(2) Both programs had a lot of difficulty with the ocotillo against the sky on the upper right - basically the low contrast of the sky made them overlay the octotillo images from both frames on top of each other. (NOTE: This is due to the default setting of "Retain extended dynamic range"' disabling this preserves all contrast!) Am I missing something ? Is there a setting or something I should be fiddling with? I can fix this after but bumping the contrast/clarity, but it would be nice to know why Zerene flattens out the contrast while Helicon preserves it. This I found to be consistent across multiple processing stacks (not just this one). (1) By default, the Zerene images are significantly lower contrast, looking pale and washed out, compared to the Helicon Focus or even the originals. I am open to learning and perhaps someone with a better understanding of either program can come up with ways that flip the results or show that they are more equivalent than I found.Īlso, I am very aware that the subjects moving in the frame wildly violates the basic assumptions/conditions/expectations of either program, so this is very much an "unfair" stress test! But (a) this was the point of the test, and (b) these violations are very common in landscape photography. These were the methods for each that performed best out of the box with the default settings - I did not understand (yet) either program to do anything with any of options/parameters (smoothing etc.). )īelow are side-by-side images of Helicon Focus Method B depth map with default settings (on the left) and Zerene Stacker PMax (on the right), followed by my observations. For the results with the correct settings, see here. This, of course, makes most of the following invalid. Slight adjustments to the Zerene Stacker default settings: (1) DMap, with Radius = 1/100 to 1/200 of the pixel width and (2) disabling extended dynamic range preservation fixed the ghosting and washed out contrast, respectively, I note below. After a little bit of reading, I found that As I found out, though, these do not work well when there is subject movement AND result in washed out contrast.
ZYRENE FOCUS STACKER SERIES
( EDIT: The following series of comparisons were made using Zerene Stacker's default settings. I took a series of frames and finally chose two for the stacking, one close and one far. Wind whipping through the scene continuously, and everything that was not a rock or the ground was whipping back and forth. but that might mean waiting forever.Īs an example, here is a hillside on Anzo-Borrego. Sure, you can wait for those moments when the wind dies.
You can do everything right - tripod, MLU, etc., but on a windy day, things are just going to be moving all over the place. The thing about landscapes that is a major issue and much less so in macro is control over the wind. I am currently evaluating these two for landscape photography. Seen quite a few comparisons of these two, but every one I've found has been focused (so to speak) on macro photography. Helicon Focus Compared to Zerene Stacker for (Windy) Landscapes.Sometimes, when trying to wrangle a plane of focus in a three dimensional space, focus stacking suddenly seems a whole lot simpler. Returning to your example, you can see the focus dropping off as you look along the stitching of the watch strap.Īlso, reducing the resolution prevents us zooming larger to inspect the focus, but doesn't actually change the focus accuracy.Ī more elegant solution, but limited by the "trickyness" factor and cost, is a tilt-shift lens, where you can align plane of focus along the subject. However in Lostgear's second example, the watch is almost at right angles to the plane of focus, so I don't believe a small aperture would have worked.
In your image, the watch and the writing on the book are pretty much along the plane of focus, so you are giving yourself an easier target (that may have been deliberate, in which case, that's smart). Jocke - You are right that it is easier to use a smaller aperture, but that will not always do the job. Lostgear - nice work with the focus stacking, it isn't easy, but I think you have done a good job.