The unusual plant on our deck was blooming. "Aha, here's a chance to try out Focus Stacking on the OM-1". I put on the
60/2.8 Macro and take a stack.
Whoa! That's weird.
<http://www.moosemystic.net/Gallery/tech/Focus%20Stacking/BracketvsStack/OM!Stacks.htm>
Rows 1 & 2:
Operator error - focal depth of only about 1.5" is 'cause I thought was using
Focal Differential of 2, but it was 1.
That aside, WTF happened to the right, further away flower? Completely mushed out, uneven detail in the little
tendrils. Less disastrous, but still wrong, the left one is over processed. I've never paid attention to JPEG settings;
maybe I could fix that, but why, if the other flower comes out the way it did?
The right flower IS OoF. Helicon just leaves it alone, not making things worse.
---------
Row 3:
The flowers are short lived. (BTW, the tiny reddish things unfurling in these shots are new flowers. The first is open
today.)
First frame is a Focus Bracket, showing how much depth is available, if I want
it. I almost certainly wouldn't use it all.
Second and third frames: In-camera has obvious flaws. The right flower area is a mess. Then notice how some foliage is
blurred out, while other parts are sharp. The Helicon stack proves that this is not a flaw in the stack, but in processing.
The rest are 100% crops of the two flower areas. Left one a little over processed, but OK, the right a mess. Notice how
thoroughly the sepals (bracts?) that are mis-processed are blurred out, even fine hairs on the edges lost.
Important Note: Helicon Focus requires slices to be numbered in sequence with focal depth. If processing is to include
the second and third output frames, which are closer to camera than one, renumbering is required. I exported TIFFs, and
renumbered them. It doesn't mind missing numbers, so I just renumber frames 2 & 3 to precede frame 1. I couldn't find a
way to drag and drop to reorder slices within the app.
Failure to do this will result in unpredictable, and at least sometimes, bad results. I have no idea how the other
stackers work in this regard.
--------------------
Bottom line; I can't see a reliable use for Focus stacking. OK, I may have, by chance, chosen a particularly difficult
subject. That seems to me to be an advantage. I think worst case is the best test of whether a function is reliable. YMMV.
Un Stacked Moose
--
What if the Hokey Pokey *IS* what it's all about?
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