How to Calibrate Your Autofocus for Ultra-Sharp Portraits

If you still shoot with DSLRs, you might have encountered issues (particularly when you have shot at wide apertures) with your focus missing by just a little bit. If you have experienced this frustration, you might benefit from an autofocus microadjustment, and this excellent video tutorial will show you exactly how it is done. 

Coming to you from Chelsea Nicole Photography, this great video tutorial will show you how to perform an autofocus microadjustment on your DSLR. DSLR lenses can often miss focus in a precise but inaccurate way. This means your lens may focus incorrectly, but the amount it misses by is consistent. This happens because a DSLR has a separate autofocus sensor (and thus is why you don't need to worry about it with a mirrorless camera). You might notice the issue if you don't shoot with wide apertures or generally use wide angle lenses, but if you like to shoot things like portraits with narrow depth of field, it can be a real problem. Luckily, most modern DSLRs allow you to tell them to compensate to get rid of this error, and it isn't too hard a process. Check out the video above for the full rundown. 

Alex Cooke's picture

Alex Cooke is a Cleveland-based portrait, events, and landscape photographer. He holds an M.S. in Applied Mathematics and a doctorate in Music Composition. He is also an avid equestrian.

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4 Comments

What is the difference between sharp and ultra sharp ?