Lens calibration - send the body too?

Vertigo

Vertigo

Vertigo

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Ok so my 70-200 appears to need calibrating. After doing some micro-adjustment focus tests, it appears to be pretty much bang on at 70mm, maybe even +1, at 135mm it's spot on but at 200mm it's around the -8 mark.

It's too late to send it off to Canon for calibrating now as I'm going away in a couple of weeks but I will do when I get back. My question is whether to send the body too.

Now I know all about tolerances in both lenses and body and so forth and that they recommend you send both the lens and the body so they can be calibrated to each other but is this really necessary?

All I want is for the lens to be "linear". I don't mind if micro-adjustment is required as long as the value is the same at all focal lengths. Surely they don't need any specific body for this so is there any point sending it?

Incidentally I've never sent a lens off for calibration before. I presume I have to send it to them at my own expense but do I have to pay for their return shipping charges too? I'm a (basic level) CPS member - don't know what sort of turnaround I can expect?
 
Mine went to fixation 17-55 2.8 without the body, under warranty. I paid the shipping one way iirc. I certainly didn't pay the return shipping. Turnaround varies depending on who it goes to and how busy they are. I chose fixation, contacted them directly and had my lens back and serviced in 5 working days.

If the body isn't in warranty and you send it you will be charged for the calibration of that, but get the lens under warranty.
 
I just had my 100-400mm checked and calibrated. It from 2006 and I bought it second hand so didn't have many other options.

The company I used is one of the Canon repair centres (http://camera-repair.co.uk/) and from what I remember of the stuff I read on their website, they don't offer a service where the lenses are calibrated to your camera (I believe Sigma do though)

How old is your lens? I knew mine wasn't exactly new so I thought it might need some love. I checked before hand and they don't replace parts inside unless they deem it necessary which annoyed me a little as the price for inspection isn't particularly cheap. You could end up paying for them to just look at your lens if they find nothing wrong which I didn't like the sound of but I decided to give em a try anyway.

I ended up costing me around £168 for the service to the lens, new zoom guides, calibration and then postage back to me. The lens is definitely a lot better now so I'm happy :)

I found their name on the Canon website and chose them based on their website but you can always pick one closer to your home if you plan on dropping it off yourself?
 
The lens is brand new (a month old) but the body is just over two years so not under warranty.

I've already made preliminary contact with CPS but will call them tomorrow to find out exactly what the deal is. I presumed they all went to Canon Elstree but can you choose where to send them? (I know I can ask CPS all this tomorrow but just curious)
 
You have to pay for shipping, if its under warranty then it's free, if its not then its £104 fixed fee for most repair at Elstree. Unless its water damage and they need to replace a bunch of elements.

I just sent in my 50/1.4 in, without the body though. £104....ouch, considering how much the lens is worth.
 
Presume you mean the calibration and return shipping is free under warranty but you have to pay to send it to them to start with?

Wish they did a while-you-wait service - I'd actually drive to Elstree if I could sit and wait there for a few hours while they did it.
 
£104 includes the calibration, labour and even most parts. It also include return by UPS.

I've not tried the wile you wait service since I'm miles away.
 
Vertigo1 said:
The lens is brand new (a month old) but the body is just over two years so not under warranty.

I've already made preliminary contact with CPS but will call them tomorrow to find out exactly what the deal is. I presumed they all went to Canon Elstree but can you choose where to send them? (I know I can ask CPS all this tomorrow but just curious)
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I didn't even bother contacting canon, I contacted fixation directly as they are an authorised canon repair center. No need to contact canon at all, just gpt through their repair centers :)
 
dannyjo22 said:
I didn't even bother contacting canon, I contacted fixation directly as they are an authorised canon repair center. No need to contact canon at all, just gpt through their repair centers :)
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Unless fixation is cheaper and can return the lens faster, I don't see why one would go to fixation.

I've used both, excellent service from both but I get a guaranteed 2 day turn around with Elstree, it's a fixed fee repair and with CPS membership, if they can't repair it until the time window, you get replacement gear loan to you.
 
Vertigo1 said:
Cheers guys, I'll speak to the CPS rep tomorrow and see what they say.
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They'll create a ticket, send you an email which you need to fill in a form describe the fault, send in copy receipt with the form. So it won't cost you anything.

I also sent in a covering letter too.

Do not send the box, it'll get crushed, I sent in the polystyrene once and when they (fixation) sent it back they tapped it back so hard the polystyrene changed shape. I just wrap it in loads of bubble wrap, in it in a box and the wrap that box up again.

Don't send the filter in, just front and rear caps, list that in the form as well.
 
I sent my 100-400mm in the case it comes with and with the tripod mount etc and they sent me an email to acknowledge receipt of the lens and all the parts like the case and mount which was nice.
 
Vertigo1 said:
Ok so my 70-200 appears to need calibrating. After doing some micro-adjustment focus tests, it appears to be pretty much bang on at 70mm, maybe even +1, at 135mm it's spot on but at 200mm it's around the -8 mark.

It's too late to send it off to Canon for calibrating now as I'm going away in a couple of weeks but I will do when I get back. My question is whether to send the body too.

Now I know all about tolerances in both lenses and body and so forth and that they recommend you send both the lens and the body so they can be calibrated to each other but is this really necessary?

All I want is for the lens to be "linear". I don't mind if micro-adjustment is required as long as the value is the same at all focal lengths. Surely they don't need any specific body for this so is there any point sending it?

Incidentally I've never sent a lens off for calibration before. I presume I have to send it to them at my own expense but do I have to pay for their return shipping charges too? I'm a (basic level) CPS member - don't know what sort of turnaround I can expect?
Click to expand...



For zoom lenses it is not always possible to have a uniform calibration across the zoom range, 3rd part lenses tend to be especially prone to this. However, normally the differences are small and if one calibrates close to what the tele end joule be then the wide end tends to suffice due to typical DoF differences.

What is even worse is that some lenses need a different micro adjust at different subject distances....
 
The new Sigma solves this problem with the dock it seems, although I can't see it being easy to do. The amount of swapping it on off body, multiple shots, test and retest, multiply it by all the segments and then retest all other focal length to check if it hasn't changed other segments. It'll be quite time consuming.
 
D.P. said:
For zoom lenses it is not always possible to have a uniform calibration across the zoom range, 3rd part lenses tend to be especially prone to this. However, normally the differences are small and if one calibrates close to what the tele end joule be then the wide end tends to suffice due to typical DoF differences.
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A slight difference would be understandable, but a range of 9 isn't in my opinion. A lens, especially one that expensive, should focus properly at all focal lengths. When the adjustment range for "perfect" focus is that wide, I'd content that it doesn't meet that criteria.
 
I'd definitely send off a lens with that much variance. I've read god only knows how many threads and articles online over the last couple of years that talk about having +/-2 going through the range and it's acceptable, but 9 is a hell of a lot really. Too much to know you're getting what you want without having to overthink each shot anyway (well, for me anyway).
 
Basically, at 200mm the lens is way off whereas at 70mm it's pretty much spot on.

I've adjusted it to -6 for now which has pretty much fixed it at 200mm. At the wide end it's now not perfect but the wider DoF means even at -6, it's still pretty close. It'll do for now but I want it calibrated to at least get the difference narrowed a fair bit.
 
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