01.01.2021

Auto Af Fine-tune D850

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The D850 can fine-tune autofocus automatically. The results can be used with all lenses of the same type. Use only as required. AF fine-tuning should be performed at the focus distance at which the lens is normally used; finetuning performed at short focus distances may be. Fine-tune focus for up to 20 lens types. Use only as required; AF tuning is not recommended in most situations and may interfere with normal focus. Auto fine-tuning is available in live view (0 Auto AF Fine-Tuning). We recommend that you perform fine-tuning at a focus distance you use frequently; if you perform focus-tuning at a short focus.

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bs kite
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · 'Autofocus fine tune is not available at current AF settings'

Could someone please tell me what this means?
Over the last hour, I have been to several forums and I cannot get rid of this message.
Thank you
Robert
I have:
Realigned the single focus point; i.e. moved it away from center and then re-centered it.
Set the camera on AF-F and Normal in LV
Focused the single AF square on a high contrast target.
Nov 25, 2016 at 05:55 PM
CanadaMark
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · 'Autofocus fine tune is not available at current AF settings'

Are you using single point AF AND AF-S?
Nov 25, 2016 at 06:24 PM
Chris Dees
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · 'Autofocus fine tune is not available at current AF settings'

Are you trying to use automatic fine tune option?
I get that all the time and just skipped it and did it manually.
Nov 25, 2016 at 06:30 PM
bs kite
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · 'Autofocus fine tune is not available at current AF settings'

CanadaMark wrote:
Are you using single point AF AND AF-S?
Yes. Thank you

Nov 25, 2016 at 07:08 PM
bs kite
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · 'Autofocus fine tune is not available at current AF settings'

Chris Dees wrote:
Are you trying to use automatic fine tune option?
I get that all the time and just skipped it and did it manually.
Thank you for responding. It did work yesterday.

Nov 25, 2016 at 07:09 PM
bs kite
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · 'Autofocus fine tune is not available at current AF settings'

Called Nikon and the tech person had me reset everything. He was nice and everything. It is just that in the end..it did not work. It still get the same message. So then we find out that he is not familiar with this option of having the camera do it. So I asked him to please not be bothered that he did not know and requested that he give me to someone who would know.
I waited about 5 minutes, listening to the music over and over. I hung up and called back and now have been listening for another 5 minutes.
I have been working on this problem the entire day.
Tried to overnight another 200-500 from B and H, but they are so backed up from Black Friday that they shut off all shipping for today and are closed tomorrow.
I AM SO SICK OF DOING NIKONS WORK FOR THEM.
Still on hold.

Nov 25, 2016 at 07:09 PM
bs kite
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · 'Autofocus fine tune is not available at current AF settings'


Have to go..they just picked up Yippee!
Nov 25, 2016 at 07:11 PM
trenchmonkey
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · 'Autofocus fine tune is not available at current AF settings'

Automatic is a joke. It takes me all of 2 min. on a prime and maybe 5 min.
to tune a zoom properly..the 'old fashioned' way. Every time I tried the
Auto it gave different values, drove me nuts. Not worth the trouble, IIDSSM.
Nov 25, 2016 at 07:54 PM
Mnd1
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · 'Autofocus fine tune is not available at current AF settings'

It's not at all difficult.
Step 1. RTFM
That's all it takes.

Nov 25, 2016 at 08:25 PM
bs kite
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · 'Autofocus fine tune is not available at current AF settings'

..I love trying to figure out those acronyms. I got Mdk1 figured out but I do not get yours Trenchmonkey. What does it mean? Come on, just give me one or two words I'll figure out the rest.
Nov 25, 2016 at 09:55 PM
bs kite
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · 'Autofocus fine tune is not available at current AF settings'

Ok, here is what happened with the Automatic part of the AFFT:
BTW, is it in the manual really? I am not so sure about that.
Anyway, here is what happened:
With Nikon on the line, we set up the camera and gave it an AUTOMATIC AFFT.
We did it 4 times and this is what we got:
1. +5
2. +3
3. +1
At this point, she told me that the next one should be '0'..and....
4. '0'
It WAS zero!
But after that and all the other energy we put into this lens the last two days...it was still soft.
Nov 25, 2016 at 09:58 PM
elkhornsun
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · 'Autofocus fine tune is not available at current AF settings'

I had that message appear when trying to use teleconverters on a f/5.6 lens. Not enough light was reaching the autofocus sensors for the auto AF fine tune to work.
Nov 26, 2016 at 02:23 AM
SoundHound
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · 'Autofocus fine tune is not available at current AF settings'

Auto AF fine tune is a reputed dud. Nikon SVC isn't allowed to tell you this. Just like 'Snapbridge that is a prime feature but DITTO doesn't work. Not our fault just the Twilight Zone of Nikon's marketing.
Nov 27, 2016 at 08:18 AM



This is the 12th post in a series of Nikon D850 tests. The series starts here.

The D850 has a tuning feature for the phase detection autofocus (PDAF). For the contrast detection autofocus (CDAF) no tuning is necessary or possible. The PDAF tuning works like this:

Nikon D850 Auto Af Fine Tune

  • Manually focus on a target at your chosen aperture and distance.
  • Tell the camera to autofocus on that target, then recommend a correction
  • Store the correction in memory for that lens (this is done automatically)

I’ve had a D5 since they first shipped, and thus I have experience with a similar system. Sounds neat, right? Nobody likes to tune the autofocus manually, and many don’t bother. But Nikon recommends that you don’t use the feature unless you’re having problems. Why is that?

It turns out that there are two sets of random variations that can cause all kinds of trouble.

  • Errors in manual focusing — your errors
  • Errors in autofocusing, which the camera needs to do to estimate the correction — camera errors

The combination of the two sets of errors means that you need to perform the procedure many times and average the readings for best results. If you do the auto-tune just once or twice, you are likely to make things worse, not better. I believe that’s what Nikon wrote their cautionary note.

Nikon Auto Af Fine Tune D850

Let’s talk a bit about the errors in turn.

The D850 is easier to focus manually than its predecessors, the D800 (which was awful), and the D810 (which wasn’t bad). In any of the three cameras, you need to use live view to focus critically; using the viewfinder is at best approximate, especially since all the focusing aids have been removed in the transition from manual-focus-only film cameras to autofocus-primarily digital ones. I for one am very sad to have experienced the demise of by far the most accurate reflex focusing aid, the aerial image ground glass. For those too young to remember, in the olden days when dinosaurs roamed the earth, SLRs had interchangeable ground glass finder inserts, and one of the options had a clear center with a very fine cross embedded in it. You got the image approximately in focus with the ground glass on the periphery, then moved your eye up and down or from side to side. If the image was out of focus in one direction, it moved one way with respect to the center of the cross. If it was OOF the other way, it moved the other way. RIP, aerial focusing. It was great, even though it only worked on-axis and was slow at best.

But I digress. Where was I? Oh, that’s right: liveview. The D800 was immensely handicapped by line skipping sensor readout. The D810 improved that. Neither offered focus peaking. The D850 has still better liveview clarity, and adds peaking. What’s not to like? Two things:

  • The magnification doesn’t go high enough
  • The peaking is too weak when used at full magnification.

Auto Af Fine Tune D850

Insufficient live view magnification is a common complaint. I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone say their camera had too much magnification for critical focusing. Too-weak peaking is not a problem I’ve ever had with a camera; most have peaking that’s too sensitive. But even with the peaking set to its most-sensitive position on the D850, with the finder zoomed in all the way on a Siemens Star with a sharp lens like the 105/1.4, I can’t get the peaking to light up. It looks like Nikon tuned the peaking for low-magnification use. So, on balance, I find that I can’t manually focus the D850 as consistently as either the a7RII or the GFX-50S. Both of those cameras have their manual focussing issues, but I’ve found ways to get good results from them. It’s kind of strange that the D850, with a better LCD display at magnification than either camera, doesn’t deliver the godds as well. And of course the D850 can’t be focused through the finder at all in live view, which is the best way to use both the GFX and the a7RII.

D850 Auto Af Fine Tune

Oh, and don’t be tempted to use the misfocusing arrows in the D850 finder when you’re dong the manual focusing part of auto-tune. They are driven by the same information that drives the PDAF itself.

Serial number little snitch 3.3 mac. Now we get to the variations in PD autofocus. In the D850, they are profound:

Nikon D850 Auto Af Fine Tune Failed

There has to be a better way to set up your PDAF than running endless variations of Nikon’s auto-tune procedure. I have some ideas, and I’ll get to them in a future post.

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