FoCal Desktop · Windows and Mac

The original autofocus calibration software. Now FoCal 6.

Since 2011, FoCal has tuned autofocus on Nikon and Canon cameras that support adjustment. FoCal 6 turns calibration into a Kit Health Check: it keeps track of how every camera and lens is performing, and tells you when something needs attention.

The FoCal 6 Home page with a Nikon Z7 connected: Kit Insights, and cards for Camera, File, History, Import from FoCal Mobile and Snapshots.
FoCal 6: a new look on Windows and macOS, and it starts up faster.
Getting started

Connect, check, calibrate.

  1. 1

    Download and connect

    After you buy, you get an email with your account details. Download FoCal, put the camera on a tripod and the target on a wall, and connect by USB.

  2. 2

    Check the setup

    Target Setup checks the camera, lens, target and light, and tells you what to change.

  3. 3

    Calibrate

    Choose Focus Calibration and press Start. In minutes you have the best setting for that camera and lens.

Every edition

In FoCal Plus, Pro and Commercial.

Camera control and Target Setup

Connect with the USB cable that came with your camera and FoCal does the rest: it changes the camera settings, takes the shots, downloads and analyses them, and puts your settings back afterwards.

Target Setup checks the camera and target positions, distance, light level, camera, lens and FoCal settings and battery before you run a test, with live view so you can see what to adjust.

More about Target Setup
The FoCal 6 Camera page with a Nikon D850 and 50mm f/1.4 connected, Kit Status buttons for each, and cards for Target Setup, Calibration Check and Calibration.

Fully Auto calibration

Put the camera on a tripod, the target on the wall, and run Fully Auto. FoCal controls the camera, captures and analyses shots, and settles on the best AF Microadjustment or AF Fine-Tune value. Where the camera won’t let FoCal change it, FoCal tells you the value to set.

The Fully Auto guide
FoCal 6 calibration result: the lens profile chart and before and after crops.

Calibration Check

See how well your autofocus is working at the touch of a button, compared with the best FoCal can find, and whether it’s worth calibrating. It also works on tethered cameras that have no autofocus adjustment.

File Mode

Took the shots yourself? FoCal can work out the settings from the image files and run most of its tests on them.

FoCal 6 Calibration Check result: Worth Checking, with Excellent confidence.
FoCal Pro

Everything for a Kit Health Check.

Once a month, calibrate and then run FoCal’s other tests while you’re set up. The more results FoCal has, the sooner Kit Status spots a change, or confirms your kit is still performing well. FoCal keeps every result and shows how each camera and lens is holding up.

About the Kit Health Check

History, Kit Status and Analysis

FoCal looks back over every test you’ve run and tells you when something needs attention.

  • Kit Status: every camera and lens pairing, when it was last tested and calibrated
  • Maintenance Watch: pairings that are drifting, less consistent, losing sharpness or overdue
  • Analysis: AF Fine-Tune drift, sharpness, consistency, dust and stabilisation over time; Lens and Camera Personality; camera bias; a body and lens grid
  • PDF reports for any test, and for a camera, a lens or a pairing
  • Export your history and merge it between computers

Your Kit Health Check

  1. Target Setup
  2. Fully Auto calibration · you’re set up, so it’s worth it
  3. AF Consistency
  4. Aperture Sharpness · or MultiTest
  5. Stabilisation Test · for stabilised lenses or bodies
  6. Dust Analysis · one run per camera body, not per lens
The full check and the trends need FoCal Pro.Compare editions

Compare with other FoCal users

You might have the best copy of a cheap 50mm, or the worst copy of an expensive 85mm. The Compare tab shows, score by score, where your result sits against other users of the same camera and lens, with notes on anything worth knowing. It uses FoCal Comparison Data, built from results FoCal users have uploaded since 2014.

Comparison Data needs FoCal Pro and active support.

FoCal 6 Compare tab: a calibration result scored against other FoCal users of the same camera and lens. Maximum quality 93 and image motion 83 are better than most, but consistency of focus 36 and astigmatism 29 are not as good as most other users’.

The other tests

AF Consistency

Defocuses and refocuses again and again to show how repeatable focus is, with viewfinder or live view AF. Can show problems such as wear in the focus drive.

The guide

Aperture Sharpness

Which aperture is sharpest, and how much you lose wide open or stopped down. Can also show lens problems such as misaligned elements.

The guide

MultiTest

Focus and aperture together: the sharpest focus at every aperture, and how focus shifts as you stop down. Works on cameras without an AF adjustment, too.

The guide

Stabilisation Test

Image quality with stabilisation on and off, so you can see how much it really helps when you’re holding the camera.

The guide

Dust Analysis

Where the dust spots are, which apertures they show at and how much they’re likely to affect your pictures, so you only clean when you need to.

The guide

Snapshots (Nikon)

Capture your camera’s settings, edit them, share them and put them back in seconds. Also on your phone with the Snapshots app.

Premium mobile apps

With FoCal Pro and active support, you also get FoCal Mobile Pro (check and calibrate from your phone or tablet) and Snapshots Premium. Log in to the apps with your FoCal account. About the apps.

And more

  • Test any focus point
  • Compensate automatically for camera movement
  • Lenses over 400mm
  • Analyse image files from any camera
  • Try beta support for new cameras
FoCal Commercial

Tools for camera businesses.

Customers and visits, a customer prompt when you connect a camera, a PDF job sheet for each visit, and your own logo on reports. Customer names stay on your computer.

Buy FoCal Desktop

Choose your edition.

Each includes 12 months of updates and support, and you keep the working software after that. Not happy? Tell us within 21 days of buying and we’ll refund you.

15% off FoCal 6 and Hard Targets

Enter FOCAL6 at checkout. Limited time offer. Applies to all FoCal software downloads and Hard Target purchases.

FoCal Plus

Quick and simple autofocus tuning.

£39.95$59.95with 12 months of updates and support

15% off at checkout with code FOCAL6

  • Fully Auto calibration
  • Target Setup and Calibration Check
  • Lenses up to 400mm
  • Windows and Mac
  • Not included: AF Consistency, Aperture Sharpness, MultiTest, Stabilisation and Dust tests
  • Not included: History, Kit Status and Analysis trends
  • Not included: Comparison with other FoCal users
Best value

FoCal Pro + Targets

FoCal Pro with two FoCal Hard Targets.

£95.95$139.95with 12 months of updates and support

15% off at checkout with code FOCAL6

  • The full FoCal Pro software
  • 150mm and 210mm FoCal Hard Targets
  • A bundle discount on the targets

Compare every feature by edition · System requirements: Windows 11 or macOS 15 Sequoia or later.