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Focus Stacking



 
 
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  #1  
Old October 19th 09, 03:18 AM posted to rec.photo.digital
Paul Furman
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 7,367
Default Focus Stacking

I just downloaded CombineZM freeware
http://hadleyweb.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/CZM/News.htm
and gave it a quick run after a glance at this tutorial:
http://www.wonderfulphotos.com/artic...ocus_stacking/
Oh, man, this is going to take some work to get good results. The first
test was really awful! I guess the next step is Helicon focus, if I'm
going to spend that much time figuring it out, it's worth a few bucks.
http://www.heliconsoft.com/focus_purchase.html
http://www.heliconsoft.com/focus_shareit.html
($20 to $300, 30 day trial)

Computer is vista Intel duo 2.2ghz laptop with 3gb RAM, 12mp camera, an
older version of PS CS and would probably work from jpegs made with
Lightroom 2. I will likely upgrade to windows 7 soon, dunno if 64 bit is
possible, probably need a motherboard upgrade which I won't likely do.

Any comments welcome, sorry I don't have much to contribute yet. I do
have a nice custom rig with bellows & easy stable fine adjustments; it
takes about 10 turns to move 1mm. By a 'turn' I mean about 1/3 rotation
on the knob, a comfortable increment. The fine adjustment is good for
about 6mm depth plus a coarse adjustment of around 20mm in about 6
turns. Magnification from around 1:1 to 9:1 with various cobbled
together lenses.


--
Paul Furman
www.edgehill.net
www.baynatives.com

all google groups messages filtered due to spam
  #2  
Old October 19th 09, 03:29 AM posted to rec.photo.digital
Go Hunting
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1
Default Focus Stacking

On Sun, 18 Oct 2009 19:18:55 -0700, Paul Furman
wrote:

I just downloaded CombineZM freeware
http://hadleyweb.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/CZM/News.htm
and gave it a quick run after a glance at this tutorial:
http://www.wonderfulphotos.com/artic...ocus_stacking/
Oh, man, this is going to take some work to get good results. The first
test was really awful! I guess the next step is Helicon focus, if I'm
going to spend that much time figuring it out, it's worth a few bucks.
http://www.spamlink.com/focus_purchase.html
http://www.spamlink.com/focus_shareit.html
($20 to $300, 30 day trial)


There's freeware that works much better and faster than helicon's crap. But
I don't help snapshooting trolls and idiots.
  #3  
Old October 19th 09, 04:45 AM posted to rec.photo.digital
Troy Piggins[_31_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 33
Default Focus Stacking

* Paul Furman wrote :
I just downloaded CombineZM freeware
http://hadleyweb.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/CZM/News.htm
and gave it a quick run after a glance at this tutorial:
http://www.wonderfulphotos.com/artic...ocus_stacking/


I was going to recommend Brian's tutorial - he is the focus
stacking master.

Oh, man, this is going to take some work to get good results. The first
test was really awful!


I've had pretty bad results stacking too. Many artefacts all
over the place. Pretty sure even Brian has to clone these out a
fair bit. Can you post examples?

I guess the next step is Helicon focus, if I'm
going to spend that much time figuring it out, it's worth a few bucks.
http://www.heliconsoft.com/focus_purchase.html
http://www.heliconsoft.com/focus_shareit.html
($20 to $300, 30 day trial)

Computer is vista Intel duo 2.2ghz laptop with 3gb RAM, 12mp camera, an
older version of PS CS and would probably work from jpegs made with
Lightroom 2. I will likely upgrade to windows 7 soon, dunno if 64 bit is
possible, probably need a motherboard upgrade which I won't likely do.

Any comments welcome, sorry I don't have much to contribute yet. I do
have a nice custom rig with bellows & easy stable fine adjustments; it
takes about 10 turns to move 1mm. By a 'turn' I mean about 1/3 rotation
on the knob, a comfortable increment. The fine adjustment is good for
about 6mm depth plus a coarse adjustment of around 20mm in about 6
turns. Magnification from around 1:1 to 9:1 with various cobbled
together lenses.


Other stacking software I've seen is Zerene Stacker.
http://zerenesystems.com/stacker/ Used to be free, but looks
like it's shareware or something now. Heard good things about
it.

--
Troy Piggins
  #4  
Old October 19th 09, 07:52 PM posted to rec.photo.digital
Paul Furman
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 7,367
Default Focus Stacking

Troy Piggins wrote:

Paul Furman wrote :
I just downloaded CombineZM freeware
http://hadleyweb.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/CZM/News.htm
and gave it a quick run after a glance at this tutorial:
http://www.wonderfulphotos.com/artic...ocus_stacking/


I was going to recommend Brian's tutorial - he is the focus
stacking master.

Oh, man, this is going to take some work to get good results. The first
test was really awful!


I've had pretty bad results stacking too. Many artefacts all
over the place. Pretty sure even Brian has to clone these out a
fair bit. Can you post examples?



I did 12 frames at 9:1 with about 0.5mm movement and realized that was
grossly inadequate. Then I did another 60-frame sequence and got an
error. That was at about 1:1 and about 0.1mm increment.

Here's one at 12:1 with 7 frames, which is not bad, maybe 0.2mm movements:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/edgehil...7622495553541/

....
http://zerenesystems.com/stacker/ Used to be free, but looks
like it's shareware or something now. Heard good things about
it.


Thanks, I'll give it a peek & report back.

--
Paul Furman
www.edgehill.net
www.baynatives.com

all google groups messages filtered due to spam
  #5  
Old October 19th 09, 10:51 PM posted to rec.photo.digital
Troy Piggins[_31_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 33
Default Focus Stacking

* Paul Furman wrote :
Troy Piggins wrote:
[---=| Quote block shrinked by t-prot: 11 lines snipped |=---]
test was really awful!


I've had pretty bad results stacking too. Many artefacts all
over the place. Pretty sure even Brian has to clone these out a
fair bit. Can you post examples?


I did 12 frames at 9:1 with about 0.5mm movement and realized that was
grossly inadequate. Then I did another 60-frame sequence and got an
error. That was at about 1:1 and about 0.1mm increment.

Here's one at 12:1 with 7 frames, which is not bad, maybe 0.2mm movements:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/edgehil...7622495553541/


Pretty sure those artefacts or weirdness going on the right hand
side there are from frames not overlapping enough and/or the
software having trouble picking up alignment points. More
overlap the better. Like panos, the more overlap the smoother
the merge.

...
http://zerenesystems.com/stacker/ Used to be free, but looks
like it's shareware or something now. Heard good things about
it.


Thanks, I'll give it a peek & report back.


This focus stacking is something that's been on my to-do list for
18 months, just haven't had the time or patience to give it a
real chance. You may just be inspiring me enough

--
Troy Piggins
  #6  
Old October 20th 09, 09:29 AM posted to rec.photo.digital
bugbear
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,258
Default Focus Stacking

Go Hunting wrote:
On Sun, 18 Oct 2009 19:18:55 -0700, Paul Furman
wrote:

I just downloaded CombineZM freeware
http://hadleyweb.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/CZM/News.htm
and gave it a quick run after a glance at this tutorial:
http://www.wonderfulphotos.com/artic...ocus_stacking/
Oh, man, this is going to take some work to get good results. The first
test was really awful! I guess the next step is Helicon focus, if I'm
going to spend that much time figuring it out, it's worth a few bucks.
http://www.spamlink.com/focus_purchase.html
http://www.spamlink.com/focus_shareit.html
($20 to $300, 30 day trial)


There's freeware that works much better and faster than helicon's crap. But
I don't help snapshooting trolls and idiots.


How about everyone else? Or are you just bull****ting?

Evidence required.

I mean, you couldn't possibly mean enfuse, could you?

It's "interesting" to try to use it for focus stacking,
but barely at proof of concept stage.

BugBear
  #7  
Old October 21st 09, 04:13 AM posted to rec.photo.digital
Paul Furman
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 7,367
Default Focus Stacking

Troy Piggins wrote:
Paul Furman wrote :
Troy Piggins wrote:

test was really awful!

I've had pretty bad results stacking too. Many artefacts all
over the place. Pretty sure even Brian has to clone these out a
fair bit. Can you post examples?


I did 12 frames at 9:1 with about 0.5mm movement and realized that was
grossly inadequate. Then I did another 60-frame sequence and got an
error. That was at about 1:1 and about 0.1mm increment.


OK I tried your Zerene Stacker suggestion on the above set that
CombineZM choked on and it was easy with a few accessible options:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/edgehil...7622495553541/
I did have to mask out the background using the furthest back slice. The
program includes a cloning tool but I'm more comfortable in photoshop,
there's also an auto mask contrast thing. 61 frames over 6mm is perhaps
overkill but the result looks great. Actually I used quality 60
irfanview jpeg copies to speed things up so jpeg artefacts are pretty
bad. Still just testing.

Here's one at 12:1 with 7 frames, which is not bad, maybe 0.2mm movements:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/edgehil...7622495553541/


Pretty sure those artefacts or weirdness going on the right hand
side there are from frames not overlapping enough and/or the
software having trouble picking up alignment points. More
overlap the better. Like panos, the more overlap the smoother
the merge.

...
http://zerenesystems.com/stacker/ Used to be free, but looks
like it's shareware or something now.


I see that it is a 30-day trial copy and costs $90 to $290 after.
About the same as helicon. I guess I should try that trial version too.


Heard good things about it.


Thanks, I'll give it a peek & report back.


I like it so far. Nice documentation:
http://zerenesystems.com/stacker/docs/HowToUseIt.php


This focus stacking is something that's been on my to-do list for
18 months, just haven't had the time or patience to give it a
real chance. You may just be inspiring me enough



--
Paul Furman
www.edgehill.net
www.baynatives.com

all google groups messages filtered due to spam
  #8  
Old October 21st 09, 04:52 AM posted to rec.photo.digital
Troy Piggins[_31_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 33
Default Focus Stacking

* Paul Furman wrote :
Troy Piggins wrote:
[---=| Quote block shrinked by t-prot: 7 lines snipped |=---]
fair bit. Can you post examples?

I did 12 frames at 9:1 with about 0.5mm movement and realized that was
grossly inadequate. Then I did another 60-frame sequence and got an
error. That was at about 1:1 and about 0.1mm increment.


OK I tried your Zerene Stacker suggestion on the above set that
CombineZM choked on and it was easy with a few accessible options:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/edgehil...7622495553541/


Nice result - looks clean enough. Well done.

I did have to mask out the background using the furthest back slice. The
program includes a cloning tool but I'm more comfortable in photoshop,
there's also an auto mask contrast thing. 61 frames over 6mm is perhaps
overkill but the result looks great. Actually I used quality 60
irfanview jpeg copies to speed things up so jpeg artefacts are pretty
bad. Still just testing.

[---=| Quote block shrinked by t-prot: 7 lines snipped |=---]
the merge.

...
http://zerenesystems.com/stacker/ Used to be free, but looks
like it's shareware or something now.


I see that it is a 30-day trial copy and costs $90 to $290 after.
About the same as helicon. I guess I should try that trial version too.

Heard good things about it.

Thanks, I'll give it a peek & report back.


I like it so far. Nice documentation:
http://zerenesystems.com/stacker/docs/HowToUseIt.php


Cool. Now I better try it out

--
Troy Piggins
 




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