I can reset your Nikon AF system!

They say that necessity breeds genius, right? Well, I've spent enough time playing with my own Nikon D300's AF system screws that I'm now 100% confident that I can reset anyone's Nikon digital camera which uses the dual-mirror, dual-stop adjustment system. The D90, D200, D300, D300s, D700, D3, D3s, D3x, and possibly other models like the D40, can all be adusted so that your lenses will focus on the selected spot, every time. Photos will pop with clarity and contrast like you've just purchased a new camera.

Your AF system focuses based on the position of a small mirror behind the main mirror inside your camera. This mirror rests against a small stop which isn't secured with any more than a very small Allen socket-head screw with an offset cam attached to it. As the screw is turned, the AF system brings the focus from near to far and back to near again. A second screw in the front does the same thing for the main mirror, changing what you see through the viewfinder. "Soft focus" is when the point of aim does not match where the AF system thinks it should be. AND... it's a lot more common than you think.

Would you like the confidence which comes from being able to manually-focus your camera on the head of a pin? Do you rely on your camera to make a living? Are your indoor or low-light shots currently a little fuzzy matter what you try? Is infinity out of your grasp in your landscape shots? If so, contact me, and I'll fix it for you. Why wait 6-8 weeks for Nikon to look at it. I can turn it around in just a couple days. AND, I can do it affordably, for just $50.00 plus insured shipping.

If I can't set it, or if I find another issue, then you don't have to pay me. It's as simple as that! Give me a call at 760-799-0368 if you have any questions or concerns, or email me through this blog and I'll share before and after photos from my own D300. You won't believe the difference an adjustment can make!

Testing AF systems

Okay, after reviewing information available on the internet about various famous camera brands and models, I've come to the conclusion that perhaps cross-type phase detection AF sensors occasionally have focusing issues with bright subjects, no matter what brand. I've read reaports about the 1D mkIII being problematic when introduced, with some owners requiring an entirely new mirror box to be fitted to the cameara. I've heard of front-focusing complaints from D300 users, D700 users, 5D users, and the list seems to go on and on. I'd like to test of few of these on my own, if anyone would like to contribute a camera body or two.

The test is simple; shoot a brightly colored and lit car at a wide open apeture, over a rough surface like gravel, from a tripod, and note for a series of 10 separately-focused photos, how many are focused right on the nose of the car. In theory, if the car isn't moving, the score should be 10 out of 10. Right now I'm not sure my D300 is doing that. Every so often, using Single Point AF, it will focus completely in front of the subject, resulting in a clear focal point ahead of where I've intended it to be. When shooting a car a distance away, this gross error can be large and extremely annoying. Especially when it's caused me to waste really good light, like what happened this past Sunday on a shoot.

So, in essence, I want to "audition" new AF systems. I want to know, over the last 5 years or so, who has produced the most accurate AF system. Then I want to purchase one! Immediately! I am tired of blown-focus photos.

And, lest anyone think that perhaps it's user error, I shot with two Konica-Minolta 7D bodies which were as durable and accurate as I could have wished, no matter what I shot or how ham-fisted my efforts were. I simply pointed and it nailed the focus. They weren't "fast" but they got the job done again and again. I expected this level of competence from the Nikon D300, and thus far have been disappointed. Time for a change...