Auto AF Fine-Tuning

Supplement to Mastering the Nikon D500

This supplemental information is intended for readers of Mastering the Nikon

D500 only. Please do not distribute this extra material to anyone other than a
legitimate owner of the book. Mastering the Nikon D500 is available at the
following website: http://www/.pictureandpen.com/NikonBooks.asp

Copyright © 2016 Darrell Young, All Rights Reserved

The Nikon D500 has an alternate automatic lens fine-tuning feature—
appropriately called Auto AF Fine-Tuning—that provides you an easy way to
fine tune each of your Nikkor (CPU-only) lenses. Since it uses the Live view
system and contrast-based, pixel-level focus, it can be very accurate.
Although difficult to describe initially, the actual operation is rather simple.
Use the following steps a time or two and you’ll have it down. Keep this
document for future reference just in case you forget how to do it. Now let’s
examine how to execute an Auto AF fine-tuning operation.

Note: The older-style manual AF fine-tune is discussed in the book, starting on

page 368.

Using Auto AF Fine-Tuning: Step-by-Step

Nikon recommends that this process be completed while your camera is on a
tripod. Please follow Nikon’s recommendation for tripod use, especially if you
want to validate the focus sharpness by zooming in on the test subject before
you save the new fine-tuning setting to the camera’s memory.

Use the following screens and steps to auto fine-tune your Nikkor lenses:

1. Set your camera up on a tripod and point it at a high-contrast subject at

least a few feet away. Do not use Auto AF fine-tuning on a closeup subject,
unless you plan on making the autofocus work most accurately on closeup
shots for a particular lens (e.g., a macro lens). It is best to use this fine-
tuning method at the same subject distances that you normally use for
images you most often take with that lens. For instance, for best focus
results, if you regularly shoot portraits with a certain lens at about 10 feet
away, you should use Auto AF fine-tuning with a high contrast subject
about 10 feet away. (Note: As you will see, this method is quite easy, so you
can use Auto AF fine-tuning for different subject distances, any time you
need it. Since the auto fine-tuning method uses the Live view system, make
sure the camera has plenty of battery charge before you start the process.)

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Figure 1.1: Use Live view photography mode for Auto AF fine-tuning

2. Select Live view photography mode by flipping the Live view selector to
the little camera symbol (figure 1.1, left arrow). Next put the camera into
Live view photography mode by pressing the Lv button (figure 1.1, right
arrow).

Figure 1.2: Choose AF-S (Single–servo AF) mode and NORM or WIDE (AF-area) mode

3. Press and hold the AF-mode button (figure 1.2, image 1) while turning the
rear Main command dial until AF-S autofocus mode appears on the Live
view screen (figure 1.2, image 2). Now turn the front Sub-command dial
until NORM or WIDE AF-area mode appears on the screen (figure 1.2, image
3). You should select WIDE if you are fine-tuning a wide-angle type lens, or
NORM if you are fine-tuning a normal-range or telephoto-range lens.
Release the AF-mode button.

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Figure 1.3: Use the center focus point (tiny red dot in middle of focus rectangle)

4. You must use the center focus point position on the Live view screen. This
position is marked by a tiny red dot in the middle of the red focus square
(figure 1.3, red arrow). You can either manually move the focus square to
the center of the screen until the tiny dot appears, or simply press the Multi
selector center button, which will automatically move the focus square to
the center position. Just make sure the dot is there before proceeding.

Figure 1.4: Zooming in and out to check focus accuracy

5. Now you will focus the lens accurately by pressing the Shutter-release
button halfway down (or the AF-ON button fully, if you are using back-
button focus). Make sure the red focus square (and tiny dot) turn green,
which indicates a good focus operation. You can zoom in with the Playback
zoom in button (figure 1.4, top arrow) to check the focus, and you can even
refocus if necessary while zoomed in. You can save the Auto AF fine-tuning
setting while still zoomed in (next step). If necessary, manually adjust the
focus until it is exactly right. You can zoom back out if you’d like with the
Playback/Thumbnails zoom out button (figure 1.4, bottom arrow).

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Figure 1.5: Affirming a good focus and saving the value

6. Now that you have carefully achieved the fine-tuning focus adjustment
you wanted, it’s time to save the adjustment to the camera’s memory for
future use. Hold down the AF-mode button (figure 1.5, image 1) and the
Movie record button (figure 1.5, image 2) at the same time—for a little over
two seconds—until the screen shown in figure 1.5, image 3 appears. (Note:
Normally, the screen in image 3 will have the subject showing in the
background. However, I put the lens cap on before I saved the setting so
that you can see the screen with no distractions. I had to remove the lens
cap to actually save the setting.) Once you see the affirmation screen
shown in image 3, select Yes, and then press the OK button (or Multi
selector center button) to save the fine-tuning value to the camera. (Or,
select No to redo the focus adjustment operation.)

Figure 1.6: Checking Setup Menu > AF fine-tune for the newly saved adjustment

7. If you did not see an error when you were saving the focus fine-tuning
adjustment, you will find the saved adjustment by following the screen
flow in figure 1.6, images 1 and 2 (Setup Menu > AF fine-tune > List saved
values). Image 3 shows the list of saved fine-tuning values, including the
one we just did with my 16-85mm lens. The 24-120mm lens is from an
earlier manual fine-tuning. You can save only one fine-tuning operation for
each lens, regardless of whether the fine-tuning operation was done
manually (book page 368) or automatically (this document). If you try to
save an adjustment for a lens already in the list, the new adjustment will
simply overwrite the older adjustment for that particular lens.

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Figure 1.7: Using (enabling) fine-tuning adjustments

8. Once you have successfully saved any number of fine-tuning settings (for
different lenses), you must enable AF fine-tune to use the settings. The
camera will be aware of any lens for which you have created a fine-tuning
adjustment and will use that fine-tuning adjustment when the lens is
mounted. Follow the screen flow shown in figure 1.7, images 1 and 2 [Setup
Menu > AF fine-tune > AF fine-tune (On/Off)] to enable or disable AF fine-
tune. In the screen shown in image 3 you will find the On and Off settings.
Select the one you want (On to use your new Auto AF fine-tuning
adjustment) and press the OK button to start taking pictures with the new
fine-tuning adjustment in place. Select Off to disable all lens fine-tuning
use.

Potential Errors During the Auto AF Fine-Tuning Operation

During my experimentation with Auto AF fine-tuning, I ran into a couple of
errors under different circumstances. Let’s examine the error screens and
discuss the conditions that caused the errors.

Figure 1.8: Auto AF fine-tune error screens

1. Figure 1.8 shows two Auto AF fine-tuning error screens. Image 1 shows an
error I had when I put the lens cap on just before saving the fine-tuning
operation, which leads me to believe that the camera is saving the actual
focus sensed by the camera exactly at the time you answer Yes to the
affirmation screen (figure 1.5, image 3). This error says, Auto AF fine-tune

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 failed. In this case, I covered the lens before I answered Yes and the D500
let me know (figure 1.8, image 1) that covering the lens before saving a lens
fine-tuning adjustment is not a good idea. If you see this error when you
attempt to save the lens fine-tuning adjustment, something is making the
camera unhappy, and you must repeat steps 1 to 8 from the previous
section until you have figured out what you are doing to cause the error.
2. Figure 1.8, image 2, shows the error screen you get when you try to save
the AF fine-tuning results and you do not have the camera modes
configured exactly as I listed in steps 3 and 4 of the previous section. In
other words, unless you have the camera set to AF-S autofocus mode,
NORM or WIDE AF-area mode, and have the red focus square in the center
(with red dot) of the Live view screen, the camera will refuse to even
consider doing an Auto AF fine-tuning operation, tersely informing you by
popping up the message shown in figure 1.8, image 2. Notice at the point
of the red arrow in figure 1.8, image 2 that I have set the camera to focus
tracking, which is not allowed during Auto AF fine-tuning. Make sure all
your settings are as described before trying to save fine-tuning
adjustments.

Author’s Conclusion
This Auto AF fine-tuning function is easy to use, and can be learned quickly,
much more quickly than all these first-time instructions might seem to imply.
Enjoy your new Nikon D500 camera and use all its cool functions to the full.