Mark Sturtevant Loc: Grand Blanc, MI

So I am slowly joining the party. My hardware is the Helicon Fb extension tube, which is a small extension tube that seats between the camera and lens. This is programmable from a smart phone (!) to drive the lens for step focusing. I can stack 'free-hand', this way, which really means to stack with the camera solidly braced. I want to be able to do this in the field one day where the rig is put onto a tripod, and I haul it out into the woods on chilly mornings, looking for critters that won't be moving for a while.
My software is Zerene stacker.
This is a non-moving subject for practice, which is a flower bud going to seed. I used tape so it could not escape. A gawdawful number of pictures- at least a couple hundred- was used in this stack. Probably could have done a lot less. The pictures were merged with the DMap algorithm.
I have since done a few stacks on a live insect at home while sitting with the camera at our patio table. Its pretty amazing how the pictures jump around a little, but Zerene just lines 'em up and stacks 'em. I will show the insect pictures later.

(Download)

rwilson1942 Loc: Houston, TX

Welcome to stacking.
I would like to have a Helicon Fb but they don't make one for Sony cameras.

EnglishBrenda Loc: Kent, England

That looks like a very good start. I look forward to seeing the insects you have done.

Steve DeMott Loc: St. Louis, Missouri (Oakville area)

welcome to stacking and Looking real good.
I'm still in the dollar saving process to purchase a focus stacking rail. Posted a few I've done. focus, let settle, shoot, move rail, let settle, shoot...........

Blenheim Orange Loc: Michigan

Very good, Mark.

I have been shooting stacks in the field all summer. Not sure how big that bud is, but 30-40 shots maximum should have been enough, although the more magnification the more images are needed. For a lot of floral closeups, 1:3 or so, only 15-17 images are needed. I stack a series using both methods, and then re-touch the DMap with the PMax and the individual frames as needed. Most still require a little touch up after that (using Paint Shop Pro in my case - cloning and cleaning up lines with the vector tools. When the DMap method can't "see around" near areas, or "see through" them, the PMax can rescue the detail.

The only problem I am having is that the workflow is really seriously backed up and storage space is becoming a big challenge, too. I have shot more images in the last 3 months than I did in the previous 10 years. I don't know how Sippyjug keeps cranking out so many finished images. The late cold Spring shortened the season and I had a long list of plants I wanted to get to around the state. Another couple of weeks I will start posting images again if all goes well.

Mike

tinusbum Loc: east texas

Zerene works great! i was hoping some one would start using a helicon tube.i keep threatening to get mine out.if i keep seeing your pics maybe i will.good start

sippyjug104 Loc: Missouri

Mark, your image is rock-solid and rich in detail. I'm excited to see your work and I know that there will be amazing things to come from you. I try to shoot a few sessions a day and as we know the higher the magnification the more shallow the depth of field which requires more images due to smaller increments of lens travel.

Knowing what little I do about your ventures from your posts, I can see that your passion is in the field and I believe that you have a great solution for taking focus stacking outdoors. I've seen videos where fellows have placed open faced and open bottomed clear plastic boxes around plants to still them for focus stacking. I have seen how creative you are so I look forward to seeing how you solve some of those situations so that I can learn from you.

My shooting sessions average between 30 to 45 minutes of camera shutter time which produces 350 to 500+ images depending upon the subject. What concerns me is that I'm going through about 1,000 shutter actuations a day and when a year of doing it passes I will be in the 200,000 shutter click range in addition to my normal camera usage. I guess I'll find out how well my Nikon D810 is made before too long.

docshark Loc: Millersville, PA

Excellent shot Mark. I really can't wait to see where you'll take this new skill.
-Doc

Curmudgeon Loc: SE Arizona

Great shot but what is a helicon tube? Can't find on B&H site, is it maybe called something else?

Blenheim Orange Loc: Michigan

Per https://www.heliconsoft.com/heliconsoft-products/helicon-fb-tube
"Helicon FB Tube is an extension tube with integrated electronic microcontroller designed to enable automated focus bracketing in single or continuous shooting modes. Mounted on the camera in the same way as a usual macro extension tube, Helicon FB Tube automatically shifts the focus by one step with each shot thus producing a stack of images of unlimited length that can be rendered into a fully-focused image."

I have been giving it a lot of rugged use out in the filed for a few months with good results and no problems.

Steve DeMott Loc: St. Louis, Missouri (Oakville area)

Do you think the Helicon FB Tube is better then a motor driven focus rail? They're about the same price.

Cwilson341 Loc: Central Florida

I agree that Zerene is a great program for stacking and touch up. I started stacking in a studio setting tethered to a notebook using Control My Nikon software to do the focus adjustments. It is inexpensive and works very well (also available for Canon). I got the Helicon FB tube to be able to do field work. It, too worked well and I used it until I got a camera with the focus bracketing feature.

I really like this bud shot. The fine details that result from stacking are almost impossible to get otherwise.

Mark Sturtevant Loc: Grand Blanc, MI

Good discussion starting here. I don't know enough about the subject, but my impression is that focus rails are less portable, so more challenging to get into the field (though people do manage to do it). They are also capable of extremely small but precise focus shifts, so they become the better option when one is stacking at very high mag. Also they are pretty much the only way to focus bracket with a manual lens set up. There are relatively inexpensive exquisitely sharp manual lenses out there, like some of the old photo enlarger lenses, that are very popular for this hobby. A rail of some sort is the only way to make use of them.

Mark Sturtevant Loc: Grand Blanc, MI

This gets into a question I have about the Fb tube. When I set up the program for it, I generally go for a fairly open aperture (f/7.1, f/8) since these are apertures where the macro lens is sharpest. The program then states the recommended focus step size for the camera body, the lens, and the chosen aperture. But this results in well over 200 pictures, even well into 300 pictures (!) that are taken for even a small subject. That flower bud was a little over 1/8th inch wide, and it took over 300 frames, but I was simply going with what the program recommended for the chosen aperture. When I built the stack I could plainly see that successive frames barely had a difference in focus, so the increments were very very small.
So I do suspect that I could the step size to a much larger one and do the stack in a few dozen pictures, like you say, since I also see other people do just that.

So I guess my question is: does this seem right? Could I increase the step size at these apertures by a factor of 10 and get a good stack?

Blenheim Orange Loc: Michigan

I don't know for sure, as I just have a manual focus rail. The focus bracketing tube is faster and easier outdoors than the manual rail in the field for sure, and I have been using it rather than the rail indoors now, too. Mike