Reikan Releases FoCal 2.3 with Canon 5D IV Support

From Reikan:

New Features

• Full Canon EOS 5D Mark IV support added – calibrate this camera automatically with FoCal (more details below)

Improvements:

The following enhancements and fixes are included with FoCal 2.3

• Reinstate Raw support for Canon cameras.
• Improvements to speed and reliability of image downloading on all Canon cameras.
• Fix issue with selection of certain focus points on the D5 and D500 (affected MultiPoint Focus Test in some cases).
• Shutter count functionality restored for all mid-age cameras except Canon 1DX Mark II, 5DS/R, 5D Mark IV and 80D.
• Ensure FoCal Comparison Data is shown (where available) for Nikon cameras in File Mode.
• Ensure mirror lockup is used correctly during Aperture Sharpness tests.
• More informative message to indicate Distortion Correction should be disabled on Canon cameras where necessary.
• Opening Canon Cameras is now up to 3 times faster.
• Fully Automatic Calibration range, step size and shot count control hidden by default as they are more applicable for advanced users (enable from the Pro tab in Preferences)
• Fixed issue where communications with Canon cameras could be unreliable on Mac when camera connection had been closed and re-opened.
• Fix to ensure correct operation with certain Nikon zoom lenses when testing at the wide end of the focal length range.
• Improvement in Camera Info tool to provide more information.
• Fixed an issue for some users with the review of Dust Analysis setup on Windows.
• Fixed an issue where liveview zoom state would sometimes not be restored after focusing in Target Setup.
• Fixed an issue that could cause FoCal to hang on the splash screen.

Canon EOS 5D Mark IV Support Added

This release brings full support for this new Canon camera, the Canon EOS 5D Mark IV and FoCal automates as much as possible during calibration.

The 5D Mark IV runs in User Assisted mode, it’s automatic, and users will be prompted a few times to change the AF Microadjustment during a calibration.

5D Mark IV HotKey

The User Assisted Mode HotKey is the same as similar Canon cameras. Once the AF Microadjustment has been input on the camera screen, while half pressing the shutter button click the aperture dial once to change the aperture. This will notify FoCal to continue with the calibration (no need to go back to the computer!).

We are continuing to investigate what might be possible to make use of the Dual Pixel Raw functionality within this camera, so far we think there’s scope to make use of this extra data, blog post at 5D Mark IV “Dual Pixel Raw” provides further details.

macOS Sierra Support Status

macOS Sierra (OS X 10.12) is now officially released. We had already been working with beta releases of macOS Sierra and will finalise support for this new operating system in the next FoCal release. One of the factors is waiting for Canon to update their interface libraries, which at the moment will stop FoCal from initialising on Sierra (see also Canon’s OS compatibility page)

As it stands, FoCal 2.3 will not control any cameras when running on Sierra based systems.

There will be a fully working version of FoCal for Sierra, exact timescale is hard to predict but we expect this to happen soon.

Software Support Status

Mac

The following table shows the support for FoCal for Mac:

The following table shows the support for FoCal for Windows:

Download FoCal 2.3 by logging in to the LMS at lms.fo-cal.co.uk. Once logged in, you will see a download link to the software.

FoCal 2.3 is available for Windows (Windows 7 and newer) and Mac (OS X 10.9 – 10.11) operating systems, for users who are still within their Included Updates Period today (22nd September 2016). If your Included Updates Period has expired, you can purchase another 12 months by logging in to the LMS at lms.fo-cal.co.uk.

If you don’t own FoCal, you can purchase the software as a download or boxed product, as well as Focal Hard Targets from the store.