Canon R7 Focus Bracketing Macro Photography
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- Опубликовано: 4 ноя 2024
- Canon R7 internal focus stacking is called Focus bracketing. In this video, Heather and I give it a try. Heather used her RF 100-500mm Telephoto and I used the RF 100mm Macro lens. We found it to be difficult but not impossible to get the camera to successfully stack when photographing live insects handheld. This feature should be used with the camera on a tripod and a subject that doesn't move but it was fun to try it handheld and in the end, we were able to come home with some nice images.
Here is something that I failed to mention in the video. The lens will start its focus bracket where you focus and then focus further away with each subsequent shot so you want to focus on the closest part of your subject instead of focusing on the eye like you normally would in single-shot photography.
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So many haters about the camera on youtube and then you find again that the problem is aways the photographer. Great pictures, now i see what the camera is capable off.
They are seven is a fantastic camera especially for only $1500. Thanks for watching!
another great vid, finally someone who has actually made a video about the bracketing feature of the camera
Thank you! We'll be using it from time to time in future videos. I've found that it works a little better with the 100-400 lens for mild macro, at least handheld. I'm sure on a tripod with a non moving subject the macro lens would be the best way to go. Heather made an in camera stack of a landscape photography type photo that will be in an upcoming video as well.
Great stuff, I can't wait to try this when my R7 arrives on 20th Feb! 👍👍👍. Thanks for showing the process with 2 different lenses.
Thank you!
Excellent video, showing the settings and the results really helped me out. Many thanks from the UK.
Thank you, Harry!
Wow.. the photos are amazing-
Thank you, Andy!
Some great shots Phil and Heather. Those dragonflies looked awesome. Looked pretty hot there on that day, at least you're coming into cooler weather in the northern hemisphere soon. Good to know that the stacking doesn't always work, but did mainly using a limited amount of shots stacked.
Thank you, Adrian! It works every time on a tripod with a non moving subject. Still it's nice that you can have some success doing it the wrong way like we did during this one. :)
Thanks for sharing, I have r7 + 100mm f2.8L, I am going to try this for myself and see how it turns out. You have taken beautiful photos!
Thank you! Good luck!
You both work so well together. Great video. Thank you.
Thank you, James! We really appreciate that.
Phil, the shots you and Heather shared are stunning! Love all the colors and different angles. Great work!!👏
Thank you, Bill we really appreciate that!
Thanks for sharing that awesome macro technique, great shot of the Blue Corporal Dragonfly and Green Darner Dragonfly 💙💚👍
Oh wow! You know their names! Awesome! Thank you, Miguel!
I just started trying to use the focus stacking feature of my R7. So far I've just tried it on flowers inside the house since it is still winter weather where I live. Like anything else related to photography, it is a skill that needs to be practiced and developed. Seeing the pictures that you managed to capture gives me motivation to keep trying. I'm looking forward to the weather warming up so that I can find some insects to shoot.
Thank you! Doing it handheld of a living subject is very difficult, but you can do it with some practice for sure! 👍
It is clear. It seems to be difficult. I wil try it out too with my R7. Tanks for the tips. Greetings from the Netherlands.
It is only difficult because we are not doing it correctly. If we were working on a non-moving subject and the camera was on a tripod it would work on the first try every time. But that is no fun! So give it a few tries handheld and I bet you you’ll have some success! Greetings!
Beautiful photos. Ill have to give it a try.
Thank you, good luck! :)
It’s such a cool function in the R7 and looks like also quite usable with a co-operstive subject:) Awesome shots, some of those species ( including the green dragonfly ) were beautiful! Cheers
Thank you, Peter! I hope to use that feature more often in the future.
Hello Phil and Heather! Thanks so much for sharing another awesome video like always. Im super happy with my R7, yesterday I was able to get a few shots of a Cooper's Hawk and a Red Eye Vireo, both lifers for me 🐦❤️
Awesome! I got my first Red Eye Vireo recently too. I don't think that video has come out yet. Thank you!
Nice shots. I always find the brighter the light, the better for macro. Especially with bugs. (Dragonflies, butterflies, flowers, etc) If it's cloudy out, or getting late I generally head home. Dragonflies especially stay still more in the bright, hot light. When it's darker and cooler most bugs are out hunting and moving too much. People always say bright light is bad for photographers, but I find it the best. It offers so much more contrast opportunities. And this goes for street photography, also. It's just another skill of knowing light and using it to your advantage.
This is a very interesting comment, thank you.
Another good one folks. Thumbs up from me.
Thank you, Randy!
Great video again :) I tried the focus bracketing hand held a few time with my Tamron 100-400 and was really happy with some of the photo's, so this week I went out to do some with my Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM and I found it much harder to make good hand held stacks with the macro lens.
Thank you! I agree, it's harder with the macro lens. I've been doing it with a higher success rate using the budget RF 100-400 lens.
Nice work thanks 🙏🏽🙂
Thank you, Tony!
Great video and I want to use the focus stacking function, however I always go to my comfort set up of speedlite and LED lamp underneath my lens.
Question, can you use a speedlite to fire on each focus stack exposure, or can a speedlite keep up, either at 1/320 or in High Speed sycn ! ! ?
Thank you! For focus bracketing, you have to use electronic shutter, and with electronic shutter you cannot use flash.
Great shots. I've used this technique myself, but it should be noted that it doesn't work with flash, which extreme macro needs. I bought myself a Laowa x2 magnification lens and despite award winning optics at an affordable price, it is manual focus, so I can no longer use the R7's focus stacking. However I have been practicing just taking bursts of shots with a flash at 15fps, and moving in to get my focus stack. Then it's a more tedious routine of stacking in PS, which doesn't always do a good job.
That’s a very good point about not being able to use a flash. For macro using this technique I try to pick a very bright day so I will have enough light. Most of my macro work is with a flash and diffuser, but only a single shot.
@@PhilThach I don't have the luxury of a bright day here in rainy England, lol. We get about 2 weeks of sunshine a year if we're lucky, and then it's always on days that you are working. Our weekends are notoriously wet. Sometimes a single shot is better than stacking. I like the other worldly effect of shallow DOF, especially on plants which I never focus stack.
Splendide !
Thank you!
Great shots, as always.
Do you plan on doing a long term review of the R7? I'd be interested to know what you like and don't like after using it for some time.
Yes, I think I probably will do a video like that. Thank you, Leon!
Great shots! I really liked the dragonflies and grasshopper. That is a neat tool that Canon has included. I know the Nikon Z cameras have focus stacking but you have to combine them in post process.
Thank you! Yes the R6 and my good old Z six can do that. I would think they could do a firmware update and add the stacking. I wish it would output a raw file after the stack or even a 16 bit tiff would be better than a JPEG.
Fantastic!!
Thank you!
Did Heather use any sort of Macro adapter on the telephoto or was she just far enough away for it to focus fine? Thanks!
@@MatthewEvansFPV no extension tubes or teleconverters were used.
@@PhilThach Awesome thanks! I'll be attempting some with an R7 & EF 100-400 L II USM, thanks for the vid!
I’ve just received my r 7 and watched most of all the reviews and not one mentioned this facility I know its on the90 D and I’m tickled pink to find it on my seven I think it’s a lack of understanding of some of the other bloggers that the actual facility is there good on you.Mick G UK
Thank you, Michael and congratulations on your new R7!
I'd like to know how to ... how to take the incremental photos. Do you have to take a photo no. 1 of some part of the animal nearest you, and then figure out the next part a bit farther away, and so on? I'm trying to imagine that. I've seen stacking in a studio setting with tripod and dead insects, where the increments are made using a kind of apparatus where you put your subject on it and you can gradually move it forward, sort like a little cart on a rail.
The camera does it for you using the "Focus bracketing" feature. It really should be done in a studio environment like you described but can be done handheld in the wild if you are patient and don't mind having many more fails than successes.
We got the low snow a few days ago. I tried getting a shot of the snow covered mountain with the yellow mustards in the foreground and could not get everything sharp. Maybe this techique will fix that. Did you have to do more with editing program or was it done in camera? Thx
It will stack the images in the camera. I have several focus bracket videos available, the two most recent videos about waterfalls as well as some more macro and product photography videos. Search for "phil thach focus bracket" . There are more coming over the next few weeks. I really like this feature so I've been using it a lot!
@@PhilThach Thanks. I have watched a couple others about this and they took the photo stack into the editing room and I have seen all yours but still wasn't clear if you needed to edit outside the camera for this to work. I will play with it at the same location if my mtn comes out of the clouds with more snow. Could be an awesome shot with a field of yellow mustards and a white mountain behind that all in focus. Oh 2 things come to mind, it cant be windy I guess moving the plants and when I am done, do I need to disable the focus bracketing back to the original setting? thx
That is amazing stuff! The R needs a firmware update to include this!! :). Beautiful shots from both of you!
Thank you, Tim! The R6 has it but won’t stack in camera. It just makes the images and adjusts focus between each one. I was thinking a simple firmware update could have it stack in camera. I would think it should be a fairly easy addition to both of those cameras.
Small Milkweed Bugs or Large Milkweed Bug Nymphs? I enjoy watching your little photo outings. Haven’t tried this technique on my R7 yet. Keep up the good work!
Thank you very much! Honestly, I don’t know the answer to your first question. It is a fun feature to experiment with for sure!
Love this! Can't wait to get my R7 and try it. One question: When you shoot focus bracketing in RAW, do you get all the shots in RAW? Why do I ask? Because if I get all the shots in RAW, I can use 3rd party software to stack... All the best from Norway!
Yes you still get all of the raw files. In fact you don’t even have to tell the camera to attempt to make the JPEG stack.
Thank you and thanks for watching!
@@PhilThach Maybe a stupid question, but the system, lens and camera should be in AF? The system is focusing the lens and not shifting the sensor?
I haven’t tried hand holding while focus stacking, nor have I tried focus stacking on a subject that might move. Combining both of those and getting some good pictures is very impressive.
If I understand it correctly, you still have the raw images after the camera creates the jpeg. If this holds true even when the camera reports an error I would think it might be worth trying to stack the raw images in your favorite editor and possibly save it.
Great to know that this method is worth a try.
Yes, You have all the raws as well as the stacked jpg. I used a single image from a failed stack shot recently. I've been doing this with a slightly higher success rate recently using the budget 100-400 lens. Thank you!
Is the R7 able to output the macro stack image in raw format?
No, the internal stack is a jpeg. It will also saw each individual raw file.
This is the one reason why I wish my Laowa lenses were autofocus. It would be nice to take advantage of focus bracketing.
Understandable. I'm still considering a Laowa 85mm f/5.6 2x macro lens. I just bought their 12-24 ultra wide recently.
@@PhilThach I love the 85mm. It's on my camera most of the time these days. I do wish I could use focus bracketing with it but it would likely be a lot bigger if it had autofocus. I just need to keep practicing getting hand held stacks by moving the camera.
Great video, Phil and Heather! You mentioned your friend on Instagram who has experimented a lot with focus stacking on the R7. Are you able to post his Instagram name? I couldn’t find him when I did a search. Thanks, in advance.
Thank you! Forrest is on Instagram as @snappin.wowzers
If you’re curious (and don’t already know) the green dragonfly is a female Eastern Pondhawk.
Thank you, Tim! I am curious and I definitely did not already know. ✅
I have no idea why most manufacturers don't simply allow you to set the near and far focus points using the AF and the camera calculates the required shots and focus steps to get proper depth of field in the final result
Panasonic do that, Fujifilm and Canon do not, leaving us with having to guess at the mystical focus step figure which varies with every shot
That’s a good point, Terry!