Thank you. A very interesting article with great information. Best way for me will be to bring it in for repairs I guess. Just to make sure. Pictures seem to turn out fine, but I can’t get rid of the feel that it looks as if the lens is pointing inwards a bit.
Do you have a Spirit level at home?
Put a lens onto the camera body.
Place the camera on a flat and level surface,
with the lens pointing downwards.
Place the spirit level on the back of the camera body.
Any deviation? Rotate the spirit level clock-wise.
Check again. Any deviation? Repeat until you have
checked half a circle (180 degrees).
Yeah I could test this. The lens isn’t tipping over when it’s flat on the lens. I’ll try it out before I send it in for repairs! So you’re saying that if the spirit level is level, the lens isn’t off by any means?
Besides soft edges due to inner components being broken? Cause like I said, everything feels fine, lens isn’t making funny noises, camera isn’t, focus works perfect, I can zoom in and out with no friction etc. It just seems from the outside to be a bit off haha
The spirit level will tell you if it is the camera or if it is your imagination.
Also: pay attention to this sentence But if the lens is decentered or significantly tilted the center blur will ‘flare’ out in one direction or another as you defocus (from a post above, focusing on a Siemens Star).
1 Like
I’ll fiddle around with it some more tonight before I send it in. Thanks, I’ll let you know.
Looks slightly off, no?
Agreed.
When I have it on the lens, it looks a little bit off. However, moving the spirit just a tiny bit puts it right in the center. We’re talking mm’s here.
The one in which I have the spirit set on the lens, shows that it’s way off.
Guess I should take it in for repair huh…?
a) Is the table/floor level?
b) Have you found a Siemens Stern to focus on?
- Absolutely
- No, I have no idea how to operate/use it. I’m not a professional photographer. I read the article, I understand what it says but I don’t have the ability to test all that.
Now, relax. it is NOT complicated at all.
Pick the best Siemens Stern from here: siemens stern at DuckDuckGo
Focus according to the instructions given above.
Quote myself:
If the lens is in proper alignment and pointed directly (lineup isn’t critical, you can eyeball it) at the star, the white and black circles remain circular as they blur. But if the lens is decentered or significantly tilted the center blur will ‘flare’ out in one direction or another as you defocus .
So I need to setup my camera on a tripod, focus on that stern
and then manually defocus? If it’s going out of focus equally, the lens is fine and if it goes out of focus while flaring out, something is wrong?
Sounds correct.
I just recorded a video for you.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3Ml9JC7mv4&feature=youtu.be
Hope you can see it.
What are your thoughts?
1 Like
Avonds, Rico!
Here is an example which I just shot using a “bad” lens.
Actually, it is a tilt-shift lens, pointing downwards (to simulate your dropped lens).
There are two things one immediately notices:
- the bottom “beams” are sharp, while the top beams are fuzzy.
- the distance from the center to the top “fuzzy circle” is 180 px,
while the distance from the center to the bottom “fuzzy circle” is 120 px.
Verdict: this lens is not aligned!
Do you have a nice, even brick wall available for a test shot?
MvG
Claes in Lund, Zweden
1 Like
Goedenavond 
,
I can try in the morning. It’s dark now. Which distance should I use?
Uitstekend!
I believe that a large aperture would be the best
(giving you a shallow DOF).
MvG
Claes in Lund, Zweden
Kommer att bli bra!
How did the film look though?
Sorry, I could not draw any conclusions at all from it 
You are assuming that the back and side of the camera are at right angles with the theoretical axis of the lens. AFAIK this is only true for 1) the sensor (but it’s out of reach) and 2) hopefully, the bottom of the camera.
For a proper measure I would:
- find an horizontal surface
- Put the camera in an L bracket (Arca-swiss, the kind you use to set the camera for portrait mode on a tripod), but mount the camera so that the side of the L is behind the camera, not on the side.
- Camera set on the bottom of the L check that the vertical diameter of the lens is indeed vertical
- Camera set on the side of the L, check that the diameter of the lens which is parallel to the axis of the L is indeed horizontal.
(also contributing to the “pixls.us members’ kitchen stand-off”) (L-bracket dangerously on the edge of the counter due to the safety pin at one end)
3 Likes