Focus Stacking Tutorial - Part 2 - Equipment
Focus Stacking Tutorial - Part 2 - What Equipment Do I Need
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Introduction
Run a Google search for "equipment needed for macro focus stacking" and you will see lots of articles discussing how you need the sturdiest tripod and other tools such as a focus rack, remote shutter release etc. Although this used to be the case, many camera manufacturers now include a massively useful feature called "focus bracketing".
Focus bracketing allows you to instruct the camera to take a certain number of exposures, while changing the focus point between each exposure, by a certain amount. Having set the number of exposures and the focus increment, when you press the shutter button, the camera takes the series of exposures while changing focus point, all automatically.
Let me tell you, this will save you time and frustration and in my opinion, produces better results than the old manual methods. In this article I will only considering the equipment you need using the automated focus bracketing method.
The image above shows the equipment that I use to capture my image stacks. The Olympus OM-D E-M5II camera with the Olympus 60mm F2.8 macro lens, a basic tripod with ball head and a LED light.
Camera
You need to have a camera with a focus bracketing feature. I know that most of the Olympus range of cameras since, and including the E-M5II have this. I believe recent Panasonic and Sony cameras also have this feature. I'm not sure about Fuji and less sure about the DSLR's from Canon or Nikon. If you are looking to buy a new camera and want to try your hand at macro focus stacking, do your own camera buying research but I strongly recommend you get one with a focus bracketing feature - you will be glad you did, trust me.
One thing to note is that manufacturers may advertise a "focus stacking" feature in their cameras. This is different to focus bracketing. With focus stacking the camera will take a small number of exposures at different focus points and merge them, all in camera. This gives very quick results but the final image quality is not great and may show major artifacts. Most cameras that have a "focus stacking" feature will probably also have a "focus bracketing" feature but just check before buying.
Lens
Prime macro lenses rated at least 1:1 magnification are best for focus stacking. 1:1 magnification means the the image focused on the sensor is the same size as the real life size of the subject.
If your interest is to create macro shots of live bugs or insects you are better picking a more telephoto lens, say, at least 100mm rather than a 30mm. This will allow you to keep more of a working distance from your subject so as not to scare it away.
If you’re on a budget a number of options are available.
- Use an adapter to reverse mount your current lens.
- Attach a diopter lens to the front of your current lens
- Use extension tubes between the back of your current lens and the camera
I don’t really recommend any of these options but try them if you really can’t afford a proper macro lens.
Tripod
You want a tripod that has the best sturdyness to weight ratio that you can afford but this is nowhere as crucial as it used to be. You don’t need to spend hundreds of pounds on a tripod.
In my opinion the only important thing here is for the tripod to enable low positioning of the camera. You need to be able to capture images close to the ground.
My tripod is one I have had for over 30 years and its legs are fixed to the central column so can’t position the camera lower than about half a meter. This is no good when shooting out in the field. Flowers close to the ground are affect less by the wind and wind is the the major enemy of the macro focus staked photographer.
When spring arrives and flowers start blooming the first thing on my shopping list will be a new tripod.
Tripod head
The camera fixes to the tripod via a head. You need something that enables quick and easy repositioning of your camera. Again, you don’t need to spend hundreds of pounds to get the best. A low cost ball head will be adequate.
Lighting
When shooting indoors you may require additional lighting. Again, you can spend plenty of money on this but all that is necessary is a cheap LED light.
Computer
Any computer made within the last five years should be able to cope. You may want to invest in addition memory if you expect to be doing some very large stacks. I have 16Gig of memory and have never had a problem.
Software
I use and prefer Capture One to organize/adjust my photos and Zerene Stacker to process my macro stacks. These software packages are fairly pricey but they both have fully functional trial versions for you to try out.
Adobe Lightroom is very popular and does the same job as Capture One. Search online for free or less expensive products.
There are many programs that you can use to process a focus stacked set of images such as Adobe photoshop (poor) or helicansoft (good) and what I consider to be the best Zerene Stacker(best).
I hope you found this useful
Feel the Love
@brianhphotos
this article is perfectly timed for me! I had all these quesrions in my head as I am currently researching new cameras and you have answered lots of them right here, thank you! :) (resteemed because it is awesome, but also so I don't loose it lol)
Thank you. I hope you find your perfect camera.
As always very useful advises for people who would like to start up and do not know what they need. With your post, you have a list what you need to have to get the result one wishes. Thank you for sharing your experience!
Thank you very much.
OK, now I am even more confused after researching all this! haha Can you give me a couple of models to look at that have the focus bracketing and the lenses that I would need for the following types of images: Macro, landscape, moving animals and Nature :) thank you!
This a big question! Depends how much you want to spend but I'll assume you want best price performance.
Done some googling and seems the Nikon 850 dslr does focus bracketing but is £3,500 body only, so that would be out of the question.
To my surprise Sony cameras don't have a proper FB feature, so they are out too.
I use the Olympus OM-D E-M5II and the Panasonic G80 and both have the FB feature. They are both great cameras and I wouldn't replace them even if I had the money to do so. The Olympus is older and more expensive than the Panasonic which also does 4k video. I prefer the olympus for photos(only because I prefer the handling, photo quality is the same) and Panasonic for video. Both Panasonic and Olympus use the same lens system so if you buy a Panasonic lens it will work on Olympus and vice versa.
If I was looking for a camera right now I would have to go for the Panasonic G80 because it is such good value. I would buy it with the 12-60 kit lens which is a supprisingly good lens and should cater for your landscape and nature shots. Check out the Olympus 60mm f2.8 lens for macro. You may also want to look at the olympus 40-150mm f2.8 pro for more telephoto shots but this lens is more pricey but great value compared to other manufacturers.
Let me know what you think.
Great advice, thank you! I will check these out :)
Very cool! I'm bookmarking this post!
Thank You.