# Reikan FoCal 2.0 Final Released



## Canon Rumors Guy (Oct 1, 2015)

```
FoCal 2.0 is ready for prime time, we’re excited to release FoCal 2.0 to users and believe it’s the most stable, easiest to use and provides the most accurate calibrations of any version of FoCal to date. Development and testing have put in a huge amount of time to re-write and re-design much of the underlying software as well as updates to the user interface to make FoCal more user friendly.</p>
<p>A host a new features and enhancements to existing features mean that FoCal 2.0 is the most comprehensive way to test and calibrate autofocus on modern Canon and Nikon dSLRs available.</p>
<p><!--more--></p>
<p><strong>FoCal 2 Headline Features</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Compare your results with other FoCal users</strong> – with FoCal 2, you can now compare the results of your tests with the results from thousands of other FoCal users to see how your equipment is really performing. Pro only feature, this area is one we expect to expand on in future FoCal releases.</li>
<li><strong>Review your previous tests</strong> – you can review the detailed results of previous tests you’ve run for comparison. This includes most of the tests you’ve run with FoCal 1 as well. Pro only feature</li>
<li><strong>Improved Reports</strong> – the reports are now more concise, grouping relevant information together and showing more information that matters. Pro only feature</li>
<li><strong>Faster Results</strong> – get accurate results in less time with the new analysis algorithms in FoCal 2. FoCal Plus and Focal Pro both benefit from the same improved Automatic Focus Calibration processing.</li>
<li><strong>More Information</strong> – dig deeper into the performance of your camera and lens with extra information, as well as reviewing more details about each shot taken. FoCal Plus inherits the “Lens Profile” graph display from Focal Pro to make it easier for users to understand what’s happening during the calibration process. FoCal Pro has the following extra information available during calibration, Historic Results, Focus Consistency, Astigmatism Factor, Result Convergence and Image Motion.</li>
<li><strong>User Interface Improvements</strong> – the user interface is easier to understand, with new tabbed windows, more logical operation and comprehensive keyboard control.</li>
<li><strong>Voice Prompts</strong> – FoCal 2 even talks to you! Calibrate any camera without needing to sit looking at the computer screen, changes you might need to make at the camera are spoken out loud.

Free Upgrade – FoCal 2.0 is a free upgrade for all FoCal 1 license holders, so there’s nothing more to pay to get all these new features!</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>FoCal 2 Mac Specific Improvements</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>No Mono Framework Install – FoCal 2 for Mac is now a standalone application with no requirement to install any third party frameworks. Easier installation for users and it’s impossible to install an untested version of Mono!

Digital Signing and Easy Install – FoCal 2 for Mac is now fully digitally signed and the install is graphically guided (just drag and drop from the DMG file!).</li>
<li>Huge focus on reliability – A lot of the work on getting FoCal 2 for Mac ready has been in improving reliability and stability. Changes to the internal code structure, a new development tool chain and extensive pre-release testing.

No need to select camera manufacturer – gone is the need to choose between Canon and Nikon before connecting a camera.</li>
</ul>
<p><a href="http://www.reikan.co.uk/focalweb/index.php/2015/10/reikan-focal-2-0-final-released/" target="_blank">Visit Reikan for more information</a>.</p>
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## pardus (Oct 1, 2015)

I am really interested in this but is new to me. Any feedback from users on how well it works?


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## rpt (Oct 1, 2015)

pardus said:


> I am really interested in this but is new to me. Any feedback from users on how well it works?


I had the beta and it worked fine. I will upgrade over the weekend.


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## msatter (Oct 1, 2015)

I will have a try of this software and I got the second of three versions and a really not pleased that Canon crippled the product by only allowing assisted manual adjustment in the 5D MKIII. It is a pain to go through the process of manually adjusting the AFMA and having to touch the Camera on each requested change.

I think this is only the case for the 5D MKIII.

I am sure Reikan has solved the crashes during the already lengthy calibrating which made me to de-install previous version of the software.


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## takesome1 (Oct 1, 2015)

I downloaded the beta and used it with my 7D II and 5Ds R on the the 500mm II.

Let me say I have used FoCal every since it was introduced. I always check my results against other methods like lens align. 

My opinion is that it doesn't sample enough. It runs through -20, -10, 0, +10 and +20 and then gives you its suggest focus setting to switch to. It might ask for a few other settings but not many to sample before it picks a number. 

It was far more consistent with its results than the previous versions. It gave me the same suggested settings 5 or 6 times in a row on both bodies. 

So I tested it again with lens align to verify. What I found is that on both bodies the setting favored back focus. In 2 out of 10 samples the DOF would fall behind the focus point and those within the DOF would not have been at the optimum point. With lens align the optimum setting was 2 increments difference (+3 vs +5).

So my first impression is that the new version doesn't sample enough to find the optimum setting it is just using the curve, but it is consistent with its results.


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## iowapipe (Oct 1, 2015)

Thank you for the sampling information. I've used LensAlign, and occasionally further fine-tuned in the field when I noticed a slight problem. I've never sent my body/lens in for a custom adjustment (and probably should for best results) and have read many reports on this and other products for automated adjustments. I've not been sold on an automated solution, and it sounds like this isn't worth the purchase yet. 

Does anyone think it is definitely worth the purchase for a particular reason?



takesome1 said:


> I downloaded the beta and used it with my 7D II and 5Ds R on the the 500mm II.
> 
> Let me say I have used FoCal every since it was introduced. I always check my results against other methods like lens align.
> 
> ...


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Oct 1, 2015)

pardus said:


> I am really interested in this but is new to me. Any feedback from users on how well it works?



I've used it for almost 3 years now and its great.


However, its no miracle. You need to follow the directions carefully, make sure there is more than enough light, make sure your support is rock solid, etc. Many just start using it, and find that results are not consistent because they did not take the care to setup carefully.


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## takesome1 (Oct 1, 2015)

Mt Spokane Photography said:


> pardus said:
> 
> 
> > I am really interested in this but is new to me. Any feedback from users on how well it works?
> ...



All true,

Have you had a chance to use the 2.0 Beta version or the new 2.0?


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## iMagic (Oct 1, 2015)

It works great. BUT, like others have said, you need to absolutely spend the energy and time to have the target printed properly, lit properly, with super stable tripod, etc. Its the setup which is critical. Next, during the tests you must ensure that the tripod does not move. Do not do it on a floor that vibrates for example. Repeat the tests to be sure of the results. Fine tune the tests to get a more refined answer. Watch out for lenses that have some CA. I tested lenses with large amounts of CA wide open and the results were mixed. Finally, be careful to test at the distances you most use the lens. Some lenses focus differently at different distances. For example a macro lens used at macro distances will sometimes give different results than the same lens at normal distances.


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## cnigul (Oct 1, 2015)

How about sigma 50mm art? Has anyone tried FoCal with it?


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## Dekaner (Oct 1, 2015)

*Printed targets?*

Great discussion - thanks everyone. Do you print your own targets or is it worth buying the official FoCal version?


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Oct 2, 2015)

*Re: Printed targets?*



Dekaner said:


> Great discussion - thanks everyone. Do you print your own targets or is it worth buying the official FoCal version?



I print my own on my Epson 3880 with heavy paper. You can have them printed by Costco or a similar service as well. Reikan sells the targets because of the high number of requests. If you are not careful with your printer settings, you get jaggies which look awful.


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## Sabaki (Oct 2, 2015)

Hi everybody 

I'd like to buy FoCal but I have a question:

The Canon Service Centre in my province cannot test lenses 400mm and longer as they apparently need a certain testing distance between the lens and target. Would this apply to FoCal as well? My living space is not huge and I do not have access to a corridor of 20m.

Would I be able to calibrate my 400mm lens based on the above?

Kind regards


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## Valvebounce (Oct 2, 2015)

Hi Sabaki. 
In my experience, you can get a calibration at distances shorter than optimal, but as has been mentioned above, yo really need to calibrate at your most frequently used subject distance, so if you normally shoot small birds in your neighbourhood at 15m then that is where you should calibrate, if you use it for shooting planes at infinity (in terms of the focus scale) then that is where you should be calibrating. 

Cheers, Graham. 



Sabaki said:



> Hi everybody
> 
> I'd like to buy FoCal but I have a question:
> 
> ...


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## rpt (Oct 2, 2015)

*Re: Printed targets?*



Mt Spokane Photography said:


> Dekaner said:
> 
> 
> > Great discussion - thanks everyone. Do you print your own targets or is it worth buying the official FoCal version?
> ...


I print mine at a local printer's.


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## TWI by Dustin Abbott (Oct 2, 2015)

I've been using the program for years, and let me add to this that I personally like to run the semi-automatic test after the automatic to assure that it has chosen the best result. This allows me to both visually confirm and to run repeated tests of the same AFMA value to assure that it is getting highly repeatable results. This has served me very well.


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## neuroanatomist (Oct 2, 2015)

takesome1 said:


> So my first impression is that the new version doesn't sample enough to find the optimum setting it is just using the curve, but it is consistent with its results.



That's always been my impression with FoCal, which is one reason I acquire the images myself and use the manual analysis mode. I actually oversample – 83 shots per test (three shots at every adjustment value from -10 to +10 and two shots at even numbered values |>10|), but it only takes me ~10 minutes to collect the shots and I get consistent, reliable results.


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## takesome1 (Oct 2, 2015)

neuroanatomist said:


> takesome1 said:
> 
> 
> > So my first impression is that the new version doesn't sample enough to find the optimum setting it is just using the curve, but it is consistent with its results.
> ...



It seems the new version is sampling even fewer images than previous. Maybe that is why it is "faster".


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## juicabeth (Oct 2, 2015)

you can change in the preferences that it should do more samples, simple config adjustment will help you.



takesome1 said:


> I downloaded the beta and used it with my 7D II and 5Ds R on the the 500mm II.
> 
> Let me say I have used FoCal every since it was introduced. I always check my results against other methods like lens align.
> 
> ...


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## Viggo (Oct 2, 2015)

juicabeth said:


> you can change in the preferences that it should do more samples, simple config adjustment will help you.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



+1, I have set mine to a higher number of test shots and strict af repetition. And I have never needed to adjust manually after testing, I can always trust the outcome.


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## AP (Oct 3, 2015)

Ready for Prime Time it is not. I've been struggling to get it to read the target print all afternoon with no luck. The software is supposed to help you center the focal point with arrows but all you get is one pointing left no matter where you aim your camera. Very frustrating. I have a ticket with support, but they respond in 3 days and of course it is Friday and they are in England and I am in California. I would stay away from it.


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## rpt (Oct 3, 2015)

takesome1 said:


> neuroanatomist said:
> 
> 
> > takesome1 said:
> ...


I switched to manual too after reading how neuro was doing things. If I am doing it with an older lens I do 3 shots for every AFMA value from -10 to 10. If it is a brand new lens or my camera has just come back from calibration I do -20, -15, -12, -10 and then all values until 10 followed by 12, 15 and 20.

All my lenses fall in the -10 to 10 range so I have never had to redo any around a skewed AFMA value.


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## takesome1 (Oct 3, 2015)

rpt said:


> takesome1 said:
> 
> 
> > neuroanatomist said:
> ...



Since this thread is about Version 2 the question for you and Neuro would be;
Have you run the test with V2 and had the same results as the previous version.


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## neuroanatomist (Oct 3, 2015)

I haven't run any tests with v2.


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## Viggo (Oct 3, 2015)

AP said:


> Ready for Prime Time it is not. I've been struggling to get it to read the target print all afternoon with no luck. The software is supposed to help you center the focal point with arrows but all you get is one pointing left no matter where you aim your camera. Very frustrating. I have a ticket with support, but they respond in 3 days and of course it is Friday and they are in England and I am in California. I would stay away from it.



Do you move turn your camera or move it sideways? Does it ever change from left or does it move out of the view and still show left? Have you focused the target? Have you told FoCal which size it is?


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## rpt (Oct 3, 2015)

takesome1 said:


> rpt said:
> 
> 
> > takesome1 said:
> ...


My 7D2 was calibrated with the V2 beta version. I did all my lenses for that camera with that version.


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## Don Haines (Oct 3, 2015)

rpt said:


> takesome1 said:
> 
> 
> > rpt said:
> ...


I calibrated mine with the beta version when it first came out, and again yesterday with the last release. The results were more or less the same.... but 2 lenses changed by 1 point.....

BTW, the target was lit by a pair of 500 watt reflectors, it was done in the basement of a building on a very solid concrete floor, and the tripod was an antique steel manfroto with a gear head that is insanely solid for no vibrations....


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## East Wind Photography (Oct 4, 2015)

*Re: Printed targets?*



Mt Spokane Photography said:


> Dekaner said:
> 
> 
> > Great discussion - thanks everyone. Do you print your own targets or is it worth buying the official FoCal version?
> ...



I got the 11x13 label paper. Lets you stick the target on a sheet of foam board, wall or car door if you choose. Makes sure it stays flat.


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## Don Haines (Oct 4, 2015)

*Re: Printed targets?*



East Wind Photography said:


> Mt Spokane Photography said:
> 
> 
> > Dekaner said:
> ...


I print mine on the photo printer on photographic paper. I stick the target to the wall with thin double sided tape, making sure that there is tape behind the center so it stays flat on the wall.

Also, when aligning the target, make sure your lens is the same height as the target and perpendicular to the target. Make sure both the target and the camera are level.....


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## K-amps (Oct 4, 2015)

msatter said:


> I will have a try of this software and I got the second of three versions and a really not pleased that Canon crippled the product by only allowing assisted manual adjustment in the 5D MKIII. It is a pain to go through the process of manually adjusting the AFMA and having to touch the Camera on each requested change.
> 
> I think this is only the case for the 5D MKIII.
> 
> I am sure Reikan has solved the crashes during the already lengthy calibrating which made me to de-install previous version of the software.



Can anyone confirm if they fixed the 5diii issue? Is it still a painful manual process in V2 as well?


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## neuroanatomist (Oct 4, 2015)

K-amps said:


> Can anyone confirm if they fixed the 5diii issue? Is it still a painful manual process in V2 as well?



Reikan cannot 'fix' the issue that requires semi-manual calibration with the 5DIII (and 1D X) – it's a limitation in Canon's SDK for those bodies.


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## Maiaibing (Oct 4, 2015)

Valvebounce said:


> if you use it for shooting planes at infinity (in terms of the focus scale) then that is where you should be calibrating.
> 
> 
> Sabaki said:
> ...


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## Maiaibing (Oct 4, 2015)

AP said:


> Ready for Prime Time it is not. I've been struggling to get it to read the target print all afternoon with no luck. The software is supposed to help you center the focal point with arrows but all you get is one pointing left no matter where you aim your camera.


Yup. Happens to me too. I just end ignoring and running the test anyway - which works. The in-camera level of the 5DSR helps a lot making me confident that I'm set to go.



AP said:


> Very frustrating. I have a ticket with support, but they respond in 3 days and of course it is Friday and they are in England and I am in California. I would stay away from it.



Worst part of Reikan is their very poor and slow support. Let me share my latest support request and the "non-answer" I got:

"It's not clear what might cause that issue, in general we're not seeing reports of problems with the 5DSR, this is the first time we've had such an issue reported.

Would it be possible to screen shot the error message (and include the screen behind it for context) so I can see the message exactly and at what stage it pops up?

As said this is not a common problem and the only thing I can think of might be to do with camera settings (I'm guessing most people running calibrations with the 5DSR haven't changed much from the default settings).

Do please let me know if you're still seeing the issue. I've set the ticket status 'resolved' and assigned to me, when you reply I will be notified and the ticket will re-open."

Resolved????!!!! Of course I could not be bothered reissuing the support ticket. Had already wasted a few hours on not getting the software to work properly with my 5DSR.

Haven't tried the latest version yet as all my available lenses meanwhile have been calibrated manually to the 5DSR.


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## Don Haines (Oct 4, 2015)

Maiaibing said:


> AP said:
> 
> 
> > Ready for Prime Time it is not. I've been struggling to get it to read the target print all afternoon with no luck. The software is supposed to help you center the focal point with arrows but all you get is one pointing left no matter where you aim your camera.
> ...


Same here. I just center on target and ignore the arrow.....


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## Don Haines (Oct 4, 2015)

neuroanatomist said:


> K-amps said:
> 
> 
> > Can anyone confirm if they fixed the 5diii issue? Is it still a painful manual process in V2 as well?
> ...


Same for the 7D2......


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## Valvebounce (Oct 5, 2015)

Hi Maiaibing. 
As my 70-200mm goes 3 5 10m infinity, I'd make a guess that would be around the 20m mark, my Sigma 150-500mm is 15 25 50m, guess infinity to be 75m ish, therefore the setup for the 400mm might fall within these points, do-able? Probably, but you would get to the point where the bought targets would be too small and you would have to close in some for that. I guess I should have said as near infinity as you can (reasonably) get? 

Cheers, Graham. 



Maiaibing said:


> Valvebounce said:
> 
> 
> > if you use it for shooting planes at infinity (in terms of the focus scale) then that is where you should be calibrating.
> ...


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## LarryC1973 (Oct 5, 2015)

Hello everyone. I just purchased the FoCal software, and it worked great for me. Once I hit the zoom out button the software located the target and I was off to the races. I used a rolling measuring tape and once the prescribed distance was located I calibrated both cameras before moving the target to the next location for the following lens. I calibrated my 1DX, 5d MKIII all all my glass in a couple hours. 17-35-24-105-70-200 300 500 without any headaches. If adjusting the camera quick dial 10 times or so, is too time consuimg, I can then assume waiting 10 minutes for a butterfly to land on the exact flower and in the right position with it's wings open will also try your paitence. Version 2.0 worked great for me, every lens I adjusted was off, some + others - It handled the zooms without a hitch and the +- difference was quite a bit more than I anticipated.


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## neuroanatomist (Oct 5, 2015)

LarryC1973 said:


> It handled the zooms without a hitch and the +- difference was quite a bit more than I anticipated.



If you are seeing a significant difference between the W and T calibration values, that's worth further investigation IMO (actually, I test all my zooms at multiple FLs, the ends plus 1-3 more, more tests with bigger zoom ranges). Since the camera stores only the values for the ends of the range, it linearly interpolates for intermediate focal lengths. I'd recommend testing at a couple of intermediate FLs to see if the calculated values fall on the regression line. 

For example, my 24-70 II has +5 and 0 on the ends, and the corrections measured at 35mm and 50mm fall right on the line. OTOH, I used to have a 28-300L that was +4 on both ends but ranged from +6 to -1 at intermediate FLs. I ended up selling it (bought it used, sold it for a bit more than I paid), it's a slow enough lens that the focus errors didn't have a huge impact, but if I had kept the lens I'd have sent it to Canon for repair/calibration.


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## East Wind Photography (Oct 5, 2015)

LarryC1973 said:


> Hello everyone. I just purchased the FoCal software, and it worked great for me. Once I hit the zoom out button the software located the target and I was off to the races. I used a rolling measuring tape and once the prescribed distance was located I calibrated both cameras before moving the target to the next location for the following lens. I calibrated my 1DX, 5d MKIII all all my glass in a couple hours. 17-35-24-105-70-200 300 500 without any headaches. If adjusting the camera quick dial 10 times or so, is too time consuimg, I can then assume waiting 10 minutes for a butterfly to land on the exact flower and in the right position with it's wings open will also try your paitence. Version 2.0 worked great for me, every lens I adjusted was off, some + others - It handled the zooms without a hitch and the +- difference was quite a bit more than I anticipated.



Just keep in mind that many lenses have different AFMA at different focal distances. You should AFMA your lens at the distance you use it the most. Example: Macro lenses may be off if you AFMA at 20x FL and then want to shoot something at 1:1. Another example would be a lens with paper thin DOF such as the 85mm F1.2. If you primarily shoot portraits then you should AFMA at the distance you usually shoot your subjects. 

The FoCal recommendations are a generalized standard but not all lenses comply. You should also test the FoCal decision by shooting something like a Spider LensCal to ensure it has selected the best AFMA.


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## Maiaibing (Oct 5, 2015)

East Wind Photography said:


> The FoCal recommendations are a generalized standard but not all lenses comply. You should also test the FoCal decision by shooting something like a Spider LensCal to ensure it has selected the best AFMA.



Agree 100%. I have made controlled testing of several MA methods and you really need to use more than one to get reliable results (I did not do any such test with the newest version of focal, so here I am only assuming that it will safer also to use at least two test methods even with an "improved" new version based on previous tests. I normally end up doing three kinds of tests with my most used lenses).


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## East Wind Photography (Oct 6, 2015)

Maiaibing said:


> East Wind Photography said:
> 
> 
> > The FoCal recommendations are a generalized standard but not all lenses comply. You should also test the FoCal decision by shooting something like a Spider LensCal to ensure it has selected the best AFMA.
> ...



It's definitely something you DON'T want to get wrong.


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