I find your videos so much more informative for focus bracketing than anything else in the RUclips universe. I did a lot of focus bracketing with various setups for almost 20 Years soon after Helicon was first released. It was a slow process. I trying to find a camera system mainly for that only purpose and I find that automatic in camera bracketing is much more precise than any manual method even you gave some good hints how to improve that. I rented a OM1+ their 90mm macro and was amazed how the speed of this set up was improving the success rate of handheld stacks. So I completely agree with you that the FPS is the mayor contributor to good stacks. The main reason I did not get that set up is the lack of dynamic range (more important with natural light than diffused flash). One thing I notice that stacking artifacts a more common with methods moving there camera (rail or handheld) than changing focus with modern IF lenses ( front element does not extend, manual or automatic) as first method changes perspective as the distance to object changes and the later changes only magnification for which the stacking programs compensate well during alignment. I also noticed that different lenses have very different out of focus blur in stacks, the OM90mm was very distracting and the Lumix S 100/2.8 much better (because of less focus breathing??)
Additionally to the points you raise in the video I also like using focus peaking which enables me to see where I am focused as I move the camera. That way I am sure I start in front of the subject & finish focused behind the subject. Thanks for the video.
What flash are you using that it can recycle as quickly as your cameras burst rate is? Do you need to keep the flash on a low power level in order for it to recycle that quickly?
Thank you so much for all the work you put into your videos. You have a unique and great way of serving up this education in an entertaining yet truly informative way for anyone from beginner to a seasoned professional like myself. Thank you thank you
Hi Stewart! Thanks for the video. Do you think an R6 Mark II with a Laowa 90mm will be a good combination? You think the focus bracketing on the R6 will help? And does it matter if it is mechanical or electronic shutter? Thanks in advance! Love your videos.
Now I live in a better place with woods and nice places for photography and I'm restarting again with macro photography. This is great advice, thank you very much!
Hello Stewart, i am considering to buy a godox v860iii for focus bracketing. But i am a little unsure if its a good addition to the rest of my gear. I am using the canon eos r10 and laowa 100 mm currently. I am also considering to buy an auto focus lens so i can use the auto bracketing feature on the canon eos r10. Do you have any recommendations for a suitable auto focus lens?
BTW, the newly released Canon R5 Mark II fires the flash at each step of the focus bracketing action. I should also note that the max shutter speed while in focus bracketing mode is 1/125th while it is as high as 1/250th when not. I'm still getting used to the various settings while bracketing (Canon RF100mm macro lens) but all seems well so far 😀. I do a lot of wildlife photography and the new pre-capture mode almost feels like cheating as it's like a "time machine" being able to capture 15 shots in its circular buffer before the shutter button is moved from half to fully depressed 😂.
Yes, this is very easy way how to do focus stacking without in camera. I use it many years and it works. Unfortunately, new cameras doesn't make people think that much about photography.
Hi Stewart just found your channel as I'm just starting my macro journey. I shoot Sony but it doesn't support focus bracketing. My work colleague shoots Olympus and was telling me how good Olympus are for macro. So I either buy a macro lens for Sony or Olympus. I ended up with em1 markii and 60mm f2.8 X2 macro. Now I need a flash and diffuser. It seems the V350 for Olympus are like rocking horse poop. So in this video you used a different flash on your Canon. Will that work for Olympus as well or do I need dedicated Olympus flash. And would you recommend v350 or bigger V8 series thanks in advance. Alan
I have a Canon R8, so it has focus bracketing, but only in fully electronic shutter mode. But as you point out, the camera also won't trigger a flash in fully electronic shutter mode, only in electronic first curtain shutter mode. Is there a way to either 1) get the camera to automatically focus bracket in electronic first curtain shutter mode, or, alternatively, 2) fool it to trigger the flash in fully electronic mode? (I seem to recall reading somewhere that taping over one or more hot shoe contacts will defeat some sorts of flash limitations). if neither of those are options, what do you recommend: using focus bracketing without flash, or using flash with the slower first curtain shutter?
Same issue with R7 Yeah moving it has the best results for me when I need flash, but if the lighting is good then I’ll use built in. I’ve tried using mechanical shutter photo bursts with flash while manually moving the focus ring while keeping the camera still, but A) you’d probably want a tripod while doing that unless you have notably steady hands, and B) I get a higher hit rate by moving the camera anyways. Good strat to keep in mind if you’re in a situation where you physically cannot move closer though, but even then I’d just opt for the built in over it unless the lighting is very dark Annoys me so much, they clearly only made that limitation to get more sales on the high end R3
I've tried this a few times but I'm too unsteady. My shots end up all out of order and with focus gaps. I'd try a tripod but bugs don't stay still long enough to set it up. But I am pretty happy with the non-stacked results I've been getting. :)
It's just training. You get better at it as you go. Don't be disappointed if the “first” attempts don't work. I also struggled with it and it doesn't always work, but in the meantime it often works better than the automatic focus stacking of my camera. It's fun to learn and master new things. :)
At F8-F11 and with macro lenses, the depht of field is so shallow, that the absolutely tiniest movement causes you to have out-of-focus spots. That is why we should point out that the movement you are making in your examples is massively (intentionally) exaggerated :)
The first 500 people to use my link skl.sh/stewartwood10241 will get a 1 month free trial of Skillshare premium!
I find your videos so much more informative for focus bracketing than anything else in the RUclips universe. I did a lot of focus bracketing with various setups for almost 20 Years soon after Helicon was first released. It was a slow process. I trying to find a camera system mainly for that only purpose and I find that automatic in camera bracketing is much more precise than any manual method even you gave some good hints how to improve that. I rented a OM1+ their 90mm macro and was amazed how the speed of this set up was improving the success rate of handheld stacks. So I completely agree with you that the FPS is the mayor contributor to good stacks. The main reason I did not get that set up is the lack of dynamic range (more important with natural light than diffused flash).
One thing I notice that stacking artifacts a more common with methods moving there camera (rail or handheld) than changing focus with modern IF lenses ( front element does not extend, manual or automatic) as first method changes perspective as the distance to object changes and the later changes only magnification for which the stacking programs compensate well during alignment. I also noticed that different lenses have very different out of focus blur in stacks, the OM90mm was very distracting and the Lumix S 100/2.8 much better (because of less focus breathing??)
Thank you so much!
Excellent... never done this before but now's the moment. Many thanks from a cabin in a swamp in a rainforest in New Zealand.
That sounds like a nice place for macro!
Additionally to the points you raise in the video I also like using focus peaking which enables me to see where I am focused as I move the camera. That way I am sure I start in front of the subject & finish focused behind the subject. Thanks for the video.
I have a video all about focus peaking.
thank you for the lesson
You are welcome!
Extremely well explained :) (excellent images)
Thanks mate
Great lesson ZStewart. Thank you so much.
thank you for this lesson!
Glad it was helpful!
Great video very useful thank you
Glad it was helpful! Hope your well my friend.
What flash are you using that it can recycle as quickly as your cameras burst rate is?
Do you need to keep the flash on a low power level in order for it to recycle that quickly?
The flash in the video is a Godox V860III, the lower the flash power the quicker it will recycle.
@StewartWoodArt have you ever tried using any of the rotolight lights. They have zero recycle time
Thank you so much for all the work you put into your videos. You have a unique and great way of serving up this education in an entertaining yet truly informative way for anyone from beginner to a seasoned professional like myself.
Thank you thank you
Hi Stewart! Thanks for the video. Do you think an R6 Mark II with a Laowa 90mm will be a good combination? You think the focus bracketing on the R6 will help? And does it matter if it is mechanical or electronic shutter? Thanks in advance! Love your videos.
Yes, absolutely but you won’t be able to use the flash with the built in focus bracketing.
@@StewartWoodArt Thank you so much!
Now I live in a better place with woods and nice places for photography and I'm restarting again with macro photography. This is great advice, thank you very much!
Great to hear!
Great video!
My camera does focus bracketing but all but one of my macro lenses are manual so i have to manual focus bracket most of the time.
👍
Hello Stewart, i am considering to buy a godox v860iii for focus bracketing. But i am a little unsure if its a good addition to the rest of my gear.
I am using the canon eos r10 and laowa 100 mm currently.
I am also considering to buy an auto focus lens so i can use the auto bracketing feature on the canon eos r10. Do you have any recommendations for a suitable auto focus lens?
BTW, the newly released Canon R5 Mark II fires the flash at each step of the focus bracketing action. I should also note that the max shutter speed while in focus bracketing mode is 1/125th while it is as high as 1/250th when not. I'm still getting used to the various settings while bracketing (Canon RF100mm macro lens) but all seems well so far 😀. I do a lot of wildlife photography and the new pre-capture mode almost feels like cheating as it's like a "time machine" being able to capture 15 shots in its circular buffer before the shutter button is moved from half to fully depressed 😂.
I know, but the chances of me getting my hands on an R5 mk2 for testing is slim at best lol
Yes, this is very easy way how to do focus stacking without in camera. I use it many years and it works. Unfortunately, new cameras doesn't make people think that much about photography.
Hi Stewart just found your channel as I'm just starting my macro journey. I shoot Sony but it doesn't support focus bracketing. My work colleague shoots Olympus and was telling me how good Olympus are for macro. So I either buy a macro lens for Sony or Olympus. I ended up with em1 markii and 60mm f2.8 X2 macro. Now I need a flash and diffuser. It seems the V350 for Olympus are like rocking horse poop. So in this video you used a different flash on your Canon. Will that work for Olympus as well or do I need dedicated Olympus flash. And would you recommend v350 or bigger V8 series thanks in advance.
Alan
For the 60mm you really need the V350 as the V860 is too big unless you get a diffuser made for that flash and lens.
@StewartWoodArt Thanks for reply Stewart, would you recommend the dedicated Olympus version or would say a Nikon or Fuji work in manual.??
I have a Canon R8, so it has focus bracketing, but only in fully electronic shutter mode. But as you point out, the camera also won't trigger a flash in fully electronic shutter mode, only in electronic first curtain shutter mode.
Is there a way to either 1) get the camera to automatically focus bracket in electronic first curtain shutter mode, or, alternatively, 2) fool it to trigger the flash in fully electronic mode? (I seem to recall reading somewhere that taping over one or more hot shoe contacts will defeat some sorts of flash limitations).
if neither of those are options, what do you recommend: using focus bracketing without flash, or using flash with the slower first curtain shutter?
Personally, I would just move the camera as I did in this video.
Same issue with R7
Yeah moving it has the best results for me when I need flash, but if the lighting is good then I’ll use built in. I’ve tried using mechanical shutter photo bursts with flash while manually moving the focus ring while keeping the camera still, but A) you’d probably want a tripod while doing that unless you have notably steady hands, and B) I get a higher hit rate by moving the camera anyways. Good strat to keep in mind if you’re in a situation where you physically cannot move closer though, but even then I’d just opt for the built in over it unless the lighting is very dark
Annoys me so much, they clearly only made that limitation to get more sales on the high end R3
@@the_linguist_ll Thanks, that makes sense on all points (right down the the crippled built-in focus bracketing).
I wish I had seen this before I dropped $2K on another camera! Thanks. I really enjoy your vids.
Sorry to hear that
I've tried this a few times but I'm too unsteady. My shots end up all out of order and with focus gaps. I'd try a tripod but bugs don't stay still long enough to set it up. But I am pretty happy with the non-stacked results I've been getting. :)
It's just training. You get better at it as you go.
Don't be disappointed if the “first” attempts don't work.
I also struggled with it and it doesn't always work, but in the meantime it often works better than the automatic focus stacking of my camera.
It's fun to learn and master new things.
:)
At F8-F11 and with macro lenses, the depht of field is so shallow, that the absolutely tiniest movement causes you to have out-of-focus spots. That is why we should point out that the movement you are making in your examples is massively (intentionally) exaggerated :)