focus stacking problem with Photoshop CC 2014

[Eric Brody]

I have used many versions of Photoshop in the past for some time for focus stacking. It's usually pretty easy. I shoot my stack, import to Lightroom, usually correct one image in LR, copy the settings to the other images, select them all and use "edit in" to "open as layers in Photoshop."

I then select all the layers, and "auto align" them. I then select all the layers and "auto blend" them. I usually then have a bunch of layers with variable layer masks which I either try to retouch or just flatten. My computer is a new Mac Pro with plenty of SSD space and RAM.

I did this yesterday with 24 images of a dahlia. They were shot with a D800E, 85mm PCE lens, on a sturdy Gitzo 3 series tripod with an Arca B1 head and RRS rail. I used Photoshop CC 2014.

I ended up with all blank black layer masks except for the bottom one, which was white. The image was clearly NOT focus stacked when I flattened it. It had huge out of focus areas.

I took the same images and did the same thing on my Macbook Pro laptop and got the same result using Photoshop CC 2014

I downloaded a trial of Helicon Focus and tried using it on the Mac Pro and the result looked great. I'm happy to invest in software that works but I do pay US$9.99/month for Creative Cloud and feel it should do what it says it will do and what it has done before.

I then did the same thing with Photoshop CS6 on the new Mac Pro and VOILA it worked like it used to.

Has anyone else tried this and had similar problems with CC 2014? It sounds like a bug, a serious bug for me, with CC 2014.

Thanks for any thoughts.

Eric

[Eric Brody]

According to Mandolin_Tim on the Adobe forum, "check the forum, there is a known problem with focus stacks and panoramas on PSCC 2014.  They are "working on a fix" but as yet none of us users have heard when it might happen.  Suggest you do as the rest of us have which is degrade back to PSCC 14.x where it is still working, easy enough to do just a pain in the a***.  Come on Adobe let's get a fix for this problem that has been known since the 2014 programme was released...."

I believe there's another question on this forum about a problem with panoramas. I wonder if it is the same thing.

I find it frustrating that, assuming Mandolin_Tim is correct, that there's a major problem like this and I had no idea about it.

[smahn]

It's a problem "acknowledged" by Adobe.

http://feedback.photoshop.com/photoshop_family/topics/auto_blend_layers_not_focus_blending_photoshop_2014_1

[Wayne Fox]

I believe there's another question on this forum about a problem with panoramas. I wonder if it is the same thing.

I find it frustrating that, assuming Mandolin_Tim is correct, that there's a major problem like this and I had no idea about it.

pretty sure they are related ... both processes require "blending" of layers, and are part of the same command.

and I agree, this is something that seemed to "break", not something that they tried to change and it didn't work. One would think a bug fix for this should have been a pretty high priority, logic indicates pretty easy fix (get the code form the former CC? OK, I'll admit I'm not a high level programmer/engineer).  Rolling out something like this through CC is one of the advertised advantages of the CC model.

[Simon J.A. Simpson]

Yup.  I too have experienced this problem.

[Eric Brody]

Here's an update... no the problem is not totally solved, Adobe says they're working on it.

I used my copy of CS6 for a while and did fine, but still felt that Adobe should deliver a working product. I uninstalled Photoshop 2014CC and reinstalled it.

Lo and behold, the version the CC website installed was Photoshop 2014 CC version 14.0.0, and it seems to do stacking just fine. Now, it does say there's an update, but I'm not quite ready to download that lest I find myself back where I started with this thread. I just wonder if Adobe's changed the download to the older version while they work on the problem?

[Peter McLennan]

Good to hear that this problem isn't just me.  I have the exact same symptoms.

IMHO, Adobe should completely renovate both the stitching and the focus stacking code.  Both processes are lagging far behind the competition.

[wmchauncey]

I do a ton of stacking on my flowers using 2014 and haven't had the problems that you describe, but...I do get a lot of inadequate results
that require lots of touch-up work to rid myself of various artifacts and purposely blurred areas that turn to mush/mud.
This happens regardless of the image recording method...tripod tethered with manual focusing using the ring or using a CamRanger set-up.

Am on the verge of trying Zerene Stacker unless you'll have a viable alternative!!

[Peter McLennan]

Temporary software problems aside, it seems to me that the acquisition phase of focus stacking should be relatively easy to automate.  Input front focus mark, input rear focus mark, input number of steps between the two and the camera does the work.  Just like exposure bracketing.  I know that Contol My Nikon and other software does this already, but that requires a laptop.  I want it in the camera.

[Bart_van_der_Wolf]

Am on the verge of trying Zerene Stacker unless you'll have a viable alternative!!

Hi,

Both Zerene Stacker and Helicon Focus offer solid Focus Stacking solutions. Heliconsoft also offers an Android App version of the Helicon Remote utility, which allows to control a number of cameras remotely for (focus or exposure bracketed) stacking.

Cheers,
Bart

[nma]

We can also add to Bart's list-- DLSRcontroller which is specific to Canon and works with Android devices. It does F-stacking HDR and much more for about $10. You can add wireless fo older cameras for about $30.

[kirkt]

Temporary software problems aside, it seems to me that the acquisition phase of focus stacking should be relatively easy to automate.  Input front focus mark, input rear focus mark, input number of steps between the two and the camera does the work.  Just like exposure bracketing.  I know that Contol My Nikon and other software does this already, but that requires a laptop.  I want it in the camera.

Promote Control does this, as well as all of the other types of image acquisition automation (HDR, time-lapse with bulb ramping, etc.).

http://www.promotesystems.com

No need to lug your laptop around.

https://support.promotesystems.com/index.php?_m=knowledgebase&_a=viewarticle&kbarticleid=17

kirk

[Peter McLennan]

Thanks, Kirk.  Lots of cabling, lots of $.   Appears to be an effective solution.  No demo of focus stacking, though.  My D800 makes HDR exposure stacks almost obsolete.

[kirkt]

Thanks, Kirk.  Lots of cabling, lots of $.   Appears to be an effective solution.  No demo of focus stacking, though.  My D800 makes HDR exposure stacks almost obsolete.

Did you click on the link:

https://support.promotesystems.com/index.php?_m=knowledgebase&_a=viewarticle&kbarticleid=17

Two videos and a write up, slightly dated considering the Promote is on firmware v3 at point.  At most, you use three cables simultaneously (if bramping).  Of course it costs money, just like your D800.  If it is not worth the cost, obviously don't buy it!

kirk

[Peter McLennan]

Thanks again, Kirk.  I hadn't seen the focus stacking write up.  Promote looks good, especially for field work, unlike a laptop.

[kirkt]

You're welcome.  I have used it mostly for HDR and HDR spherical panoramas.  It is packable and easy to use and the firmware is constantly being maintained and updated with new features.  I have used it with a Canon 5D, 5DII and 5DIII, no Nikons though.

kirk

[Eric Brody]

As of today's release, the problem is FIXED. It took too long to acknowledge and too long to fix, but it's done, along with a lot of other things I could barely understand and which are likely of little use to simple photographers like me.

[Simon Garrett]

As of today's release, the problem is FIXED. It took too long to acknowledge and too long to fix, but it's done, along with a lot of other things I could barely understand and which are likely of little use to simple photographers like me.

Thanks for the info!  That will save me installing an old version next time I want to use focus stacking. 

[Peter McLennan]

I'm a CC subscriber, but with the temporary failure of focus stacking in PSCC, I decided to try Helicon Focus.  It's streets ahead of PSCC in every test I've done so far.  It even successfully stacked image sets that PSCC failed at completely, and directly from RAWs in LR.  I'll be purchasing Helicon Focus.

[Bill Koenig]

Here's a link to make your own equivalent to the CamRanger  that I posted to LuLa, earlier

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/forum/index.php?topic=88866.0