Shooter41 Loc: Wichita, KS

While studying the manual that came with my Canon EOS 6D Mark ll, I discovered that the camera can stack two to nine images to come up with a final JPEG image. Being a newcomer to MACRO photography, I need to know how advantageous it is to stack three closeup images as opposed to just taking one great shot. IE... Is there enough fine detail improvement by stacking images to spend the time and effort to do so over just concentrating on getting the best single shot you can in the first place?

10MPlayer Loc: California

Stacking is used to show all the parts of a macro image in focus. The focal plane of extreme closeup images is wafer thin so focusing at different planes in the image then stacking them allows you to see much more of it in focus. Experiment with it on a flower or a bug and post some images for us. We'd like to see what the in-camera stacking is capable of.

Shooter41 Loc: Wichita, KS

Dear 10MPlayer... Thank you for your quick and excellent reply. I like the idea of focusing at different planes and combining all of the images by stacking to get a wider depth of field. Now my next question for you is, "If I put one or three extension tubes on my Canon 70-200mm telephoto lens to shoot full frame MACRO, will I be able to get further away from my tiny subjects to avoid scaring them away shooting at 70mm or 200mm and should I use all three extension tubes or just the biggest one to be able to back away and still focus?"

SuperflyTNT Loc: Manassas VA

I don’t know Canon but for focus stacking macro images 2-9 isn’t very many. My Oanasonic G9 stacks in camera. I don’t specify how many. It uses 6K video and automatically takes enough shots and creates a 12mp jpeg. I’ve found it useful on occasion, but for serious macro work my Nikon Z7 will take up to 300 shots while advancing focus a specified interval between each shot. I just set it up and hit “start”. The one thing it doesn’t do is create the final image. I do that by stacking all the shots in Photoshop.

Shooter41 Loc: Wichita, KS

Wow! Your Nikon stacks up to 300 shots and advances the focus interval between shots. No wonder Nikon is world famous. Thanks for the heads up.

sippyjug104 Loc: Missouri

No, in fact the opposite will happen. The distance of focus between the subject and the end of the lens we decrease with the addition of extension tubes. The effective magnification will however increase because the distance between the lens and the subject decreases.

Putting extension tubes on your lens when set to 200mm should give you enough working distance to keep from being on top of the subject. I've used a prime 180mm with 63mm of extension tubes for my early work in the field and it worked very well. - Enjoy your journey into the world of the small!

Shooter41 Loc: Wichita, KS

Thank you once again for sharing your knowledge. I love taking a journey into the world of the small. Don Marler at randfan@cox.net

bikerguy

The Olympus OMD EM1 M2 will take up to 999 shots and create a jpeg of the results and save all of the RAW files as well.

SuperflyTNT Loc: Manassas VA

Actually the Olympus will focus bracket up to 999 shots to be stacked in post processing. The focus stacking feature, which does the stacking in camera only uses 8 shots.

pithydoug Loc: Catskill Mountains, NY

Actually the feature is best used to just generate the raw images. The in-camera JPG generated gives you some idea but not the best. Set the option to leave the raw files and then jump to PS to generate a final image. If you are using the LR/PS package, you can make some adjustments to one or all the images in LR before shoveling it off to PS.

Verryl

Focus stacking can be a great advantage for LARGE subjects also. I bought my Lumix G9 specifically to focus stack multiple images to get a single sharply focused image over a range of as much as 60 feet on my very large Wyoming Division HO model railroad. The layout fills a 50 x 75 foot building and the benches range from 36 feet long to over 60 feet. Depth of field limits sharp focus over just a very few feet of such a distance, especially since the photographer is constrained to shooting within the building near the benches. So focus stacking is not limited to photographing bugs or flowers!

The G9 "Post Focus" setting takes a 1 second video at about 30 frames/sec, then with 3 back screen "clicks" of a finger assembles the stack of video images into a single sharp JPG in about 60 seconds. With 5 axis image stabilization I can easily hold the camera steady enough for a good shot, so I do not require a tripod or electronic shutter release, unless I have to lean over or bend into a contorted position to frame a certain scene. And it is a mirrorless camera, so there is no mirror flop.

Note that I previously used Helicon, but it requires tedious multiple exposures with hard to make tiny and delicate adjustments to the focus ring. Now I use the Lumix G9 "Post Focus" for nearly all layout photos, even of close and compact scenes. Eight or so separate exposures took me 10 minutes plus to setup and take.

Just a few days ago the free web magazine "Model Railroad Hobbyist" published an article I wrote about both my Helicon procedure and the Lumix G9 simple "one shot" method. It is in th MRH Sept 2020 issue of its supplement "Running Extra," The supplement costs $2.99, but my original version, which is more thorough, is on my free website at http://wyomingdivision.org/articles.htm

By the way, both versions of the article also cover how to use Luminar 4's Sky Replacement AI tool when the sky does not extend all the way to the top of the image--as so often happens with model railroad layout painted backdrops that is only so high inside a building. Sky Replacement AI will not work unless "sky" is at the very top of an exposure--probably the artificial part of the intelligence.

CaptainPhoto

As well as the OMD E-MI-MK III
I do a lot of MACRO - flower shots and love the in camera photo stacking. I save all the RAW files and view the jpg one to see what it looks like. Keep in mind the in-camera jpg that is created is cropped a bit when it is created.
Other than that, I really love the photo stacking feature.
And with the 5 stabilization features of the Olympus, if you have enough light, you can even photo stack hand held.

WJB Loc: Salisbury, MD

Boy, does that sound great!

Shooter41 Loc: Wichita, KS

Thank you for letting me come back to earth by your sharing that the camera only actually uses 8 shots.

SuperflyTNT Loc: Manassas VA

I do the LR to PS way because it’s just easier to load all the images into PS that way. I don’t do any other editing until the final image is returned to Lightroom. I would imagine if you do any edits first you’d want to make them globally to the entire stack.