I use a strap by Black Rapid. At the bottom of the strap, I have attached a small arca type clamp. The tripod mount on the lens has an arca type plate at the bottom. This allows me to swiftly go from handheld to tripod mounted. As I have an acra compatible "L" bracket on the camera, I can also switch the strap to the camera body easily when I am shooting a smaller lens. It is fast and secure. I find the inexpensive plates and clamps work well, but I did purchase one clamp that was cut to the wrong profile, so I now visually inspect the the clamp and plate mate well and have had no problems.

If a picture would help visualize this setup, let me know and I will shoot it when I get home later today.

Irwin

I disagree. Focus stacking is a tool for me to get the look I want by controlling my zone of focus. While you can choose to everything in focus, you can also choose to have only part of the image in focus. Sometimes, I will stack at f/2.8 and stop the stack immediately after the subject ends to blur the background. Sometimes, particularly if it is a deep subject where I am not so concerned with focus on the furthest part of it, I will stop my stack so the the back of the subject begins to get soft, further conveying the impression of depth. I might even choose to blur a foreground. Focus stacking can be selectively applied to an image or it can encompass the entire image. The artistry is how and when you use it. With focus stacking, you can choose where tack sharp focus begins and where is ends to refine your artistic vision.

George, thank you for your encouragement

Thank you for taking the time to comment, Joe. The growth, study and photography of cacti and succulents is such a joy for me. Pictures like these are a very personal way to appreciate the plants I grow.

Irwin

Thank you Thorny. Shooting cacti and succulents is a passion of mine

Irwin

Thank you Bluryyeyed. I set the camera on servo, animal eyefocus and case one (general) tracking. Recently, I decided to experiment with case 3 to see which has the quicker pickup.

Thanks George. I know about the list. The list, however is not exclusive. I have shot over a myriad of focus bracket stacks with my R5 using my Sigma 180mm 2.8 macro with the adapter. The lens and the camera communicated perfectly. Here are a few recent cactus and succulent stacks. (In my prior recent posts, I realized I made a math error and overdownsized my downloaded images by a factor of 10x, which I hope I have corrected. ) At least with the R5, If the lens is not on the list, it is worth testing because the lens might work

Irwin

Irwin

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Not to minimize the importance of the lens regarding image sharpness, as the old adage is true: a chain is as strong as it's weakest link. Softer glass will produce softer images without a doubt. But when coupled with excellent glass, a camera like the R5 is capable of extracting more detail from that glass for several reason.

1. Any image stabilization in the lens couples with the in body image stabilization to provide evengreater ability to get tack sharp handheld shots. Lenses that do not IS can now be stabilized.

2. A 45MP full frame image captures more detail than a 24MP full frame image camera. I particularly notice it when I print cropped images of birds in flight.

3. When capturing fast changing action, the quality of the focusing system can be the difference between a sharp or blurry image. The focusing system of the R5 is faster and more accurate than any I have used in the past, yielding a higher success rate.

4. Camera noise can obscure lens sharpness as you increase ISO. Cleaner images will appear sharper and render greater detail.

I do not know what lenses the OP has in his bag, so I can't comment on whether his camera or glass is the weak link.

Irwin

For EF mount lenses, you just have to try them to see if they work with the focus bracketing. My Sigma 180 f/2.8 macro works very well with the adapter.

Yes, the R6 does focus bracket: https://support.usa.canon.com/kb/index?page=content&id=ART177955

You will still need software to process the bracket with the three major ones being Zerene, Helicon, and PS

Irwin

Thank you for commenting, Spyder. I'm glad you enjoyed

LMAO, Flip1948

Thanks Mark. Amazing images

Having used the R5 heavily for a number of months, I found the R5 to be a significant upgrade over the 5D Mark IV. Although I don't shoot indoor basketball, I do shoot birds in the first light of the morning. The eye focus is a great feature and works better than any focusing system I have used. The frame rate speaks for itself and is as advantageous as you might imagine, allowing the selection of the frame with the best wing position. There is no blackout between shots. I have had hit a higher percentage of action images with this camera than with prior bodies. Its high ISO performance is also very helpful as shown in the heron shot discussed below. I am not sure whether it has been tested, but I suspect that the lack of mirror movement also makes your action shots sharper, but that is just conjecture.

For stationary subjects, the ibis teams with the the in-lens stabilization so effectively that I do not use a tripod much anymore outside some of my more specialized photography such as focus stacking. While many have found that battery life can be short, I have not had much of a problem in that regard. Because of the simulated exposure and the ability to see the histogram as I shoot, I chimp much less. Without having to power the back screen as often, the battery seems to last.

I have shot thousands of images for focus stacking with this camera using the automatic focus bracketing feature. One of the benefits of that feature is that it uses the electronic shutter and there is no mirror slap. This means that is don't have to allow the camera to settle down between shots, eliminating any blur caused by either the shutter movement or the mirror movement allowing the completion of a stack in a fraction of the time it previously took. As a result, I have had significantly fewer stacks wrecked by changing light or wind. It also also nice to know that the mechanical shutter received not usage during these thousands of shots.

The bottom line is that the R5 replaced three camera bodies. It gives me as good or better results as my 5D Mark IV, my 7D Mark II, and my 5DSr did when used for their strengths. I am attaching two images that I recently took. The image with the juvenile Yellow-Crowned Night Heron with a crab was taken at an ISO of 12800 and was a substantial crop. The heron was walking at a good clip in deep shade in the mangrove roots.

My primary regret with this camera is there was a backlog when I ordered it. It did not come soon enough. Its major drawback is its price tag. Otherwise...

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I want to thank you again for the discount code. I use both products regularly. They are wonderful and far exceeded my expectations

Irwin