Working with Sony A7rIII and 90mm macro oss. On small subjects, even at high f-stops, depth of field is very apparent. Would focus stacking help? And if so should I just let RC sort the raws straight from camera, or use focus stacking software?
Using software, to me, seems like it would distort the image to an untrue form, much like sharping or noise reduction would.
Googling the subject, seems most use stacking software, but shouldn’t RC be able to just use the best parts from each image?
I have had pretty good results using Helicon focus on objects between 2 cm and 10 cm… lots of photos though !
an advantage was that for the texturing RC gave me sharper results.
hope that helps.
btw, I used a nikon Fixed lens 105mm
My info is that stacking is stronlgy discouraged.
However, you could just give it a try with a small set and report back.
Usually, undistorting images before using them is also not recommended, but there are people who claim that in some cases it actually improves the result. I had also one case where it helped.
that mini safe was 5cm… done with stacking… rendered in Maxwell.
Looks excellent! Do you have a matcap or wireframe?
And would prove my point. 
Did you by any chance compare it to a calculation without stacking?
oki will post later… a bit busy now…
well can confirm stacking yields much better results.
Stacked Results
Not Stacked
Source Sample
https://photos.app.goo.gl/6uGcoaMPU4inbhri9
Hi Steven,
interesting, thanks for sharing!
In the not-stacked set you have 203 images vs. 27 in the stacked one.
Did you put all the source images for stacking into the non-stacked one? Because photogrammetry doesn’t like it at all if there is more than one camera in more or less the same spot.
If yes, it would be great if you could try again with only one image per camera position.
Hey Steff,
nice! How many images did you use?
BTW is that the raw mesh or did you clean it?
And did you use a polarization filter? The brown areas seem quite shiny…
well if I recall correct… was something like 50 images stacked…
very minimal cleaning…
I did use a circular pola, but at that time it was just on Camera lens… and I had used very diffuse lighting. no flash but 4 sphere paper china lamps with 200w bulbs in…
hehee… man this is so old…
Hey Steff,
again, thanks a lot!
I’m sure this thread is very helpful for many people…
Götz Echtenacher I don’t think just using one photo out of each stack would work. The depth of field is so shallow that there would not be enough information for alignment or depth mapping. or something like “just the tip” or base would be in focus.
Hey Steven,
I don’t know, your screw looks all right to me on the second example.
The thin is that the algorythms get messed up when you have images (cameras) too close to one another.
So the really bad result is in my opinion rather due to that then the depth of field.
But maybe your’re right and un-stacked shots would not provide for enough tie points…
This topic is of particular interest to me. I’m using a Sony A7rII and the FE 90mm f2.8 macro. One thing to remember is to turn off image stabilization. I’m not stacking, but have been getting decent results with insects. I generally airbrush them with a matte varnish first.
some samples.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BgzY6atjVw8/?taken-by=paulbraddock
https://www.instagram.com/p/BiAuabzjQKS/?taken-by=paulbraddock
https://www.instagram.com/p/BhH_j3Wj3fa/?taken-by=paulbraddock
I’d love in improve on this, but my scans are already between 200 - 400 images, so manual stacking is out of the question, far too time consuming, so I need an in body solution, or at least software that either stacks a whole series, not one result at a time.
I’ve also pre-ordered the Arsenal smart camera assistant which apparently does in body stacking.
Cheers,
Paul.