I was having some very odd and frustrating results with the 85mm f/1.4 Carl Zeiss lens and it turns out back focusing was the culprit!! Basically what that means is the lens for whatever reason is focusing just behind the point of focus. were talking like 1/8th of an inch or so and not very noticeable unless your shooting at the minimum focus distance and shooting wide open at f/1.4 like I want to do 😉
The beauty of the Sony Alpha 77 is it has a tools area in the menu which allows you to turn on AF Micro Adjustments and then actually make adjustments!
Check out the picture below of the menu:
Once you enable it you can then adjust the #’s up or down depending on your focusing issue, in my case I needed to go down towards -6 area:
I used a tape measure at a slight angle so I could narrow down the depth of field and find out exactly where and what the issue was. This shot below is cropped in so you can see closer. I focused exactly on the center of the 12. As you can see it appears to be more in focus over the entire 1 and it falls off on the right side of the 2.
Now after several test shots and adjustments I have what appears to be significantly better. Mind you it’s hard to tell as the Depth of field is incredible shallow and I am not using the correct calibration equipment by any means!! Notice the line under the 12. It’s easiest to see the difference in those to my eye.
Now taking some real world test shots the focus looks leaps and bounds better, and the AF seems to works 100% better as well with the 85mm f/1.4 lens.
