Bernard (or anyone else), could you elaborate on your process at the camera and in post when combining stitching and focus stacking? I haven't yet experimented with the combination, but I've been thinking about it.
Hi Stephen,
In principle it's pretty straightforward. Just take multiple images with the camera on tripod of a motionless subject, with bracketed focus distance settings. For some software it matters that the brackets are progressively in sequence, i.e. from near to far focus or the reverse. Other software will figure it out by itself, but I think it helps to use a predictable sequence, also if you need to retouch something later in the workflow.
Then select a stacking software, some use Photoshop, but that's a memory hog and also very slow, and you have virtually no control over the processs. That's why there are 2 very popular applications being used for serious work,
Helicon Focus (which was the first robust solution that was available, and is therefore used a lot in scientific photography), and
Zerene Stacker which came later to market and offers somewhat similar functionality. Both are very good and offer a number of workflow benefits and controls.
Heliconsoft also offers an application called
HeliconRemote, which can automate a lot of the capture process (there is even an Android and iOS app available for phone and tablet), and it integrates well with HeliconFocus. The demo version works with small JPEG images, so you can try that for testing with your camera even if the Raw format is not supported.
Cheers,
Bart
