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Focus stacking

0beone

Active member
Just wondering what are your thoughts on the Helicon Focus product.. Whilst I have the one year license I have yet to download and install and before I do it would be nice to get some thoughts from all you folks of your experience with it

BTW, just loving my 3100 Trichromatic...

Cheers and thanks
Frank
 

Swissblad

Well-known member
I've not used Helicon Focus to stack MF files.....my goes it will require substantial PC power.

I use it quite a lot to stack 35mm files - most recently 4K video files - which it does admirably.. this orchid and tomato image which is a composite of some 80 individual 4K frames.






It works equally well with FX full res RAW files.

IIRC - you can download a trial version - so give it a try.

HTH, S;)
 

JohnBrew

Active member
I use it and I think it is very effective. It will not stack anything which doesn't have exact same edges so if you didn't use a tripod it will not perform.

It works just fine with MF files.
 

0beone

Active member
I use it and I think it is very effective. It will not stack anything which doesn't have exact same edges so if you didn't use a tripod it will not perform.

It works just fine with MF files.
Thanks John,
I always use tripod as i'm shooting with only Cambo WRS these days. Ok, I will give it a go and see what happens.

Cheers and thanks
Frank
 

Swissblad

Well-known member
Have fun, and as John says, use a tripod.

Any movement, especially wind is a no no, which is why I switched to 4K video for outdoor files - as they images are accrued more rapidly.

Look forward to seeing your work.

:thumbs:
 

hcubell

Well-known member
Brilliant software. Excellent performance with my GFX files.
I agree. I generally find the results terrific with both IQ180 and X1D files. However, the "retouching" capabilities in the software are a mystery to me, and there is no instruction manual AFAIK. I have never figured out how to use them.
There are others who swear by Zerene Stacker, but I have been quite happy with Helicon Focus.
 

0beone

Active member
OK, question,
Some of you say that it works well with your GFX or IQ180 files - RAW or converted as tiff?

Cheers and thanks
Frank
 

drunkenspyder

Well-known member
I go back and forth between Helicon Focus and Zerene Stacker. I still like the HF process and interface better, but Lloyd Chambers' recent focus stacking pieces are causing me to look at ZS again. I still don't like having to run ZS in the JRE. I process on 2015 iMac and 2013 8-core Mac Pro. No problems handling 80-image stacks from the Trichro and Achro backs. RAW gets exported as TIFF into both, though I believe HF has integration for Adobe DNG Converter; I don't use it. C1 integrates well into HF; don't know about ZS. According to this post at DP Review, there has been a demonstrable shift to ZS.
 
Do both Helicon and Zerene do a good job of correcting for 'ghosts' in landscape photography? Often a leaf or a limb blows, and Adobe HDR software, for example, has a box to check to eliminate any sort of image-doubling. Does stacking software do something like this to make details coincide?

Kirk
 

JohnBrew

Active member
Hi Kirk, i checked some of my stacked images when I had some small movement in branches or leaves. I can state positively that after processing in HF, the movement is still there (damnit!). So you either clone them out or live with it.
Regarding the advances in software these days, I should not be surprised to see problems like these handled with aplomb in the near future.
 

0beone

Active member
Oh well, thanks for all your input,
I installed HF today and did an 8 image stack of a city map, you know the ones you get as a tourist, ran it through and bingo turned out very well - think I will keep this as a part of my arsenal...

Cheers and thanks t you all for your input.

Frank
 

Paul2660

Well-known member
Do both Helicon and Zerene do a good job of correcting for 'ghosts' in landscape photography? Often a leaf or a limb blows, and Adobe HDR software, for example, has a box to check to eliminate any sort of image-doubling. Does stacking software do something like this to make details coincide?

Kirk
Just wanted to add to this discussion.

Neither of the current software for stacking can handle really any motion. Some folks feel the ES shutter option can't handle motion (which I find not true), but Helicon and Zerene both create massive aliasing with motion, even the slightest.

The Stacking feature by design works great with the XF, I have used it on Landscapes where I knew the foreground would be out of focus and not moving, (rocks). But for macro outdoors, I quickly gave up, as even with a wind shield the motion caused too much problems. Thus the reason P1/DT shows the demo on a toy train engine, indoors, non moving.

I preferred the Helicon workflow and still try to use it when I can.

Note, it's the same type of problem that pixel shift sensors have i.e aliasing.

Lots more tech needs to be applied IMO for general use outdoors. Attempting to clone back, is time consuming and actually quite difficult since both software are warping to a certain degree to get everything into a single plane of focus and thus objects will not line up correctly that when you attempt to clone back from one of the originals.

Paul Caldwell
 

0beone

Active member
Just wanted to add to this discussion.

Neither of the current software for stacking can handle really any motion. Some folks feel the ES shutter option can't handle motion (which I find not true), but Helicon and Zerene both create massive aliasing with motion, even the slightest.

The Stacking feature by design works great with the XF, I have used it on Landscapes where I knew the foreground would be out of focus and not moving, (rocks). But for macro outdoors, I quickly gave up, as even with a wind shield the motion caused too much problems. Thus the reason P1/DT shows the demo on a toy train engine, indoors, non moving.

I preferred the Helicon workflow and still try to use it when I can.

Note, it's the same type of problem that pixel shift sensors have i.e aliasing.

Lots more tech needs to be applied IMO for general use outdoors. Attempting to clone back, is time consuming and actually quite difficult since both software are warping to a certain degree to get everything into a single plane of focus and thus objects will not line up correctly that when you attempt to clone back from one of the originals.

Paul Caldwell
Paul,
Interesting what you say and especially your bracketed comment re: ES and movement. Since I got my Trichromatic, I have only used ES exclusively... and thus far have found it exceptional.
Today I was doing some tests in a local botanic garden and there was mild to moderate wind movement of the subjects. Once opened on my pc, I was amazed at how well it all came out. Ok I tried to trigger only when the movement was as minimal as possible but it was there non-the-less and the result was near perfect.... just my 0.02 worth...
Cheers
Frank
 

Paul2660

Well-known member
Paul,
Interesting what you say and especially your bracketed comment re: ES and movement. Since I got my Trichromatic, I have only used ES exclusively... and thus far have found it exceptional.
Today I was doing some tests in a local botanic garden and there was mild to moderate wind movement of the subjects. Once opened on my pc, I was amazed at how well it all came out. Ok I tried to trigger only when the movement was as minimal as possible but it was there non-the-less and the result was near perfect.... just my 0.02 worth...
Cheers
Frank
For sure the ES is a huge asset to the 100MP backs. I tend to use it all the time unless I am working in a very strong wind. It makes long lens use so much easier, past 90mm.

Paul Caldwell
 
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