Built-In Focus Stacking? (Page 3): Because my camera doesn't have that ability, while all dslrs have the ability to bracket exposures.

TheDman Loc: USA

SharpShooter wrote:

D, posed like that, a camera also doesn't know how to set up the bracketting for HDR either, so we input the parameters.
Why could we not input the parameters, or for that matter, just set how much overlap of dof we want and to cover how much distance.

Because my camera doesn't have that ability, while all dslrs have the ability to bracket exposures.

TheDman Loc: USA

.

TheDman Loc: USA

speters wrote:

You set the focus and the camera brackets around your setting.

That sounds atrocious. Often when I'm shooting focus stack shots I have to vary the aperture/iso/shutter speed so that foreground objects are properly exposed and/or not blowing in the wind. How will the camera know to do that? Also, the number of shots I will need for a focus blend aren't usually evenly spaced, and I don't even know how many it will take until I focus on each spot.

For instance, here's a shot I'm working on now. Just to get the foreground flowers and rocks in focus and not blowing around required 3 shots, one at ISO 100 and the other two at 800. Then there was a large gap down the trees on the hillside, and the mountains in the back. 5 shots total. Would the camera know to do all that?

(Download)

Picdude Loc: Ohio

TheDman wrote:

That sounds atrocious. Often when I'm shooting foc... (show quote)

Apaflo, this is the DOF I'm talking about.

Apaflo Loc: Anchorage, Alaska

Picdude wrote:

Apaflo, this is the DOF I'm talking about.

He is bracketing exposure, not DOF. The DOF could have been done with one aperture setting. Since the exposure required bracketing it was possible to also adjust focus for different shots, but unnecessary.

Picdude Loc: Ohio

Apaflo wrote:

He is bracketing exposure, not DOF. The DOF could have been done with one aperture setting. Since the exposure required bracketing it was possible to also adjust focus for different shots, but unnecessary.

Sorry, not the way I read his post, and that's not the first time I've read about using focus stacking to bring everything in focus in landscape shots. May not need 50-100 shots, but 4-10 could make all the difference. And fixed bracketing still would not know what to focus on.

TheDman Loc: USA

Apaflo wrote:

He is bracketing exposure, not DOF. The DOF could have been done with one aperture setting. Since the exposure required bracketing it was possible to also adjust focus for different shots, but unnecessary.

No, I was bracketing both. No way f22 gets those flowers in focus. That whole foreground required it's own focusing.

RWR Loc: La Mesa, CA

I thank Photographer Jim for pointing me to the CamRanger. Automatic incremental focusing is precisely what I had in mind, and I think it is entirely feasible to build this feature into the camera. Whether the camera merges the images, or one does it later on a computer, is quite another matter, though it might be good to at least keep each individual exposure. Thanks again, Jim.

Morning Star Loc: West coast, North of the 49th N.

TheDman wrote:

it does? how does the camera know where you want to focus?

By setting a single point, or centre point focus.

TheDman Loc: USA

Morning Star wrote:

By setting a single point, or centre point focus.

I manually focus landscapes.

Photographer Jim Loc: Rio Vista, CA

RWR wrote:

I thank Photographer Jim for pointing me to the CamRanger. Automatic incremental focusing is precisely what I had in mind, and I think it is entirely feasible to build this feature into the camera. Whether the camera merges the images, or one does it later on a computer, is quite another matter, though it might be good to at least keep each individual exposure. Thanks again, Jim.

It is a nice little piece of gear (albeit a bit pricey), but I want to stress that it's primary purpose, and what it does best, is provide a wireless tether and camera controller using your iPad or iPhone. I do very little macro work, so I can't tell you if it would be better than other methods in that case. It will be very useful in those cases where due to the cameras position, using the viewfinder and adjusting the focus by hand would be awkward.

Morning Star Loc: West coast, North of the 49th N.

TheDman wrote:

I manually focus landscapes.

So, then your camera doesn't need to know where to focus, you do!

TheDman Loc: USA

Morning Star wrote:

So, then your camera doesn't need to know where to focus, you do!

Exactly, which is why some built-in focus bracketing thing would be useless to me!

Morning Star Loc: West coast, North of the 49th N.

TheDman wrote:

Exactly, which is why some built-in focus bracketing thing would be useless to me!

Well, it's like everything else: Different strokes for different folks!
I would not have a use for focus stacking or focus bracketing either, at least not at the moment, but that's no reason to shoot it down because there are others who likely will use it and even come to depend on it.

Apaflo Loc: Anchorage, Alaska

TheDman wrote:

No, I was bracketing both. No way f22 gets those flowers in focus. That whole foreground required it's own focusing.

The exposure bracketing was necessary, the focus stacking was just convenient. There was no need to bracket focus!

At f/22, with a 20mm lens on a full frame camera the DOF is from 1 foot to infinity if the lens is focused at 2.1 feet.