Datacolor User to User Support Group.

On Oct 16, 2010, at 9:50 AM, keith wrote:

> It works just fine - it doesn't need to be any more complex
> 
> My thoughts after testing it are that the sense of heightened accuracy and precision required after looking at all the LensAlign sales pitches is almost entirely spurious.
> 
> The oft quoted requirement for absolute parallelism is much overrated and you can set up the SpyderlensCal perfectly well by eye.
> 
> I'm sure that many people who've tried to set AF microadjustment have been slightly disappointed by the lack of apparent precision they've encountered.
> 
> Add to this the rather vocal part of photography that thinks that better (read $$$) equipment will be the answer to their perceived failings, and you have an ideal market to sell expensive and IMHO unnecessarily precise alignment equipment.
> 
> Having set up optical systems in the past, I know where extreme precision makes a difference, and lens AF microadjustment  really does not fall into the category that some might want to believe.
> 
> As someone from a technical background I just don't like seeing spurious engineering precision being used to market needlessly overcomplex and overpriced solutions to questionable problems.
> 
> Of course the real problem is that (IMHO) rather too many people have let themselves believe that there is a technical ($$$) fix to improving their photography when the real answer is learning more about their own drives/interests/motivations/vision - oops, sorry, that takes real effort :-) :-)
> 
> Anyway minor rant over - the SpyderLensCal works just fine ;-)

The other issue that never seems to get addressed is the number of moving, removable, magnetic, and losable parts in LensAlign. The goal with LensCal was that it be one durable piece, no removable parts, nothing to lose or worry about. So it offers a much more foolproof tool for travel, classrooms, camera clubs, workshops, and other real world environments where total control of the situation is not possible. At Photokina we calibrated what I estimated to be about two million dollars worth of bodies and lenses in a week, on a crowded tradeshow floor, amongst a surging crowd of interested on-lookers. LensCal worked wonderfully in that rather challenging environment.

C. David Tobie
Global Product Technology Manager
Digital Imaging & Home Theater
CDTobie@...