D850 Focus shifted Beagle

[Beagledog]

Goorgie Beagle consented to assist me test the new focus shift feature of the D850.

The shot was with the D850 with the Nikkor 70-200 F2.8 E FL ED lens at 150 mm, F2.8 1/125th sec ISO 640 - 720 ( I left the auto iso on and exposure smoothing was on.) The stack was 100 shots ( I used 42 only as the floor has a lot of hair on it) with a step width of 5 ( in the middle)

The stack was put together with Helicon Focus.

The first shot of the series to show were the focus started and the depth of field.

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Now the stack:

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Now there are some artifacts due to Georgie Breathing, She can't hold her breath that long.

But I must say this will be a useful feature for landscape photos. I stacked the JPEGs as I have not figured out how to get the Raws into Helicon software.

Comments?

Cheers,
alexis and Georgie Beagle

" whenever I nod off, mom sticks that darn camera in my face." - Georgie Beagle

 

[Louis Champan]

I know nothing about this process, but what's you've is very impressive to me.

 

[Palouse]

Wow!

 

[fishbio]

It worked quite well. Which mode did you use for the stacking?

I tried this last week with a couple of inanimate objects and I was very pleased with how easily it goes. The only issue I see is guessing the granularity and # of images to take. There are so many variables - distance to subject, aperture, focal length, depth of subject. Perhaps someone with time on his or her hands will produce some tables. .

I don't see it being that uuseful for landscates if there are any wind-blown objects close enough to the camera to be resolved - tree leaves, grasses, etc. Around here it's rare to have a desd-calm day.

Larry

 

[Beagledog]

It worked quite well. Which mode did you use for the stacking?

I tried this last week with a couple of inanimate objects and I was very pleased with how easily it goes. The only issue I see is guessing the granularity and # of images to take. There are so many variables - distance to subject, aperture, focal length, depth of subject. Perhaps someone with time on his or her hands will produce some tables. .

I don't see it being that uuseful for landscates if there are any wind-blown objects close enough to the camera to be resolved - tree leaves, grasses, etc. Around here it's rare to have a desd-calm day.

Larry

You are right about the wind. I tried some grasses in-front of a scene the wind really blew it apart. One would really need to do a lot of masking in Photoshop before stacking. It did give some weird abstract results though.

The setting were the default. Depth map, radius 8, smoothing 4.

Nikon is doing a lot of calculations when they do the focus shift. It seems the step changes based on lens and depth of field. Ya, perhaps I could get Georgie off the couch and shoot a lot of rulers to figure things out.

My current work mode is set it to 50 steps and adjust the step size so that the lens steps across the range I am interested in. if not I increase the step an shoot it again. I use silent shutter so the real shutter in the camera is not used saving it for those time we need a focal plane shutter.

Palouse and Louis, Thanks for your kind words.

Cheers,
alexis and Georgie Beagle

"I am soo sweet when I am sleeping..." - Georgie Beagle

 

[fishbio]

Thanks Alexis.

I used silent shooting, too (I don't like that term; it should be called electronic shutter IMO). It was amazing to hear only a tiny sound when the lens stepped its focus. What's next for our robot cameras?

I now have the problem that none of my 4 different micro lenses is AFS. I'm thinking of looking for a used 105mm F2.8 AFS. I fear that if Nikon updates the venerable 200mm f4 micro it will be offered at a very hard to swallow price.

Larry

 

[Pa]

That looks like a well-stacked dawg. Congrats to Georgie for being patient with you.

It does produce a nice effect with the dog in completely sharp focus and a nicely blurred background. This is one of the features I am hoping will trickle down to cameras at my level.

I have done a fair amount of focus stacking for macro and product work. I bought a copy of Helicon Remote which lets you tether your camera to a computer and then it will compute the number of steps for you, and actuate the camera to take the photos. You don't need AFS lenses for this. Example results here. I had no trouble getting it to stack raw files; maybe the D850 is too new and it doesn't recognize the format.

But I'm unlikely to take my computer with me out into the woods so having the feature built into the camera would be quite useful.

 

[Ann_JS]

I haven't used Helicon, but Zerene Stacker works with Tiffs and it's very possible that Helicon will too.

 

[Pa]

I haven't used Helicon, but Zerene Stacker works with Tiffs and it's very possible that Helicon will too.

I'm sure it will.

 

[jbailey930]

Brandi the Beagle in our family resembles Georgie's pose!!

 

[rick_reno]

Amazing! That alone would make the D850 the camera for me. I find focus stacking a real PIA, it's a technique I would like to you more but don't.

 

[Tinstafl]

I can't wait to try it on mine but I am waiting for a plate to fit the head.

 

[Beagledog]

That looks like a well-stacked dawg. Congrats to Georgie for being patient with you.

It does produce a nice effect with the dog in completely sharp focus and a nicely blurred background. This is one of the features I am hoping will trickle down to cameras at my level.

I have done a fair amount of focus stacking for macro and product work. I bought a copy of Helicon Remote which lets you tether your camera to a computer and then it will compute the number of steps for you, and actuate the camera to take the photos. You don't need AFS lenses for this. Example results here. I had no trouble getting it to stack raw files; maybe the D850 is too new and it doesn't recognize the format.

But I'm unlikely to take my computer with me out into the woods so having the feature built into the camera would be quite useful.

Hi Jim,

Thanks for the compliment on Georgie, she is rather patient with me. Got some great slow-mo of her licking her nose. that is my next project, how to edit the video.

The beautiful thing is you can choose what is in focus. I just didn't stack the shots where the floor was sharp.. I have spent a lot of time doing focus stacking manually, it is a pain. But, with the D850 it is easy...

Cheers,
alexis and Georgie Beagle

"slow-mo video means I get peanut butter smeared on my nose..." - Georgie Beagle

 

[andreasb]

Looks great, I'm surprised that Georgie moved at all they sleep pretty hard....

BTW I recommend Zerene Stacker over Helicon

 

[Bohdan]

Looks great, I'm surprised that Georgie moved at all the sleep pretty hard....

BTW I recommend Zerene Stacker over Helicon

I have a seldom used copy of Helicon...Curious Andreas as to why you prefer Zerene - before I make the plunge and purchase another software.

 

[andreasb]

My friend and fellow cafeer Rory Hill and pretty much expert at stacking says so.

 

[weerterbos]

Hi Jim,

"slow-mo video means I get peanut butter smeared on my nose..." - Georgie Beagle

Wednesday's top photos: a St Bernard and a P45
Hit the I for info.
Seems a challenge is set!

 

[Beagledog]

Wednesday's top photos: a St Bernard and a P45
Hit the I for info.
Seems a challenge is set!

I can lick my nose, not my eyebrows!

cheers,
Georgie Beagle

 

[Ann_JS]

Chamaeleons can lick Bulldogs any day. . .

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The Mealy Worm (golden blob in bottom right corner) had 0.000001 secs of Life left.

 

[hillrg]

But I'm unlikely to take my computer with me out into the woods so having the feature built into the camera would be quite useful.

You might consider the Olympus E-M1 (first version). It has been able to do this for years and I prefer the Olympus implementation for nature shooting.