In June 2025 I was foolishly driving my car with my DSLR on the seat beside me, a large 450mm zoom lens attached. It was entirely not my fault that I needed to do a full emergency stop. It was entirely my fault the camera took flight into the footwell with a crash!
The lens was clearly damaged and was eventually replaced by insurance. The camera seemed none the worse for wear. But when I finally got my replacement lens in December (not the fault of the insurance company), I started to notice I was getting a LOT of shots out of focus. More than half, even on very predictable subjects like landing aircraft.
So I ended up sending the camera away for testing in late February. I got it back on Friday with a note that the focusing system was ‘out of tolerances’ and had been recalibrated. On Saturday I went out for much of the day with the repaired camera and big lens.
In short, the focus is performing very well. Nothing quite shows this as well as a series of 14 frames I shot of a Welcome Swallow (Hirundo neoxena) in flight. These are notoriously fast and agile birds. Of the series, 9 of the frames were tack sharp. Those that were not had the bird near the edge of the frame so it is understandable those missed. (I was shocked all 14 frames had a whole bird in them!)
I chose one of the frames to process and publish. Not only does it contain a tack sharp bird (thanks, DxO) but you can even see the next item on its breakfast menu.
