Zooman 1

I have not tried this before, but did with my R10. Thought I had everything set right, but ended up with 1 photo in focus and 7 out of focus. I hope to find info on the net which will help but thought I would ask hoggers. Should I have the focus set on auto or manual? Stabilization on or off? Is focus bracketing the same as focus stacking? Am I too old to try new tricks?

Thanks for any suggestions.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

If I had an EOS R10 and was interested in Focus Bracketing, personally I'd do the following:

1, Pick a static subject like an indoor flower or a coin.
2, Set-up my tripod.
3, Download the PDF copy of the EOS R10 Advanced User Guide.
4, Text scan the PDF for 'focus', and read the entire chapter on Focus Bracketing - pages 287 - 292.
5, Update my camera settings for the various configuration (menu) settings discussed in the User Guide, pages 287 - 292.
6, Consider all the caveats discussed in the User Guide, especially page 291.
7, Download and install the current DPP software.
8, Experiment with the capture process and the edited results.

mffox Loc: Avon, CT

You're never too old. I "discovered" focus stacking at age 86; have had a lot of fun with it since.

Dennis833 Loc: Australia

I use manual focus and a focusing rail with my camera mounted on a tripod. Focus with the lens on the front part of the subject first and then use the rail to focus though the farther parts of your image. Good luck.

jcboy3

Start with a ruler. Parameters like "step size" are obtuse and I'm not aware of any camera maker that provides help.

An App would be nice, but even nicer would be a camera that would take two focus positions and determine the number of steps and step size to do the stack.

Mark Sturtevant Loc: Grand Blanc, MI

It is a lot of fun. When people say 'focus stacking', they often mean the whole process of taking pictures at different focal points, and then merging them into one picture with deep focus.
But actually focus bracketing is taking pictures at different point of focus, where most of the subject is out of focus in any one picture. This is done with the aperture fairly wide (f/6 or so), for maximum sharpness of what is in focus, but most won't be in focus for any given picture.
Focus stacking is where the focus bracketed pictures are merged --> one picture with deep focus.

But the term focus stacking is commonly used as a short-hand for the whole process.

I don't know the features of the R10, but here is one with the R7: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJOtUBSCWbQ&t=410s
To be clear,
The R7 can do both --it can do the focus bracketing and then stack the pictures for you, in-camera. I don't know what the R10 does. But if it only does bracketing, then you would do the stacking with separate software such as Photoshop, or with dedicated stacking software like Zerene Stacker.

Various issues may arise, like whether you are bracketing the pictures to focus thru the subject, focusing farther and farther away from you, or if you were bracketing to focus toward you. If the latter, then I can see why one picture would be in focus, and the rest are out of focus -- they were trying to focus on the foreground. The direction that the focus changes is in the settings.

There is also focus stacking in landscapes, but that is very different. That is for a wider angle situation, with a foreground subject (say, flowers), and mountains in the background. There are YouTube videos on the subject.

Thomas902 Loc: Washington DC

Paul; you're a gentleman, a gifted ambassador and a scholar...
Thank you for your stellar guidance here, I couldn't have phased it better even if implementing it on a Nikon platform. It's UHH users like you that keeps me investing time on UHH.

Albeit commercial shooters are now far and few between...
Best wishes for a calm relaxing Holiday weekend.

For those of you that truly want to push the limits?
Look no further than Zerene Stacker.

https://www.allanwallsphotography.com/blog/zereneorheliconpt3
The last of a three part articles.
If this is your thing, best to review all three...
Cheers! Thomas

Orphoto Loc: Oregon

Unless your camera body is capable of producing the slices automatically, you will producing them in manual focus. Exposure should be fully manual.

dpullum Loc: Tampa Florida

Much of photography is done well using receipts from a how-2 cookbook. Kodak supplied many recepts that worked well like the Sweet 16 rule of thumb. Thank you for the Stacking Receipt.

tcthome Loc: NJ

Pretty sure (but not 100%) the Sony A7R5 does this. If I remember correctly, you focus on the nearest point you want in focus & it does its AI thing & will shoot everything to the far end of your subject with no extra photos beyond that point. I don't own this camera but am thinking of upgrading so looked in to it.

Zooman 1

Thanks to all for your input. Just so happened since I make my request at least 2 articles on focus stacking have showed up on my computer. I will switch to my R7 and see what I can do. Will follow up.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Some good links -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3Dz34MMjQ0&t=142s
https://northrup.photo/my-account/download-sdp-ebook/stunning-digital-photography-video-index/landscape-focus-stacking/
https://digital-photography-school.com/post-processing-focus-stacked-images/
https://digital-photography-school.com/photograph-images-needed-focus-stacking/
http://www.earthboundlight.com/phototips/focus-stacking-software-photoshop-helicon-combinezp-zerene.html
http://www.lightstalking.com/focus-stacking-in-photoshop/
http://zerenesystems.com/cms/stacker/docs/purchasing
http://www.heliconsoft.com/heliconsoft-products/helicon-focus/
http://www.picturecorrect.com/tips/simple-steps-for-focus-stacking-in-photoshop/
http://digital-photography-school.com/how-to-improve-your-long-exposure-with-photo-stacking/

SuperflyTNT Loc: Manassas VA

How do you know they’re good links? Did you vet them all? 😜🤪

SuperflyTNT Loc: Manassas VA

I can’t speak for Canon but I’ve done focus bracketing with my Z7 and stacked in Photoshop. It works well. You set the # of shots, up to 300, and the interval, which isn’t a fixed distance, but relative to other factors like subject distance and focal length. If your shooting macro you’ll want a pretty small interval. After choosing your settings you focus on the closest point of your subject and start. It will continue to shoot until either you reach the total number of shots or focus reaches infinity. You want to be in AF or the focus won’t advance. You can also set the time between shots if you need time for a flash to recharge. My OM-1 does both focus bracketing and focus stacking. Focus bracketing will take up to 999 shots and works much the same as Nikon. Focus stacking works somewhat differently. You still chose the number of shots and interval, but you’re limited to 15 shots. It takes 1/3 of the shots ahead of your focus point and 2/3 behind, so set initial focus accordingly. The camera takes the shots and in camera stacks them into a final image which is a JPEG. The nice thing is that you can still shoot raw and if you’ll still have each of those raw images you can stack on your computer. The other advantage to focus stacking is you can do it handheld. The advantage to stacking on a computer instead of in camera is you can choose which images to stack. If you took 200 images and decided you only wanted the parts in focus that were in the first 100 you would just stack those.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Actually, I don't know if they're links at all. I just threw a bunch of numbers and letters on the page. 🤣