I use this regularly on stationary wildlife, especially when it is snowing, raining or grass is swaying in front and may present a challenge for the camera being able focus on the subjects eye. Taking a rapid series of stacked images at f8 ensures that at least one is perfectly located on the eye of the subject under those challenging situations. Nothing worse than missing a shot because a snowflake or raindrop grabbed the focus point.
Thanks for the great video ! This is exactly what I was looking for. Shooting dragonfly’s the other day this would have been perfect! Shooting with a 90d , now I just have to practice then back to the dragonfly’s , Thank You 👍👍!!
Very clear and informative, thank you! However, I've not come across ANY serious MACRO photographer who uses Auto Focus. They shoot manual focus and stack with computer software. And BTW, they use diffused flash. It would be helpful to see the difference between your Auto Focused stack, and a stack resulting from Manual focus. Please submit an updated video.
I was experimenting with focus bracketing on my R10 using the exact same settings. I found no matter how many shots I select, the feature only takes 5-7 shots of anything. AEB was set to off, and I was using a single focus point.
hi this is great video thanks! I just rented a Canon R7 to try out this feature, and I saw another UA-camr showing the stacking process done INTERNALLY by the camera and not by using Photoshop. But it turned out that wasn't the case, the camera did NOT give me that single, stacked clear picture. Do you know if the Canon R7 indeed processes the stacking internally, or I need to use PS (= that UA-camr was wrong)? Thanks!
Great video! I find focus stacking on wildlife and nature to be a great tool. Just as an extra benefit, Canon has a folder option pop up on the screen that allows you to save each group of stacked images into a unique folder which makes processing much easier afterward. I also have noted that once the camera gets to infinity focus it stops so sometimes your folder will have less images than you set since it doesn't need to shoot any once infinity is reached. One more great Canon feature!
@@markrossi5721 You need to purchase a modern mirrorless camera. Rebel cameras are not mirrorless, they will not stack anything, are sold as entry-level cameras. Buy a new camera for your burthday. I have a Canon T3, upgraded to a 7D Mark II, and now I'm about to buy my first mirrorless camera (which I can use with a mount adapter to accept my Canon EF lenses) , a Canon EOS R10. I'll be using it mostly for macro work.
Thanks for your Video. I set up my Camera about 10 times at least but every time it shoots 1 (one) picture only. Please, what am I doing wrong? Happy for any answer!
My Z9 has this also and is a great feature, Do you have the latest firmware on your R3? It actually stacks them in Camera but gives you a Jpeg as the final result as does the R7.
Morning Interesting video. Do you routinely use all the images taken or do you need to reject some of those at infinity to avoid getting the background in focus? Thanks Bob
I think that when you have say 20 images you can play around with different numbers being included in the stack to see which is more appealing as a final image. when you have say 20 to play with using say only half will have a dramatic result on the final output.
Hi Charl, thank you for this video. I do have a camera that has this focus bracketing feature (Fuji GFX100s), but if I were to do it myself rather than using this function, I would love to hear your thoughts on my scenario - I'm taking pictures of pressed flower artwork. the pressed flowers are glued to a paper backing and the artworks are mostly flat images. however, some of the petals are raised off of the paper by millimeters. In the right light you can capture some lovely soft shadows. Also, some flower centers such as sunflowers protrude out more than other flowers such as pansies. So there is a bit of depth of field worth trying to capture. I've been experimenting with focus bracketing/stacking to make all parts of all of the flowers, sharp. I shoot on a tripod and set my iso to low as it can go (my camera goes down to 50 with the mechanical shutter), set the aperature to 5.6, and auto shutter speed. I then move the focus square around the piece and take a series of 50-100 images to stack, focusing on different parts of the different flowers throughout the piece. Maybe this is over kill. But it seems like most people are stacking images with a really big DOF like landscapes, or they're just focusing on one flower, whereas I'm trying to focus on multiple flowers throughout an entire piece with very little change of DOF. I do notice that stacking produces a more crisp image than just taking one photo and captures the subtle nuances of the change of DOF throughout what most would consider a very flat piece. woof. So my question is this - would the automatic function capture what I need, or am I right to be moving the focus myself. I'm just worried the camera wouldn't know where to look with the auto bracketing function turned on. I'll do more experimenting just having trouble finding videos doing this without using this newer auto focus bracketing function. sorry, long question.
Thanks for a straight forward explanation and demonstration. I tried this recently in a video I released on a Dragonfly and more by luck than judgement it worked amazingly. Now I know what the proper settings are. Thanks for sharing.
5:20 Focus Increments. I have an S5 which doesn't have this option. I do however have an option called "Steps" numbering 1-10 only. Is this the same thing?
Nice video brother for focus brackting you have explained very well about image numbers and focus smoothing. I have used this with R 6 mark ll for large prduct like carpets and rugs side composition. Even in India my Canon experts can't explain these points so smoothly. Of course expertisation comes with trails but very useful in many fields of photography thank again 😊 Dr Anand Baranwal Varansi India
I'm sorry you chose to deny listing of Canon's free software DPP4 that does a good job of focus bracketing compilation. I realize that people with expensive equipment prefer paid software but there is an option for the rest of us who will never shoot a crocodile but do focus stack insects found in our yard.
Excellent - video has taught me far more than focus bracketing. The very important inter-relationships between aperture, iso, and exposure time was actually demonstrated as the video progressed to its fascinating conclusion by showing contrasting photos - using focus bracketing v not using it.
I recently purchased the Canon EOS R6 Mark II and saw this feature. I don’t know that I will have a lot of need for this but it looks interesting and wanting to try it out. Thank you for the information.
Well that has really opened my old eyes Charls. I wasn't even aware that my R6 had this facility. Of course, I already knew of focus stacking but had never used it and believed it to be a purely manual operation. I had been sceptical of images I have seen where the photographer stated that the image was a focus stack of 120 images of a tiny insect. My reaction to that was it must be bullshit as how could someone manually refocus 120 times on something that small! Well there we are. Now I'm the old codger with egg on his face. An excellently presented tutorial and I shall be giving it a try. Best wishes.
Charl, I notice the camera settings used were High Speed Shooting & Servo, should that have been One Shot & Single Shooting....or dose that not matter. Thanks for posting
Sorry to rain on your parade but the result with the crocodile is a successful failure, showing clearly why you shouldn't do this. You run into the same problems a in macro ranges as well (even worse) where there is an unsharp halo around foreground elements that overlap further distant areas of the subject. That's a matter of physics and no software in the world can remedy that!
Thanks for your explanation. This is one of the reason I bought EOS R7, besides in camera focus bracketing, EOS R7 (R3 with latest update firmware), it also have in camera depth compositing (Focus Stacking). I can examine the depth composited photo (jpg format) in the camera at once after shooting. I used Canon Photo Professional to stack the photos. I can edit the artifects in the composited photo using DPP. Although DPP is not as powerful as Photoshop, it is easy and simple to used. For still insects, I usually did not need any corrections for the composited photo. I think the fast burst rate 30 FPS in electronic shutter helps a lot. For butterflies, ghost image due to antenna movement would need correction. In EOS R7, flash is prohibited in using focus bracketing. However after the latest firmware update, EOS R3 could use flash EL-1 in this feature. I hope there would be a firmware update for EOS R7 later.
Don't expect too much from this function, it doesn't work for 99.9% of natural subjects. if you need to document screw threads you might get away with it, but other than that it's basically just a waste of time and money
Thanks for this. Will try on my R5. Was with you (Pangolin) in June/July and it was fabulous and am currently working with Sam to set up a Mara Trip in Sept 23. Regards to all (especially Janine)
Hi Charlie, Bruce from the UK here. Great tutorial, never tried this in the wildlife environment but now very keen to try and your video makes it very easy to understand. In order to determine the correct aperture needed, I use the DOF preview which I find helps. Have booked to be with Pangolin next November and I'm very much looking forward meeting you all then. I the meantime I will continue to enjoy your videos. Many Thanks
Excellent explanation and tutorial. I have done focus stacking manually in Ps but have not tried the auto function in my R5. Your explanation makes me want to go try it! One question, were you using electronic shutter to minimize the time to get the 20 shots in case of subject movement? Seems like that might be a good idea. This would be the big advantage over manual focus stacking.
Very nice overview. I will be sharing this. Btw, The OM System OM-1 does the focus bracketing compositing in camera. This will write both the RAW files as well as the generated composite to your memory card. Probably other models by some other companies also has this feature but beware some companies will create the composite image as a jpeg.
Have you ever tried this technique? Did you use it for macro or even perhaps landscape? Let us know.
I’ve used it on landscape and handheld. It worked fine. I haven’t used it on any wildlife.
I use this regularly on stationary wildlife, especially when it is snowing, raining or grass is swaying in front and may present a challenge for the camera being able focus on the subjects eye. Taking a rapid series of stacked images at f8 ensures that at least one is perfectly located on the eye of the subject under those challenging situations. Nothing worse than missing a shot because a snowflake or raindrop grabbed the focus point.
This is the best explanation of focus bracketing that I have seen so far. Made the concept so clear and easy to understand. Thank you Charl!
You're very welcome!
Thanks for the great video ! This is exactly what I was looking for. Shooting dragonfly’s the other day this would have been perfect! Shooting with a 90d , now I just have to practice then back to the dragonfly’s , Thank You 👍👍!!
All time best video on FOCUS BRACKATING. THANK YOU SO MUCH. love from india
Very clear and informative, thank you!
However, I've not come across ANY serious MACRO photographer who uses Auto Focus. They shoot manual focus and stack with computer software. And BTW, they use diffused flash.
It would be helpful to see the difference between your Auto Focused stack, and a stack resulting from Manual focus.
Please submit an updated video.
I was experimenting with focus bracketing on my R10 using the exact same settings. I found no matter how many shots I select, the feature only takes 5-7 shots of anything. AEB was set to off, and I was using a single focus point.
I like to use this function on my Canon R7, stacking is done in camera, it produces a JPEG. Works fast and I like the results.
hi this is great video thanks! I just rented a Canon R7 to try out this feature, and I saw another UA-camr showing the stacking process done INTERNALLY by the camera and not by using Photoshop. But it turned out that wasn't the case, the camera did NOT give me that single, stacked clear picture. Do you know if the Canon R7 indeed processes the stacking internally, or I need to use PS (= that UA-camr was wrong)? Thanks!
Great video! I find focus stacking on wildlife and nature to be a great tool. Just as an extra benefit, Canon has a folder option pop up on the screen that allows you to save each group of stacked images into a unique folder which makes processing much easier afterward. I also have noted that once the camera gets to infinity focus it stops so sometimes your folder will have less images than you set since it doesn't need to shoot any once infinity is reached. One more great Canon feature!
Thank you very much for that tip...will check it out!
Which Canon camera has that feature? My EOS Rebel T7 doesn't seem to have any kind of provision for focus stacking.
@@markrossi5721 You need to purchase a modern mirrorless camera. Rebel cameras are not mirrorless, they will not stack anything, are sold as entry-level cameras. Buy a new camera for your burthday.
I have a Canon T3, upgraded to a 7D Mark II, and now I'm about to buy my first mirrorless camera (which I can use with a mount adapter to accept my Canon EF lenses) , a Canon EOS R10. I'll be using it mostly for macro work.
I am confused now. I thought these cameras now stack the photos in camera, but you are using Photoshop?
Can it be used with flash? I realized camon uses electronic shooting which it is too fast
I've heard Canon r10 does in camera focus stacking.. is it correct ?
If yes is it as good as doing via using a software or not
Bracketing with flash which body can do
I really enjoyed this, thank you.
My Canon R10 camera is capable of both bracketing and stacking - only if Auto focus is engaged. Would flash work with it?
No, it won't - will not "sync".
Thanks for your Video.
I set up my Camera about 10 times at least but every time it shoots 1 (one) picture only. Please, what am I doing wrong?
Happy for any answer!
You need to read the manual, again.
Awesome!!! Thank you. Will try on my R5 for wildlife. Only used for Landscape. Cheers
Glad it helped!
Thank you for the best guide!!
My Z9 has this also and is a great feature, Do you have the latest firmware on your R3? It actually stacks them in Camera but gives you a Jpeg as the final result as does the R7.
Will check that out. Thank you for the heads up!
Great tutorial Charl. Thanks so much!
Morning
Interesting video.
Do you routinely use all the images taken or do you need to reject some of those at infinity to avoid getting the background in focus?
Thanks
Bob
I think that when you have say 20 images you can play around with different numbers being included in the stack to see which is more appealing as a final image. when you have say 20 to play with using say only half will have a dramatic result on the final output.
Thank you for such a clear and concise explanation. I had the idea but you actually clarified the process for me. Again, thank you.
You're very welcome!
Hi Charl, thank you for this video. I do have a camera that has this focus bracketing feature (Fuji GFX100s), but if I were to do it myself rather than using this function, I would love to hear your thoughts on my scenario - I'm taking pictures of pressed flower artwork. the pressed flowers are glued to a paper backing and the artworks are mostly flat images. however, some of the petals are raised off of the paper by millimeters. In the right light you can capture some lovely soft shadows. Also, some flower centers such as sunflowers protrude out more than other flowers such as pansies. So there is a bit of depth of field worth trying to capture. I've been experimenting with focus bracketing/stacking to make all parts of all of the flowers, sharp. I shoot on a tripod and set my iso to low as it can go (my camera goes down to 50 with the mechanical shutter), set the aperature to 5.6, and auto shutter speed. I then move the focus square around the piece and take a series of 50-100 images to stack, focusing on different parts of the different flowers throughout the piece. Maybe this is over kill. But it seems like most people are stacking images with a really big DOF like landscapes, or they're just focusing on one flower, whereas I'm trying to focus on multiple flowers throughout an entire piece with very little change of DOF. I do notice that stacking produces a more crisp image than just taking one photo and captures the subtle nuances of the change of DOF throughout what most would consider a very flat piece. woof. So my question is this - would the automatic function capture what I need, or am I right to be moving the focus myself. I'm just worried the camera wouldn't know where to look with the auto bracketing function turned on. I'll do more experimenting just having trouble finding videos doing this without using this newer auto focus bracketing function. sorry, long question.
Thanks for a straight forward explanation and demonstration. I tried this recently in a video I released on a Dragonfly and more by luck than judgement it worked amazingly. Now I know what the proper settings are. Thanks for sharing.
Excellent video, I am just learning about focus stacking (Nikon z6 II) and this was so easy to follow and understand. Thank you
R3 does stacking in camera now, no need for photoshop ,works really well 😃😃
was your camera set to digital or physical shuter ?
Even if your camera is set to mechanical shutter by default, during focus bracketing the camera switches to electronic shutter.
5:20 Focus Increments. I have an S5 which doesn't have this option. I do however have an option called "Steps" numbering 1-10 only. Is this the same thing?
Nice video brother for focus brackting you have explained very well about image numbers and focus smoothing. I have used this with R 6 mark ll for large prduct like carpets and rugs side composition. Even in India my Canon experts can't explain these points so smoothly. Of course expertisation comes with trails but very useful in many fields of photography thank again 😊 Dr Anand Baranwal Varansi India
I'm sorry you chose to deny listing of Canon's free software DPP4 that does a good job of focus bracketing compilation. I realize that people with expensive equipment prefer paid software but there is an option for the rest of us who will never shoot a crocodile but do focus stack insects found in our yard.
Excellent - video has taught me far more than focus bracketing. The very important inter-relationships between aperture, iso, and exposure time was actually demonstrated as the video progressed to its fascinating conclusion by showing contrasting photos - using focus bracketing v not using it.
thank you Charl, nice presentation and as always ver helpful !
Glad it was helpful!
Very helpful. Thank u u for sharing. Im using Nikon D7100. Do u have any idea for it?
I recently purchased the Canon EOS R6 Mark II and saw this feature. I don’t know that I will have a lot of need for this but it looks interesting and wanting to try it out. Thank you for the information.
Well that has really opened my old eyes Charls.
I wasn't even aware that my R6 had this facility. Of course, I already knew of focus stacking but had never used it and believed it to be a purely manual operation. I had been sceptical of images I have seen where the photographer stated that the image was a focus stack of 120 images of a tiny insect. My reaction to that was it must be bullshit as how could someone manually refocus 120 times on something that small!
Well there we are. Now I'm the old codger with egg on his face.
An excellently presented tutorial and I shall be giving it a try.
Best wishes.
Charl, I notice the camera settings used were High Speed Shooting & Servo, should that have been One Shot & Single Shooting....or dose that not matter. Thanks for posting
Sorry to rain on your parade but the result with the crocodile is a successful failure, showing clearly why you shouldn't do this. You run into the same problems a in macro ranges as well (even worse) where there is an unsharp halo around foreground elements that overlap further distant areas of the subject. That's a matter of physics and no software in the world can remedy that!
Thank you so much. Great video. I have subscribed.
Excelent. A complete explanation and useful comparative.
Uses bracketing during using film cameras and don't use on my digital cameras
wow. Amazing results. Ek gaan dit probeer.
I only bought the Canon R5 two weeks ago and loving it. Great shot of the croc !
This was great! Best focus bracketing tutorial. 👍👍
Bro! Charge your battery! 😉
Well spotted!!!!
Excellent video tutorial.Thank you.
Great tutorial, great croc photo!
Thanks so much!
f/ no is chosen for focus and background interference
Thank you so much. This was an amazing tutorial.
Thanks, great explanation!
Thanks a million 🙏
Our pleasure.
Thanks for your explanation. This is one of the reason I bought EOS R7, besides in camera focus bracketing, EOS R7 (R3 with latest update firmware), it also have in camera depth compositing (Focus Stacking). I can examine the depth composited photo (jpg format) in the camera at once after shooting.
I used Canon Photo Professional to stack the photos. I can edit the artifects in the composited photo using DPP. Although DPP is not as powerful as Photoshop, it is easy and simple to used. For still insects, I usually did not need any corrections for the composited photo. I think the fast burst rate 30 FPS in electronic shutter helps a lot. For butterflies, ghost image due to antenna movement would need correction. In EOS R7, flash is prohibited in using focus bracketing. However after the latest firmware update, EOS R3 could use flash EL-1 in this feature. I hope there would be a firmware update for EOS R7 later.
Don't expect too much from this function, it doesn't work for 99.9% of natural subjects. if you need to document screw threads you might get away with it, but other than that it's basically just a waste of time and money
Thanks for this. Will try on my R5. Was with you (Pangolin) in June/July and it was fabulous and am currently working with Sam to set up a Mara Trip in Sept 23. Regards to all (especially Janine)
Fantastic! will pass on your regards! See you in the Mara!
Once again, terrific video! I haven’t tried it but will. One question; I use back button focus, will that make any difference?
No, the bracketing starts from the first point of focus the moment you press the shutter release.
Going to try this, thank you for sharing
Hi Charlie, Bruce from the UK here. Great tutorial, never tried this in the wildlife environment but now very keen to try and your video makes it very easy to understand. In order to determine the correct aperture needed, I use the DOF preview which I find helps. Have booked to be with Pangolin next November and I'm very much looking forward meeting you all then. I the meantime I will continue to enjoy your videos. Many Thanks
Hi Bruce..thank you for that tip. We are very much looking forward to seeing you next November....plenty more vids between now and then!
Dankie Charl .Dit is baie leersaam .
Ek gaan dit verseker probeer .
Excellent explanation and tutorial. I have done focus stacking manually in Ps but have not tried the auto function in my R5. Your explanation makes me want to go try it! One question, were you using electronic shutter to minimize the time to get the 20 shots in case of subject movement? Seems like that might be a good idea. This would be the big advantage over manual focus stacking.
Electronic shutter is selected automatically during focus bracketing even if your default setting is for mechanical shutter.
Great video.
fantastic vid.
Nice example
I’ve tried it on the R3 and impressed with it. Your video as usual made it very easy to understand. 🙂👍🏻
Glad it helped!
Thank you!
Awesome
Always excellent video yet again
Glad you enjoyed it
Thank you, very good.
Our pleasure!
Great video!
Glad you enjoyed it
Very nice overview. I will be sharing this. Btw, The OM System OM-1 does the focus bracketing compositing in camera. This will write both the RAW files as well as the generated composite to your memory card. Probably other models by some other companies also has this feature but beware some companies will create the composite image as a jpeg.
Thanks for the info Buddy! Always appreciated.
I can’t understand your accent
What accent?