Paper Wasp

[RonaldSill]

200 images stack on a manual rail using Helicon

 

[dougsmit]

Very cooperative subject and nicely cleaned!

 

[PB Aus]

200 images stack on a manual rail using Helicon

Very cooperative subject and nicely cleaned!

Hi... can't get my head around 200 images. Is this 200 steps of DOF or something else. And at what resolution....I've never tried this

 

[dougsmit]

I have never done a stack over 100 and my poor focus rail would hardly allow that many advances on something this size. I would suggest making your first attempt something a great deal smaller (maybe 20) shot at a smaller aperture so there is more overlap. The automated focus bracketing feature available on all RF bodies except the original R is easier to use but limited to things not so extreme. I get better results doing manual advances when beyond 1:1. There are many uses for focus bracketing in landscapes where you really need only 2 or three shots but you get to a point in the extreme macro where you will be unhappy that you got fuzzy gaps so you shoot many. I usually end up shooting more than I think I'll need and then elimination the ones that contribute nothing when I stack them. Start small and simple; work up to the extreme ant portrait stage (I'm not there yet). Flowers are a good place to start. This Crocosmia used the automated feature on my RP with the old version EF 100 macro. Unfortunately, I rarely record such details as how many shots or what f/stop was used and the EXIF data does not survive the DPP4 stacking routine (or I don't know how to enable it?).

 

[RonaldSill]

Hi... can't get my head around 200 images. Is this 200 steps of DOF or something else. And at what resolution....I've never tried this

Yes, 200 steps of DOF. This is on my Canon R5 and uncropped so this image is 45MP.

 

[RonaldSill]

I have never done a stack over 100 and my poor focus rail would hardly allow that many advances on something this size. I would suggest making your first attempt something a great deal smaller (maybe 20) shot at a smaller aperture so there is more overlap. The automated focus bracketing feature available on all RF bodies except the original R is easier to use but limited to things not so extreme. I get better results doing manual advances when beyond 1:1. There are many uses for focus bracketing in landscapes where you really need only 2 or three shots but you get to a point in the extreme macro where you will be unhappy that you got fuzzy gaps so you shoot many. I usually end up shooting more than I think I'll need and then elimination the ones that contribute nothing when I stack them. Start small and simple; work up to the extreme ant portrait stage (I'm not there yet). Flowers are a good place to start. This Crocosmia used the automated feature on my RP with the old version EF 100 macro. Unfortunately, I rarely record such details as how many shots or what f/stop was used and the EXIF data does not survive the DPP4 stacking routine (or I don't know how to enable it?).

dougsmit, All good advice. I use a manual rail and it is quite tedious. There may be an auto rail in my future if I do too many more of these. As far as using the in camera focus bracketing in camera on the Canon R* bodies I've had great luck with that feature. I used my EF 100mm f/2.8 macro on a cicada the other day that it did a great job with focus bracketing on 200 slices. I didn't like the final image because the cicada had been dead a while and the ants had gotten to it, but here's how it turned out. Of course this one is cropped in quite a bit here but the in camera focus bracket did a great job.

 

[PB Aus]

Yes, 200 steps of DOF. This is on my Canon R5 and uncropped so this image is 45MP.

Thanks for the detail....results on this and others I have now seen are fantastic

 

[Hali]

Wow, great image. Those wasps are scary even without being that close!