AF Fine tune

[DanAa]

Hi there - I've just performed an AF Fine tuning session with my AF-S 1.8 lenses. It was needed, I think. The need was most expressed for my D750, while D800 and D810 less. On D750 all lenses, except 60/2.8, most   lenses had to be corrected about +15, and the AF-S 24mm and AF-S 28mm even +20.
The 28/1.8 needed at correction of +5 on D810, and -5 on D800. However, most of the lenses on D800 and D810 was in the range of 0 - +5. The table below might be readable?
All focussing was done at about 60 - 90 cm, using tripod, a halogen light, F=2.5 and 4.0

All these are on close focussing distance. How does it influence longer distances? More than 10 - 20 meters, or landscape photography?
Or, have I misunderstood the meaning of AF Fine tuning?

Lens                D750   D810  D800
AF-S 20/1.8   +15   0   0
AF-S 24/1.8   +20   +5   +4
AF-S 28/1.8   +20   +5   -5
AF-S 35/1.8   +15   +7   +5
AF-S 50/1.8   +15   0   0
AF-S 85/1.8   +15   +5   +9
SigmaMacro 105   +5   0   0
MicroNikkor 105   +5   0   +7
AF-S 24-120/4   +10   0   0
Af-S 35/1.4   +15   0   +10
AF-S 60/2.8   0   0   0

[Steven Paulsen]

Did you make sure the lens mount screws on the D750 are snug? That's a heap of compensation, dialed in on that particular camera.

[Matthew Currie]

My experience with lens fine tuning is thankfully quite limited as I've only had to fine tune a couple of lenses.  One, a 50/1.4D, and the other, a 16-85 DX, both back focus and need between -8 and -10 compensation on my D7100.  With both, I was quite surprised at how much sharper everything seemed to become even at greater distances and smaller apertures.  Some of that may be placebo effect, but it seems at any rate that if you get the tuning right at the distances usually recommended, it shows up in some degree everywhere.

[DanAa]

Did you make sure the lens mount screws on the D750 are snug? That's a heap of compensation, dialed in on that particular camera.

No, I did not think of that. Will check. Thanks.

[Ilkka Nissilä]

That distance range is very close, I don't think you can expect those settings derived from measurements made in the close-up range to be usable at longer distances.

I would recommend shooting the fine tuning tests at a minimum of 30 * focal length distance, preferably at 50 * focal length, to get to the mid range of typical distances used, so that the settings that you obtain will be usable across a wide range of distances.

For the micro nikkor, perhaps the close-up distance range is appropriate for the test.

Furthermore, I would recommend using natural daylight for the images, and not artificial light, unless your intention is to shoot at that particular kind of artificial light always.

As for the difference between the two bodies, it looks quite large, you may want to have Nikon look at the body that gives those large values.

[Erik Lund]

I agree, it looks like your D750 is out of calibration, I would recommend to get it serviced at Nikon.

[Erik Lund]

BTW here is another thread on the topic:
http://nikongear.net/revival/index.php/topic,7692.msg124775.html#msg124775

[Pistnbroke]

The distances you are quoting are far too short ..about 15ft for a 50mm and 30yards for a 500mm.
I have always found that the figures carry over through  all my Nikons  DX  and FX...+15 is not unusual.  If the image is not too sharp wide open just stop down..no point trying to figure out whats sharp if its all blurry . My 28-300 is at +15 on all bodies the 200-500 at +12  and the Tam 100-400 at +8 . 24-85 at +2.  always use the longest focal length if its a zoom