Jan 11, 2019 The D810 does not have the Auot Fine Tune that the D500 does so it needs to be done in conjunction with an outside source. I use FoCal now but have also used the 'Dot Tune' method. This cannot be carried out in Live View as you need access to the Menu in order to input adjustments. (Nikon D810, Nikon 28-300mm VR at 78mm, f/5 at 1/180 hand-held at Auto ISO 500, Athentech Perfectly Clear v2.) bigger. Ryan flies a Fairchild C-119 'Flying Boxcar,' 28 November 2014, Friday. Nikon D810, Nikon 20mm f/1.8, f/1.8 at 1/125 at Auto ISO 1,100, Perfectly Clear. Bigger or camera-original file to explore on your computer. Auto AF Fine-Tuning. The D850 can fine-tune autofocus automatically. The results can be used with all lenses of the same type. Use only as required. AF fine-tuning should be performed at the focus distance at which the lens is normally used; finetuning performed at short focus distances may be less effective with distant subjects and vice versa.
The D850 has a tuning feature for the phase detection autofocus (PDAF). For the contrast detection autofocus (CDAF) no tuning is necessary or possible. The PDAF tuning works like this:
Manually focus on a target at your chosen aperture and distance.
Tell the camera to autofocus on that target, then recommend a correction
Store the correction in memory for that lens (this is done automatically)
I’ve had a D5 since they first shipped, and thus I have experience with a similar system. Sounds neat, right? Nobody likes to tune the autofocus manually, and many don’t bother. But Nikon recommends that you don’t use the feature unless you’re having problems. Why is that?
It turns out that there are two sets of random variations that can cause all kinds of trouble.
Errors in manual focusing — your errors
Errors in autofocusing, which the camera needs to do to estimate the correction — camera errors
Nikon D810 Auto Fine Tune
The combination of the two sets of errors means that you need to perform the procedure many times and average the readings for best results. If you do the auto-tune just once or twice, you are likely to make things worse, not better. I believe that’s what Nikon wrote their cautionary note.
Let’s talk a bit about the errors in turn.
Nikon D810 Can't Auto Fine Tuner
The D850 is easier to focus manually than its predecessors, the D800 (which was awful), and the D810 (which wasn’t bad). In any of the three cameras, you need to use live view to focus critically; using the viewfinder is at best approximate, especially since all the focusing aids have been removed in the transition from manual-focus-only film cameras to autofocus-primarily digital ones. I for one am very sad to have experienced the demise of by far the most accurate reflex focusing aid, the aerial image ground glass. For those too young to remember, in the olden days when dinosaurs roamed the earth, SLRs had interchangeable ground glass finder inserts, and one of the options had a clear center with a very fine cross embedded in it. You got the image approximately in focus with the ground glass on the periphery, then moved your eye up and down or from side to side. If the image was out of focus in one direction, it moved one way with respect to the center of the cross. If it was OOF the other way, it moved the other way. RIP, aerial focusing. It was great, even though it only worked on-axis and was slow at best.
But I digress. Where was I? Oh, that’s right: liveview. The D800 was immensely handicapped by line skipping sensor readout. The D810 improved that. Neither offered focus peaking. The D850 has still better liveview clarity, and adds peaking. What’s not to like? Two things:
The magnification doesn’t go high enough
The peaking is too weak when used at full magnification.
Insufficient live view magnification is a common complaint. I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone say their camera had too much magnification for critical focusing. Too-weak peaking is not a problem I’ve ever had with a camera; most have peaking that’s too sensitive. But even with the peaking set to its most-sensitive position on the D850, with the finder zoomed in all the way on a Siemens Star with a sharp lens like the 105/1.4, I can’t get the peaking to light up. It looks like Nikon tuned the peaking for low-magnification use. So, on balance, I find that I can’t manually focus the D850 as consistently as either the a7RII or the GFX-50S. Both of those cameras have their manual focussing issues, but I’ve found ways to get good results from them. It’s kind of strange that the D850, with a better LCD display at magnification than either camera, doesn’t deliver the godds as well. And of course the D850 can’t be focused through the finder at all in live view, which is the best way to use both the GFX and the a7RII.
Oh, and don’t be tempted to use the misfocusing arrows in the D850 finder when you’re dong the manual focusing part of auto-tune. They are driven by the same information that drives the PDAF itself.
Nikon D810 Price
Now we get to the variations in PD autofocus. In the D850, they are profound:
Nikon D810 Autofocus Fine Tune
There has to be a better way to set up your PDAF than running endless variations of Nikon’s auto-tune procedure. I have some ideas, and I’ll get to them in a future post.