09-10-2014, 10:29 AM
In my vocabulary PD is phase detection (by a separate sensor unit) and contrast detection CD happens on the very same sensor which will take the picture, therefore no adjustment needed. I was feeling a bit in doubt if I understood you correct.
What I can say about D810:
PD AF improved massively in terms of speed AND accuracy AND in both AF-S and AF-C. It feels as if the lenses just jump to a defined point. Especially the fast lenses and there the 85/1.4 G which was always a bit a surprise wether it was on spot or not. This lens showed improvements although it's the same lens.
CD AF also has become a bit snappier but the biggest thing is the now decent LV at 100% view. With D800 then LV quality was not very shiny, now it's great and a pleasure to focus manually.
Shutter vibration is now reduced in a way I don't have to adjust the longest speeds to the shortest possible (for auto-ISO).
AF micro adjustments are sometimes unnecessary. I only tried with LensAlign because Reikan FoCal ist still waiting to bring out an update for D810 (as other companies such as Apple or PhaseOne are, too). So I can' tell for sure but the adjustments were mostly in a range up to +/- 5 and closer to 0 than they were with D800. In my book the change of manufacturing in Thailand lead to tighter tolerances, but of course, that's subjective. I'm saying, with less fast lenses there's no difference wether AFMA is done or not, the AF module seems to be more accurate.
However, with the Sigma 50 Art the adjustments were confusing me. I'll redo as soon as I get FoCal, but with the suggestion made by LensAlign I was unhappy. Sometimes Infinity was missed pretty much and clearly visible without pixel peeping. Maybe Sigma has to update the lens, too. Funny is, it happens mostly at infinity and rarely at other distances with the suggested AFMA value -3 of LensAlign, so I corrected it by myself and found +1 the best. It appears the ramp between the various distances plays a role as well and the distance for the LensAlign target was about 2 meters. At that distance, there's already a separate setting in the optimisation pro App of Sigma. After doing that right, the combination is reliable. And, just to add that, I think I could pretty much do without any AFMA.
Not bothering with long explanations, the combination of Art lenses and D810 is superb and all other lenses only benefit from the improvements in AF. Makes me a happy bunny
What I can say about D810:
PD AF improved massively in terms of speed AND accuracy AND in both AF-S and AF-C. It feels as if the lenses just jump to a defined point. Especially the fast lenses and there the 85/1.4 G which was always a bit a surprise wether it was on spot or not. This lens showed improvements although it's the same lens.
CD AF also has become a bit snappier but the biggest thing is the now decent LV at 100% view. With D800 then LV quality was not very shiny, now it's great and a pleasure to focus manually.
Shutter vibration is now reduced in a way I don't have to adjust the longest speeds to the shortest possible (for auto-ISO).
AF micro adjustments are sometimes unnecessary. I only tried with LensAlign because Reikan FoCal ist still waiting to bring out an update for D810 (as other companies such as Apple or PhaseOne are, too). So I can' tell for sure but the adjustments were mostly in a range up to +/- 5 and closer to 0 than they were with D800. In my book the change of manufacturing in Thailand lead to tighter tolerances, but of course, that's subjective. I'm saying, with less fast lenses there's no difference wether AFMA is done or not, the AF module seems to be more accurate.
However, with the Sigma 50 Art the adjustments were confusing me. I'll redo as soon as I get FoCal, but with the suggestion made by LensAlign I was unhappy. Sometimes Infinity was missed pretty much and clearly visible without pixel peeping. Maybe Sigma has to update the lens, too. Funny is, it happens mostly at infinity and rarely at other distances with the suggested AFMA value -3 of LensAlign, so I corrected it by myself and found +1 the best. It appears the ramp between the various distances plays a role as well and the distance for the LensAlign target was about 2 meters. At that distance, there's already a separate setting in the optimisation pro App of Sigma. After doing that right, the combination is reliable. And, just to add that, I think I could pretty much do without any AFMA.
Not bothering with long explanations, the combination of Art lenses and D810 is superb and all other lenses only benefit from the improvements in AF. Makes me a happy bunny