Lens Align

[Jmsheps]

I know this was addressed but I cannot find the thread anywhere. I have a new Signa Art Lens that is struggling to focus and my 70-200 2.8 is also misbehaving. I have never calibrated/aligned my lenses and desperately need help doing this before a wedding next week. Thanks a million!

Edited February 6, 2016 by Jmsheps
Misspellings

[Christina Keddie]

Hi jmsheps, similar questions were addressed in a thread in the "DSLR Bistro" section (for questions on gear), which is where I've moved this thread as well.

[Brian]

Are they both Sigma lenses?

[Brian]

Oh, if you seriously can not trust your gear with something as important as a wedding, please rent some glass. Preferably OEM lenses. I would hate for you do blow focus on important shots only to end up here in Ask Damien begging for help because the "Bride is gonna be pissed, and I'm ready to puke..." threads are so heart-wrenching.

In addition, what camera body are you shooting with?

[Samantha LaRue]

Depending what lens from sigma, it could be really good. The new Art series is very well reviewed and reliable. 

[Christina Keddie]

13 minutes ago, Samantha LaRue said:

Depending what lens from sigma, it could be really good. The new Art series is very well reviewed and reliable. 

The Sigma Art lenses are very very good -- as long as you get a good copy, and also use the dock to microadjust it to your body.  I'd be super leery of renting a Sigma lens. 

[Brian]

"As long as you get a good copy..."

Agreed. That's the key statement. 

While Sigma has gotten much better over the years, especially with their ART series, they still have QC issues. 

It used to be my standard phrase, "Often you will go through 3-4 lenses before you get a good copy with Sigma and 4-5 lenses with Tamron..." Of course, perception is reality. I'm sure there are plenty of people reading this thread foaming at the mouth and want to scream at me that I'm wrong. That "Their Lenses" are fine  Sam, you just did it yourself.

Here is my defense. In a little over a week, this person is about to photograph a wedding. The type of event that you can't redo. If her two lenses are acting up, a wedding gig is not the place to "test" your new AF settings. Because those settings aren't bulletproof. The lens could still be acting up. So if you think, "OK...I set my lenses to +4 and my test shots at home seem to be fine, it's not front-focusing as much..." and then go shoot the gig, come home only to discover at home that the lens is back-focusing, I'm trying to stop her from going down that road. To not have the situation the day after the Wedding when looking at the freshly downloaded images for the 1st time... 

"OMGOMGOMGOMGOMG!!!  No-No-No-No!!!! F*CK!!! These photos are all out of focus!! The group shots, none of them are in focus!! The first kiss!! F*CK MY LIFE!!!! Blurry!! What am I'm going to do?!?!! I'm gonna get sued!! The bride is going to be pissed. I wonder if Damien can help?!?!! Great, he's asleep since he's on the other side of the world..."

I'm trying to stop this situation from happening at all. 

Now, it's true that I'm an OEM Snob. I will never have 3rd party lenses mounted on my camera, but the main reason I'm recommending her to rent OEM glass is simply this: Reliability. Since rental gear is "Used & Abused," she has a higher chance of getting a OEM rental lens that actually works.

It used to be that OEM stuff had higher build quality and lasted longer, and that's still mostly true, both Canon & Nikon have been slipping in recent years. I often now wait for the first recall before considering buying anything new. 

That said, when it comes to renting, im going straight for the Nikon or Canon glass. The rental places will have more OEM lenses in stock, due to higher demand and my chances of getting a good copy are increased. 

[Brian]

Now with your ART lens, are you on the latest firmware? I remember seeing a few firmware updates fixed some focus issues. If you have a Sigma 70-200, you will have to send it in and it's too late for that.