions, and your test target should be at the distance of your expected subjects. This is easy to do in the studio for the portrait photographer.
For a sports and wildlife photographer, you want to test outdoors in natural sunlight. You want your subject to be at your expected distance. Or just use 25-50x the focal length of your lens. With super telephoto lenses, it is best to use the shutter delay timer, and maybe mirror lockup also.
Take 5-10 test shots at the same distance. Turn the focus ring to defocus the lens prior to each shot. You want to come up with an average. If your results are varying widely from one shot to the next, you may have bad gear. But, the most likely cause is bad technique caused by not paying attention to all of the little details. Take your time. I spent a couple of months taking 200+ sample shots with my 150-600.
I have used a tape measure to test my 150-600mm Sport. I went to a local print shop, and them print out a 36x48 inch test target, which I put into a plastic frame. Using the 50x distance rule, this works out to be roughly 25 to 100 feet for 150-600mm.
Since it is hard to angle a tape measure like he did the ruler in the video, I lay the tape flat, and angle the target. Of course, this means I need to be taking test shots from a slightly elevated position so that I can be perpendicular to my test target.
I know what i'm doing tomorrow :) since i have it i've been having troubles when using the OVF with my sigma 17-50 2.8 ... At 50mm the focus is def a bit beyond and i keep on "missing" my shots. hopefully this will help . Thanks for your vidz michael ... so helpful !
I just corrected mine.
@@ArtDecoArtNouveau I actually gave up and only use Live view ... I guess I'm ready for an hybrid now 😆
This is one the reasons I choose the m6 mark II over the 90d. I have been shooting with a canon 80d with the sigma 18-35 and the sigma 50-100 and even after spending many hours doing MFA with the sigma dock I could never get those lenses to focus properly for all focal lengths and subject distances when focusing through the optical viewfinder. In the end I was pretty much always shooting the 80d in live view.
Then you do'nt understand zoom optics. A zoom can only be "sharp" at 2 points in its range. Thats why prime lenses are the profession choice.
@@aspromg I assume you are not one of those professionals since you don’t seem to understand the difference between optical sharpness across the zoom range and focus accuracy across the zoom range.
This was a very fun experiment and although I didn't have to make any adjustments after comparing my sigma, tamron and tokina. I can rally appreciate my L series Canon lens on my 90D
Very good video. I understand this completely now. You definitely know how to explain techniques and concepts. Well done.
I had Rebel SL2 with Sigma 100-400. Never had problem with sharpness. Now I’ve got 90 D and most of my photos are soft (( hope that AF micro adjustment will help a bit …
Hi Michael. Thank's for the video! One quick question: in about 8:50 you talk about students zooming in way beyond the 100% mark. How do you find this mark? How do you know when it is 100% zoomed in? Thanks!
Excellent, thank you.
Something I didn’t even know I needed! Thanks Michael!
Great video. You do not need to buy the overpriced test target. It is easy to improvise.
Great video… thanx 👍
Thank you Mr Michael
Thanks for that very informative!
Damn, you're good, Michael Andrew!
Thank you Lau
Michael, while this is a good general descriptive video, it is missing two critical components - 1. Shooting distance from the camera to the target based upon the lens focal length and 2. aperture needed for AF Micro Adjustment. Canon's guidebook on this subject is to place the camera at a minimum distance of 25x the focal length (Ex.: 100mm lens x 25 = 2500mm or 8.2 feet) and set the aperture to the lowest number. Using Canon's recommendation, I set my camera and 100mm lens at roughly 10 feet (so the target fills the frame and keeps me above the minimum distance) with an aperture of F2.8. The result's were much better! In fact, in the field testing resulted in much sharper images with wider range of fstops.
C&J Studios there is actually a lot of conflicting information about the distance. In a perfect world, it should be done at the distance the lens is being used, so macro, portraits and sports would be 3 different distances. I’ve also seen some students start with longer distances screw it up, so teaching it the way I have I believe is the best way to start, so the concepts are grasped. At the end of the video I say to test how you shoot and repeat as necessary- so, yeah, I’m going to stand by this. Happy you got it worked out.
Shorter distance means smaller depth of field so you can better see the difference on the ruller. Wider aperture the same results. These are the reasons. On prime lenses the adjustments are more visible, bigger shifts than on zoom lenses. The camera lense is important to be perpendicular to the cereal box in the same horizontal plane to maximize the results.
Thanks. Really clear and helpful. Just one Q, how did you de-focus the lens in between shots?
nice job!! thanks...
Hi Michael, I am trying to micro adjust my 90D paired with a 300mm 2.8 II + 2x TC. Cereal box photo looks sharp as expected in live view. On the OFV, I am getting close but it's not 100% like the LV. Even after MFA, will there always be slight difference between LV and OFV? Thanks.
Does 90d suffer softness if you use liveview for video or is this only for photos?
2:30
Didn't understand this. So the more adjusted towards the camera more focused? I'm shooting on 270mm and the focused area still gets some above the joystick is pointing.
Can't move the cursor joystick while in viewfinder mode
Sir I have canon 90D and I am using 150-600 mm tamron lens. At the 600 mm picture is not sharp so what should i do?
1. All by same amount ?
2. Adjust by lens?
Pl z help me because I m not happy with results and also not using my new 90D with 150-600 mm during my wildlife photography.
Tamron is not the sharpest lens itself, so best solution would be to change the lens for something more sharp in this case (Canon, Sigma). Please note, that even original Canon, but old lenses can be also soft on 90D due to old (film and early digital) lens resolution standards
@@vladislavsvetlitsnoi5475 I already sell it now and move to Nikon now and i m very happy sir.
Great video! Is the ruler in a certain angle or does it not matter that much?
Angle on 45 gr.
Hi. I am busy microadjust my canon 70-200mm with extender 1,4. It was front focusing at both 70mm and 200mm and I’ve adjust accordingly on the wide angle and telephoto angle microadjustment settings to be spot on however when I’ ve check it at 100mm it was still front focusing, how do I microadjust that.
So basically the easiest check is to compare a live view shot with the same on the EVF, if the depth of field is at the same distance, then no micro adjustment is needed, correct?
I got a little confused as on your initial shot in live view, it really seemed like the sharpness was best half a centimeter away from the cereal box, as if the camera wanted around 10-15 micro adjustment towards wide angle. Can you please confirm your statement that it's normal for depth of field to start at the point of focus and tend to keep better sharpness forward, rather than backwards? Thanks a lot. I've bought a couple of older lenses and would like to ensure they are spot on for usage on the OVF. congrats again on the amazing channel and 90D facebook page.
1- Correct. 2- No DOF does not start at the focal point, on average its about 1/3 before that and 2/3 after, but there could be variation depending on the lens etc. In a perfect world the SHARPEST point should be at the focal point. This is what AFMA is supposed to correct when it is off. Best wishes
@@MMaven thanks a lot for the immediate answer. This could potentially mean then that slightly better sharpness could be achieved via a MFAed OVF than live view?
@@665Thunder The focusing systems cannot outperform the resolving power of the lens so once you are dialed in with precise focus it cannot get sharper. What we’re seeing on the 90 D however is that the optical focusing systems are behind the live view focusing systems. In fact you cannot even focused adjust for live you it’s only the optical focusing systems. And from what I know nobody has had a problem with the live view focusing systems
After you adjusted the AF MA to -20, in the after picture it looks like that now the focusing point is correct isn't it? But by your comments it looks like you are not happy with it. Can you please clarify? Thanks.
i have the same question
I just upgraded my canon 80d to a 90d..I’m shooting with a canon 70-200 f2.8 version one.. while shooting sports, my shutter is high, if noticed it misses way more than it hits. Any suggestions???
I've had the same issues. Gonna try this micro focus adjustment at 200mm zoom and see if it'll help.
Question as you repeat this for each lens does the camera remember or you have to adjust tot eh number s manually for each lens?
Remembers if it’s canon otherwise you register a number when setting up
@@MMaven thank you
Would appreciate someone educating me on this. I don't understand the discrepancy in focus demonstrated in the video. Using live view when focusing on the cereal box, which is lined up with 18cm, the f5.6 image is sharper at around 18.4cm rather than 18cm. Shouldn't the image be sharpest at 18cm since you're using live view?
MFA doesn’t apply to live view. It applies to the optical focusing
@@MMaven Thanks for the reply! At 6:33, it appears the live view was used to focus and take the shot, not the OVF, yet the focus was a little beyond 18cm when reviewed. Am I missing something?
Oh I see. Ok that portion of the video was to demonstrate the depth of field & sharpness differences. It was to not MFA live view. Live view cannot be MFAed.
So to answer your question: not always. In a perfect world the focus should be about 1/3 into the DOF, in this case it looks like it’s focusing almost 1/8th into it, but this has to do with a number of factors. The shallower the dof, the more variance. This is why they suggest doing it from 25-50 feet away, which isn’t practical
Sounds like your expectation is live view to focus dead on in the center of the dof? Usually not, it’s usually towards the front
Is it worth micro focus ajusting a mirrorless camera or not
No need
@@RahulKumar-nh3wc ah really! Not sure why my rf 50 1.8 is soft then
@@jacktranter1496 what body?
@@RahulKumar-nh3wc R
@@jacktranter1496 have you checked all other reasons one could get soft images with?
There is paid software for mac or windows called reikanfocal that is automated to do this task. Worked better for me on my 6d and 6d mark 2.
Yes but it costs $100 usd. This doesn’t cost anything but time and patience.
Then what about a mirrorless camera?
No need for mirrorless camera.
Excellent!! thank you!