ksmmike

Hello,

I'm thinking of purchasing a Nikon D850 and one of the reasons if for focus stacking landscapes.
From what I understand of focus stacking, it takes several images that the user determines and adjusts the focus to different points in the image so you can later stack the images and have the entire image in focus. Am I correct?

My other question is would that be possible with a manual focus lens with an aperture of say F16? Or does the camera use the AF in the lens to adjust the focus points in the image? I would assume you need an autofocus lens but I'm not sure how the D850 uses the technique in the camera body.

I'm only interested in how the Nikon D850 handles focus stacking since that's the camera body I would be using it on. I have a Nikon 20mm F1.8 AF lens I could use but I also have a few manual focus lenses I could use if it were possible, but I'm assuming not.

thanks
Mike

bleirer

I don't have your camera, but a guy can drool, but this article seems to answer your question. To do the in camera version you would need a compatible auto focus lens. You could also skip the in camera focus stack and just manually shoot multiple shots and stack them in Photoshop or other software the old fashioned way. You might not use f16, but rather the sweetest aperture your lens offers, and choose a shooting mode that leaves aperture unchanged. I use smoothing when I do this in my Canon, I believe this is supposed to help with focus breathing.

https://nps.nikonimaging.com/technical_solutions/d850_tips/useful/focus_stacking/

ksmmike

thanks
Mike

bleirer

There are users here that a real pros at it, I'll bet they will jump in. Otherwise you might search here or use google, there is a lot of info on the topic if you can find it.

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

I don't have your camera model either. The D850 is best for Macro or Landscapes I would image. I would imaging for such automation you must use a AF lens unless you do a manual set of stacked images on your own. Oddly I do have a vintage 19mm f/3.8 lens that is WIDE on my film cameras and only moderately wide on my APS-C bodies. Only a few of the newest cameras have internal Focus Stacking that produce a finished image. I do not know the details of that or your camera. But for the manual photo stacking I've done you must shoot the lens with manual focus and not move anything but the camera to subject distance and focus or if you have a IF lens only focus where you want and need to thru the focus planes of your subject. No, I would never use f/16 or f/22 for a stack, I would only go a few stops down from wide open. Say a f/2 lens at f/5.6. I get along OK using Photoshop for Stacking.

Actually a 20mm lens on a FF (FX) camera has so much DoF natively that for landscapes you probably don't even need to do a stack at f/11. You could check that out old school by determining a hyperfocus point for you scene and lens. A 20mm would not be the lens to use for a macro stack. You might want to invest in a Micro Nikkor 55, 60, 105mm, whatever they make today Lens. A friend of mine just bought a Micro Nikkor 60mm for his D750 camera. Yes, do more reading and ask more questions before making any purchases per this project.

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

Oh, and there is a True Macro Section to the UHH. You might want to subscribe and ask there!

TBerwick Loc: Houston, Texas

Take a look at this Mark Smith video about the D850 & focus stacking. Mark is member & contributor here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFo87czSdEM&t=3s

ksmmike

Thanks for the reply,

I don't own the D850 yet. Its why I'm asking in advance to make sure I can do what Im thinking about doing before spending the cash. I'm still doing my due diligence. I agree somewhat about the 20mm, I have a 58mm Voigtlander manual focus and a Nikon 135 mm manual focus, which is why I'm asking the question. It was more a technical question about how the D850 handles it internally with the lens as opposed to how focus stacking works. I understand focus stacking, it's how to make the D850 use it with manual focus lenses, if possible, without manually setting the focus points after each shot. I know with an AF lens, the camera handles everything automatically.

bleirer

If you check out a depth of field calculator for that focal length and say f8, you see that for a landscape it would take fewer than 10 shots of manual focus at different distances to get plenty of focus overlap. Any camera can do it,
Photoshop doesn't care where the images came from, it just masks the sharpest parts of each frame. If something in the scene is moving, flowers blowing in the wind for example, it can try to deghost, but you can also go into the masks with black or white brushes and make some adjustments as to which part of which frame is selected.

ksmmike

I agree, but it's sure nice when you click on time and the camera does the rest and puts it all in one folder separate from your other images.

I'm going to the Tetons next summer, so Im attempting to get the process down before going out there.

thanks again
Mike

Retired CPO Loc: Travel full time in an RV

The D850 is best for everything! I'm using mine for wildlife and getting the best images of my life.

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

Might not be the best for female face portraits. Ever notice how portraits of women are usually softened with Photoshop or other similar products. Even in the film days one would usually not want to use the highest resolution films for this use and even did things to soften the image. And at 45MP the D850 is way beyond the (~ 12 to 14 MP equivalent) of films.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

The answers to your question is simple.

Yes - it takes several images at different focus distances.
Yes - you can use a manual focus lens to do focus stacking
No - the camera won't control a manual focus lens.
No - regardless of what lens you use, F16 would not be your best choice.
Yes - camera uses AF in and AF lens to stack

More detail:

Automatic focus stacking requires an autofocus lens that can be controlled by the camera. More than likely all AF-S and AF-P Nikkor lenses will work, and third party lenses from Sigma and Tamron will work. Some older third party AF lenses may not work due to older firmware. I have two lenses - a Sigma 150 F2.8 macro that cannot be used for camera-controlled AF stacking, and a Tamron 180 F3.5 macro (which does not have an internal focus motor) that works fine with AF stacking.

You don't "need" a D850 or an AF lens to do focus stacking. Any camera and lens will work. You just have to manually advance the focus.

There is third party software that does this as well. qDSLR Dashboard is tethering software that has a stacking feature, and will work with many Canon, Nikon and Sony cameras. It does have a wireless function, but I have had inconsistent results with it. I use it tethered with my D700, D800, D810

Helicon Soft, Zerene Stacker, On1 Raw 2019 or later, or Photoshop have good stacking capability, though my favorite is Helicon.

Generally speaking, if you are using a 20mm lens at smaller apertures, you are less likely to need to do focus stacking, or you will take far fewer images than if you use a longer lens. A very wide lens will negate the need for focus stacking on wide sweeping landscapes, since the far distant objects will be softened by atmospheric haze and heat rippling, and focusing at those distances will not make things any sharper. I would suggest not using F16, which will soften the finest details due to diffraction. You likely to get a better image if you shoot between F5.6 and F8, which are typically the apertures that most lenses are sharpest at.

These two links contain all the information you'll need to decide if you "need" a D850, or if you are better off trying your current gear and saving the money.

https://nps.nikonimaging.com/technical_solutions/d850_tips/useful/focus_stacking/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFo87czSdEM

John Howard Loc: SW Florida and Blue Ridge Mountains of NC.

I do a lot of focus stacked images for landscape with the D850 and Z cameras. If you want to use the camera system, you must use an AF lens. You focus on the near spot, set the aperture to the sweet spot of the lens, ie 5.6, select a number of images, ie 10+. Then let the camera take the shots. It will stop when it reaches infinity, so you may only get about 6 or 8 shots. You then download the images and merge them in PS (or maybe LR also). The camera does not combine the images for you, it simply takes the shots. You can also do this manually with a manual focus lens, by adjusting the focus points starting with your foreground element, then a mid point, and ultimately the background element. LR and PS can blend based on "content", which selects the sharp areas. You can watch in PS while the software creates the masks showing what areas are being included from each layer.

jackm1943 Loc: Omaha, Nebraska

When focus stacking for landscapes, where only two or three images are needed, I think it would be much quicker and easier to focus manually. That would not necessarily be the case if shooting macro or close-ups where numerous images are needed.