Canon 5DsR MPE65 stacking experiments

[tropterrarium]

Re calculation, see wikipedia entry for depth of field and scroll down to "DOF formulae". I used 0.3 mm for circle of confusion, others use pixel size of sensor.

You can also use the table I provided in the following article:
Geiger, D. L. 2013. Imaging small orchid flowers using visible light. Orchid Digest 77: 112–123.
It can download it under
Current Projects

No surprise that PS elements or PS full does not cut if for 20+ frames. The issue with using focus changes is that the magnification of the image also changes, particularly in close-ups/macro. That introduces alignment errors and also distortion into the image. That is why I usually move the entire camera rig. At >1:1 you run into further problems when twisting the focus ring, because the lens barrel extends, so changes distance between nodal point of lens and desired focal plane. Then you have to move camera set-up (or plant).

Motorized focusing rail is certainly the most convenient. Set-up, press one button, come back a couple minutes later with 100 shots in the camera. It can also be done with a manual focusing rail, not as convenient, but it works, up to about 2:1. At higher mag, the step-size is so small, that it is virtually impossible to do it manually.
Macro
Hejnar makes some cool focusing rails with micrometer adjustments. I don't have one of those, but that might be an option.

[Tindomul]

That almost has me sold. Checking my bank account now.

[nogreenthumbs]

Pretty OK results for someone that's obviously a newbie!!




Someone's been reading articles on wikipedia.

Am I right?



Seriously, Nice work. I've seen some pretty amazing macro work on some photography forums, but nothing quite like this. I haven't tried focus stacking before. Very impressive results. I have done something completely different which is exposure stacking for astrophotography, but only in the most rudimentary way.

[tropterrarium]

Originally Posted by nogreenthumbs

Pretty OK results for someone that's obviously a newbie!!




Someone's been reading articles on wikipedia.

Am I right?



Seriously, Nice work. I've seen some pretty amazing macro work on some photography forums, but nothing quite like this. I haven't tried focus stacking before. Very impressive results. I have done something completely different which is exposure stacking for astrophotography, but only in the most rudimentary way.

Thanks for the flowers! exposure stacking for noise reduction, I presume, not HDR. I haven't used that much, AffinityPhoto has some nice features in that regard. AffinityPhoto also has a pretty decent stacking option, though Heliconfocus and ZereneStacker are still better. Mark Levoy has some really good digital imaging lectures; see
Digital Photography

[nogreenthumbs]

Originally Posted by tropterrarium

Thanks for the flowers! exposure stacking for noise reduction, I presume, not HDR. I haven't used that much, AffinityPhoto has some nice features in that regard. AffinityPhoto also has a pretty decent stacking option, though Heliconfocus and ZereneStacker are still better. Mark Levoy has some really good digital imaging lectures; see
Digital Photography

Noise reduction is goal #2. Goal #1 is increased exposure. You don't collect much light in AP, so by stacking multiple exposures, you get additional exposure on distant stars and dim galaxies or nubula etc... It increases the SNR.

Again, really amazing photos!