We’re delighted to announce the release of Reikan FoCal 1.9 for Windows and Mac, bringing with it a whole host of improvements!
What does FoCal 1.9 bring?
The main focus of FoCal 1.9 has been to address reliability and stability issues with the software. As FoCal has grown from version 1.0, a lot of functionality has been added and a lot more cameras and operating systems supported. We’ve rewritten around 50% of the total code making things much more common between Windows and Mac computers and significantly improving reliability of operation.
During the process, we’ve also added support for the Nikon D7100, addressed some problems with the support for the Canon EOS-1D Mark III and 1Ds Mark III cameras, fixed a whole host of issues and added a few enhancements.
What’s changed since FoCal 1.8?
The following is a summary list of general changes from FoCal 1.8 – it’s not exhaustive but covers important changes:
Camera Support
- Adds support for the Nikon D7100
- Specific fixes for operation of Canon EOS-1D Mark III and 1Ds Mark III
- Fixes to focus point operation on D3x
- Support for all Canon Cameras updated to improve reliability
General Changes
- Addition of keyboard shortcuts for Target Setup, AFMA Change and Semi Automatic tests.
- Improvements in reliability of raw image processing
- Image review panels in tests can now show various bits of information, e.g. best/worst/selected points as options
- Fixes to several report generation issues
- Big rework of memory handling to make FoCal use a lot less memory (mainly on Mac computers)
- Complete rework of Mac specific user interface code for reliability and maintainability and to ensure consistency between Windows and Mac.
- Improvements to reliability of defocus operation
- Adjustment to all Nikon focus points to be more accurately positioned
- Checks for latest camera firmware version on connection and alerts if new firmware available
- Improvements to small light-level change compensation algorithm
- Canon Hotkey Change – now a change in value controlled by the top dial will trigger continuation of FoCal
- MSC Mode Request window is now used for all MSC mode requests
- Warn-on-close for tests if the report has not been saved (FoCal Pro only)
- Improvements to automatic camera settings save/restore
- Updates to fix display issues with Windows High Resolution displays
- Fixes to wording in AF Consistency Test report
- Warn-on-close for tests if the report has not been saved (FoCal Pro only)
- Fix to CSV file text
- Fix to operation of manually ignored points in AF Consistency and Fully Auto tests
- Fixes for operation with the Sigma 120-300 f/2.8 lens
- Fix rounding issue with display on linear charts (there could be a discrepency between the final value and the value shown on the chart)
Manual Mode Test
- Big rework of the Manual Test architecture to improve on both Windows and Mac
- Manual Mode works with Raw image files (Canon and Nikon)
- Manual Mode works with shots taken at both ends of the zoom range
- Manual Mode parses filename to determine AF Microadjustment/Fine Tune if metadata is wrong/missing
AFMA Change Utility
- AFMA Change utility completely rewritten to be more reliable
- Fixes for AFMA Change utility to stop a crash that could occur when lens is in MF mode
Target Setup
- Better display of focus points on Target Setup
- Target Setup and AFMA Change zoom mode now shows 100% image (previously, the zoomed image was around 60-70% of full size)
Fully Automatic Test
- Rework of Fully Automatic user interface
- Fully Automatic test now shows target distance even without Target Optimisation
- Fully Auto shows focal length on chart
Semi Automatic Test
- Improvements to Semi Automatic mode operation
Dust Analysis
- Speed and reliability improvements to Dust Analysis
TurboCal
- Improvements to TurboCal for MSC mode cameras (e.g. the 5D Mark III)
Support Status
Mac
The following table shows the support for FoCal for Mac:
| Operating System | Camera Manufacturer | Status |
|---|---|---|
| OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) | Canon & Nikon | Fully functional |
| OS X 10.7 (Lion) | Canon & Nikon | Fully functional |
| OS X 10.8 (Mountain Lion) | Canon & Nikon | Fully functional |
Windows
The following table shows the support for FoCal for Windows:
| Operating System | Camera Manufacturer | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Windows XP | Canon only | Fully functional |
| Windows Vista | Canon & Nikon | Fully functional |
| Windows 7 | Canon & Nikon | Fully functional |
| Windows 8 | Canon & Nikon | Fully functional |
How do I get it?
If you already have a license for FoCal, you can download the software at no extra cost from the License Management System – you’ll see the link to the download near the bottom of the page once you log in.
You can purchase FoCal Standard, FoCal Plus or FoCal Pro from the links at the bottom of the version information pages.
MAC: The software is available as a disk image (DMG) file for OS X, containing the software itself, the target images and documentation in separate directories.
WINDOWS: The software is available as a ZIP file, which contains the software, the target images and the documentation in separate directories.
Installing on OS X (IMPORTANT!)
FoCal for Mac uses the Mono framework and this must be installed before using FoCal. Please see this post for complete information on how to ensure your Mac is set up correctly to run FoCal. If you do not follow these instructions, FoCal will NOT operate correctly!
QuickStart Guides
There are short guides available which help you through the installation, connection and first use of the software available for Windows and for Mac on the Document Downloads page.
11 comments on “Reikan FoCal 1.9 Released for Windows and Mac”
@Jean-Pierre: Please direct your disappointment towards Canon. Canon’s SDK (software interface) does not support the Tele/Wide AFMA settings of the 5D3 and 1Dx, and there’s nothing Reikan can do about that.
Hello, would you please be more specific about the issue with the 5D III. I have the same camera myself and would like to understand what does not work…
Hi Francois. The problem is simply that the camera AF Microadjustment cannot be changed from the computer via the official Canon SDK. Because of this, whenever the AF Microadjustment needs to be changed, FoCal will inform you. This will only affect the Fully Auto and Semi Auto AF Microadjustment calibration tests – all other tests can be run without any user input.
How do I update from Focal Pro version 1.8 to Focal Pro version 1.9?
To update FoCal you simply need to log in to the License Management System (lms.fo-cal.co.uk) with your email and the Paypal Transaction ID supplied in the email sent to you when you purchased the software. Any updates to FoCal through Focal 1.x will be free of charge.
the same disappointment here. No Canon 5D mark III support – so this soft is useless for me. Lost money.
Hi Prot. The 5D Mark III is supported, but whenever the AF Microadjustment needs to be changed during the testing, you will be informed on the screen. This is the only manual intervention required, and is due to a limitation in the Canon software development kit.
Hello, Can I switch from PC to MAC / MAC to PC any time upon purchase? When I add more camera(s) to my pool, so I can simply dump my earlier camera(s) serial so as to keep the FoCal workable to those latest 5 cameras?
Hi Kelvin
The license for FoCal is cross platform so you can use it on up to 5 computers which can be a mix of PC and Mac. And you’re right about the licensing – you get a limited number of updates which will be plenty for an average non-commercial user, but you can easily update the 5 licensed cameras if you change your kit.
Just wanted to let you know that I am so pleased with the FoCal system I purchased this year. I have a 300 F4 Canon with a 1.4 tc that were at opposite ends of the specifications spectrum although within manufacturing specs- your system worked perfectly to ‘marry’ the lens and tc – Thank you for saving me hours of frustration trying to micro-adjust. The combo is sharp as possible now. I wish you much success with your system.
Hi Christine,
Always nice to hear positive feedback, glad you are enjoying using FoCal and find it useful in your work 🙂
Best Regards,
Dave