Good video. I wish Sony would include this feature on an A1 firmware update. I’ve used focus bracketing on the A7RV for a while. It is, in fact, one of the main reasons I bought that camera. Here are some tips. 1) If you focus too close and your lens is not par-focal, it is nearly impossible to stack images without fuzzy corners. It was quite an oversight that Sony did not include lens compensation for stills with this feature. 2) Forget tying to stack vegetation in any kind of wind or breeze. 3) Set more shots than you think you will need. You can skip some shots for your stack, but it is a bummer when there are out of focus gaps in the stack. 4) if you want your entire picture to be in focus, check the front and back picture to make sure you have the closest and farthest objects in focus. 5) You can still get great background bokeh by not using all the images in the stack. I will often use focus bracketing for flowers and only stack the front to where the back of the flower is in focus. The entire flower is tack sharp, while the background is then out of focus with nice bokeh. 6) Try using focus bracketing on slow moving insects to get some amazingly sharp close-ups. Spiders sitting on a web, are one of my favorites. 7) By carefully steadying the camera, it is possible to get hand held stacks using the focus bracketing feature. Most stacking software will align shots for blending.
Thanks this answered questions I’ve had… could you elaborate on the fuzzy corners… are only the corners a problem or are other areas of the image a problem as well? Do you know if the sony 90mm macro has this problem?
@@billtomlin6176 Poor wording on my part. Fuzzy edges would be more accurate than fuzzy corners. If you are stacking images with a lens that exhibits focus breathing, objects will not align, and there will be areas around edges that are not focused at any depth - especially for thin objects in the scene.
@davidligon6088 - you CAN focus bracket on the A7RRRRR4? Because: internet says you can't. Would love to know how you updated that sexy 2020 firmware 1.2 that the R4 has. I even tried to use the A74 firmware mentioned in the video to do this, but AFAICT the R4 does NOT have the capability to focus bracket. And I really would love to be wrong about this!
Your cohesive attention to detail related to the core topic and its relevant context during your explanations is very good. I hope you'll continue putting out content regularly because your instruction style is clearly a very valuable gold mine for beginners waiting to be discovered. It's good to see Sony finally got this feature out to the A7IV. It didn't make sense for macro photographers to buy the A7RV just for the focus bracketing. They allowed Olympus to steal a huge portion of the macro market while this intermediate void was waiting to be filled but suspect the tide will turn now.
Thank you very much! I post every other week generally, always on photography, focused on landscape photography. Yea, Sony is likely protecting themselves from competition with this move, I'm happy to be the beneficiary of it!
Glad I stumbled across this! Also an A74 shooter. I've been playing with is manually but not great results. This is a game changer for landscape shots. Thanks
I was so surprised when I saw this update, it was one of the main reasons I wanted the A7RV. If only they added pixel shift to A7IV too! I don't know why that has to be A7R exclusive when that camera is already high resolution.
Great video, you cover a relevant new upgrade soon after launch and do so with an excellent example to replicate at home and gave us a nice history of how we achieve this trick of photography. Thank you. Well done.
I love my A7iv and can't wait to try focus bracketing, installed the update yesterday but working now till Saturday before I can try it with my 90mm macro lens I like your channel, suscribed!
Wow I bought this camera a month ago because I thought it was the latest and greatest from sony. Crazy to me it couldnt even do Focus bracketing until this recently! Updating mine right now!!
Great video covering all the bases. I'm excited to try this in the field, I'm a fellow waterfall chaser! ;) This water fall reminds me of several I've taken in New York State?
Appreciate that you have shared this and also demonstrated it! Amazing feature. Do you know if there is a multiple exposure option as well now for the Sony a7iv?
You can find it 2 ways, either in the bracketing settings, or at in the drive mode settings, it is beside all of the HDR bracketing options. Hope it helps!!
Excellent video, I'm updating right now. Can't wait to get out and experiment. It seems to take the human error out of the focus bracketing out in the field. Now, at this point we do the same workflow? Upload into PS and focus stack?
Thanks for the explanation…I might have worded it wrong myself…do you think a focus breathing compensation at the Macro range could theoretically work if it were available.
No sorry, I don’t think focus breathing compensation would work with RAW files, so I think they would skip it for that reason. Thanks for watching, sorry for the delayed response :)
A ggod video explaining the feature. I have just tried it and found that it does not work with all my sony lenses. Ironically, it is not compatible with my 90mm Macro, which is what I primarily want to use for bug and flower shots. It does work with my 70-200 Macro zoom, but I do not get the same magnification.
Thanks for the video - quick off the block too. I've updated my 7iv - very easy following the Sony instructions on support. I've tried it and it goes through the stacking motions but doesn't seem to alter focus - my question: what focus setting did you use - Manual, AFC or other? Thanks and keep up the good work
Great to hear it, thanks a lot! Do you see any possibility of Sony bringing out updates for the A7C i? Of course it's already the "previous generation", but anyway (the A7iv may also become "previous generation" within the next months, if rumours are to be believed)
Actually, I think that is possible! Perhaps what Sony is thinking is that focus bracketing is now an expectation on their camera lineup, rather than just a pro feature. Compare it to exposure bracketing for HDR, which is available on nearly the entire lineup of cameras you could convincingly use for photography. Yes, I expect the A7V soon also, I will have to see if it's worth the upgrade! Thanks :)
@@lightmeetslens Cool, many thanks for the quick response! I understand my A7Ci doesn't support breathing compensation (only the A7Cii does), so I was hoping some future update might introduce that feature as well... fingers crossed!
I doubt that focus bracketing will appear on the A7C, as that body is based on an earlier Sony processor platform than the A7IV and A7RV. I think we are unlikely to see any further firmware updates for any "old menu" bodies including the A7C and A7III. It seems that Sony is now concentrating on firmware updates for bodies that are on a new enough platform to support Creators' App. A7CII has focus bracketing.
Thank you for this video! The only thing that confuses me on this one is, if I set the focus order to 0-+ , then I start the focus somewhere in the middle of the frame. Will the focus go from the middle to top incrementally? Thank you
@@life_in_gen Thanks, I couldn’t quite figure this one out completely, other than that it does currently focus, back a single step width, then forward 2 step widths. But that’s it.
Whats the fastest between shots this camera can do? And with a flash if possible. Wanting to compare this to the speed of the OM systems OM-1 mkii which is really fast
It will go immediately, the only thing stopping it is the shutter speed, for instance here he has it at about half a second, so its a half second delay or so, but you could have it be at 1/30th or 1/100th and it would be lightning quick
Sometimes! But if you want to get close to your subject, stopping down won't work well enough, you need to blend together more than one image with different focus points to get a single blended image that has everything in focus.
Nick thanks for this. BTW I tried to give you a link to an article that I wrote on my blog, that explains what the step size means and how to calibrate your camera in terms of overlap blur, ie circle of confusion. However, I fear UA-cam kicked out my comment because of the link.
Yes, I definitely didn't see that one Garry. I thought it would be something like that, but Sony doesn't do an excellent job of explaining it "in camera" to users. Either way, I think trial and error worked best for me, given that I didn't have a ruler and wanted to try out multiple lenses with the feature. Thanks for adding your expierenc pin here as well! :)
Nick if you search for grayheron photography demystified you should pick up the link I’m talking about. There three posts related to in camera focus bracketing and I recommend reading them in order. Cheers Garry
@jeffreysproule be aware that if you upgrade From a version older than 1.05 you have to upgrade in two steps. First to 1.05 and then to 4.0. It’s explained very well on the SONY Website.
I think you should be okay, but please check the firmware site directly for confirmation www.sony.ca/en/electronics/support/e-mount-body-ilce-7-series/ilce-7m4/software/00288929 Thanks!
I do have a Sony a7 IV and I did try focus bracketing and I set 50 images but It starts from 0/50 images and after 5 shots it didn't go up to 50 shots and it is supposed to shoot 50 or whatever I set. But it finishes after 5 shots means it doesn't to go target 50 images. I am wondering how to fix and get a target shoot.
So there is no option to limit the range which the camera goes through? I mean, in landscape thats not a problem mostly, but in macro I dont want the background to be in focus, I only want the nearest part of my object and the farest part of my opbject to be in focus. I gues I have to select those photos in post?
@@juliusleyhe9442 I suppose you can limit the number of photos overall, which will stop before infinity, or yes, you may just need to discard them in post.
Yea, sometimes that sort of thing happens, actually Sony just had to pull back a firmware update on the A1 (I think) because it was bricking the cameras. Sorta scary TBH, I usually hold off but this update was so enticing that I decided to risk it.
I think Sony are really poor in releasing value added firmware. Its great to see this released for A7iv however. When you look at what Nikon especially release for older models is incredible.
Yea, it's embarrassing actually. I would really LOVE to see some quality of life improvements to Sony Cameras. I got to use a recent Hasselblad and needed to stop after feeling betrayed by Sony.
Woooaooo Sony is FINALLY listening to his users who find unbearable the fact that they don’t update sufficiently their cameras to force to upgrade the body… good news… but too late I switched to Nikon who sells 50 mm f1.4 at 500$ instead of 1500$. Sony seems to be now reserved to fortunate UA-camrs… who don t pay for their gear. About the focus braketing… it exists on Panasonic and Nikon since more than 5 years… good wake up Sony !
Theres plenty of 3rd party lenses for sony, i personally dont own any of sony lenses, i’m happy with the value sigma and tamrom deliver and the variety of lenses
Hey all! You can find and download the firmware on this page www.sony.ca/en/electronics/support/e-mount-body-ilce-7-series/ilce-7m4/downloads
Good video. I wish Sony would include this feature on an A1 firmware update. I’ve used focus bracketing on the A7RV for a while. It is, in fact, one of the main reasons I bought that camera. Here are some tips. 1) If you focus too close and your lens is not par-focal, it is nearly impossible to stack images without fuzzy corners. It was quite an oversight that Sony did not include lens compensation for stills with this feature. 2) Forget tying to stack vegetation in any kind of wind or breeze. 3) Set more shots than you think you will need. You can skip some shots for your stack, but it is a bummer when there are out of focus gaps in the stack. 4) if you want your entire picture to be in focus, check the front and back picture to make sure you have the closest and farthest objects in focus. 5) You can still get great background bokeh by not using all the images in the stack. I will often use focus bracketing for flowers and only stack the front to where the back of the flower is in focus. The entire flower is tack sharp, while the background is then out of focus with nice bokeh. 6) Try using focus bracketing on slow moving insects to get some amazingly sharp close-ups. Spiders sitting on a web, are one of my favorites. 7) By carefully steadying the camera, it is possible to get hand held stacks using the focus bracketing feature. Most stacking software will align shots for blending.
Legendary tips. Thanks
Thanks this answered questions I’ve had… could you elaborate on the fuzzy corners… are only the corners a problem or are other areas of the image a problem as well? Do you know if the sony 90mm macro has this problem?
@@billtomlin6176 Poor wording on my part. Fuzzy edges would be more accurate than fuzzy corners. If you are stacking images with a lens that exhibits focus breathing, objects will not align, and there will be areas around edges that are not focused at any depth - especially for thin objects in the scene.
@davidligon6088 - you CAN focus bracket on the A7RRRRR4? Because: internet says you can't. Would love to know how you updated that sexy 2020 firmware 1.2 that the R4 has. I even tried to use the A74 firmware mentioned in the video to do this, but AFAICT the R4 does NOT have the capability to focus bracket. And I really would love to be wrong about this!
You explain things well. Problem statement > Solution > Summary.
Thanks!! I’m trying :)
Your cohesive attention to detail related to the core topic and its relevant context during your explanations is very good. I hope you'll continue putting out content regularly because your instruction style is clearly a very valuable gold mine for beginners waiting to be discovered.
It's good to see Sony finally got this feature out to the A7IV. It didn't make sense for macro photographers to buy the A7RV just for the focus bracketing. They allowed Olympus to steal a huge portion of the macro market while this intermediate void was waiting to be filled but suspect the tide will turn now.
Thank you very much! I post every other week generally, always on photography, focused on landscape photography.
Yea, Sony is likely protecting themselves from competition with this move, I'm happy to be the beneficiary of it!
Glad I stumbled across this! Also an A74 shooter. I've been playing with is manually but not great results. This is a game changer for landscape shots. Thanks
I was so surprised when I saw this update, it was one of the main reasons I wanted the A7RV. If only they added pixel shift to A7IV too! I don't know why that has to be A7R exclusive when that camera is already high resolution.
Your explanation was exceptional and precise. Even though I'm familiar with the content, hearing it from you was incredibly refreshing and helpful.
Thank you!
Great video man! Really helpful to understand focus bracketing 👌🏻
Thanks! Hope it helps :)
Great video, you cover a relevant new upgrade soon after launch and do so with an excellent example to replicate at home and gave us a nice history of how we achieve this trick of photography. Thank you. Well done.
Thanks very much!
I'm very happy with this new update!!
Really great explanation in the perfect environment!👌
Thanks!!
I love my A7iv and can't wait to try focus bracketing, installed the update yesterday but working now till Saturday before I can try it with my 90mm macro lens
I like your channel, suscribed!
Thanks! Good luck with it, I have some setting suggestions in the video, but I would love to hear what worked best for you.
Wow I bought this camera a month ago because I thought it was the latest and greatest from sony. Crazy to me it couldnt even do Focus bracketing until this recently! Updating mine right now!!
Very helpful mate ....Thanks for the effort and upload.
My pleasure!
Wicked awesome 😮
Hoping to get this feature for my Sony a7iii soon - Very professional presentation in your video - Subscribed 👌
@@hjones451 thanks very much!!
Congrats on 1K subs!
🎉thank you!!!
Excellent video and images.
@@ThePNWRiderWA thanks for watching!!
Thank you, you bring value to my photography. 👏👏👏
You are most welcome! I'm glad I can help others :)
Great video covering all the bases. I'm excited to try this in the field, I'm a fellow waterfall chaser! ;) This water fall reminds me of several I've taken in New York State?
YESSSSSSSSS! Taking the camera out now! Thank you!
Enjoy!
Appreciate that you have shared this and also demonstrated it! Amazing feature. Do you know if there is a multiple exposure option as well now for the Sony a7iv?
It’s very helpful, thanks a lot😊
Glad it was helpful! Thanks!
Super helpful!!! Can u please tell me where in the menu buttons is the focus bracketing is. Truly appreciate it
You can find it 2 ways, either in the bracketing settings, or at in the drive mode settings, it is beside all of the HDR bracketing options. Hope it helps!!
Subscribed. Awesome tutorial!
Thanks!!!
Excellent explanation, thank you.
Glad it was helpful!
Great shots! Thanks!
Thanks Glen!
Excellent video, I'm updating right now. Can't wait to get out and experiment. It seems to take the human error out of the focus bracketing out in the field. Now, at this point we do the same workflow? Upload into PS and focus stack?
Thank you!! Yes same workflow as before, but as you say, removes the human error in the field. Thanks again!!
Thanks for the explanation…I might have worded it wrong myself…do you think a focus breathing compensation at the Macro range could theoretically work if it were available.
No sorry, I don’t think focus breathing compensation would work with RAW files, so I think they would skip it for that reason. Thanks for watching, sorry for the delayed response :)
W vid
Great video. I wonder if it's available for the A1...
Sounds like it is already, they snuck it in there at some point :)
Great video! What's the tripod collar you have the wide angle lens?
@@saulsigalov Thanks!! it’s the Atoll, a camera collar made by silence corner
@@lightmeetslens Thanks!
A ggod video explaining the feature. I have just tried it and found that it does not work with all my sony lenses. Ironically, it is not compatible with my 90mm Macro, which is what I primarily want to use for bug and flower shots. It does work with my 70-200 Macro zoom, but I do not get the same magnification.
Oh wow, didn’t know that. Yea skipping the 90mm macro feels like a big mistake. Thanks for watching!
Game changing lol!
I wish to have similar ar option for event photography or portrait photography
Oh shit! Any idea if this is available for the A7R3 as well?
Hey Chris, No I don't believe it is, sorry!
Great Video thank you
Thanks for watching :)
@@lightmeetslens I've subscibed to your channel :) great channel watched a few of your videos now
That seems easy 👍
@@stigfloberghagenphotography Thanks Stig!! Yea it really speeds things up :)
Thanks for the video - quick off the block too. I've updated my 7iv - very easy following the Sony instructions on support. I've tried it and it goes through the stacking motions but doesn't seem to alter focus - my question: what focus setting did you use - Manual, AFC or other? Thanks and keep up the good work
Thanks!! Very good question, I used DMF for most of them, but did one in manual focus also.
very nice thanks. Did you have any issues with the new 4.0 software update?
@@hbarwick1 I have not had any issues no. Thanks!!
Great to hear it, thanks a lot! Do you see any possibility of Sony bringing out updates for the A7C i? Of course it's already the "previous generation", but anyway (the A7iv may also become "previous generation" within the next months, if rumours are to be believed)
Actually, I think that is possible! Perhaps what Sony is thinking is that focus bracketing is now an expectation on their camera lineup, rather than just a pro feature. Compare it to exposure bracketing for HDR, which is available on nearly the entire lineup of cameras you could convincingly use for photography. Yes, I expect the A7V soon also, I will have to see if it's worth the upgrade! Thanks :)
@@lightmeetslens Cool, many thanks for the quick response! I understand my A7Ci doesn't support breathing compensation (only the A7Cii does), so I was hoping some future update might introduce that feature as well... fingers crossed!
@@gustavogiacominpinho3987 I wish you luck!!
I doubt that focus bracketing will appear on the A7C, as that body is based on an earlier Sony processor platform than the A7IV and A7RV. I think we are unlikely to see any further firmware updates for any "old menu" bodies including the A7C and A7III. It seems that Sony is now concentrating on firmware updates for bodies that are on a new enough platform to support Creators' App.
A7CII has focus bracketing.
Thank you for this video! The only thing that confuses me on this one is, if I set the focus order to 0-+ , then I start the focus somewhere in the middle of the frame. Will the focus go from the middle to top incrementally? Thank you
@@life_in_gen Thanks, I couldn’t quite figure this one out completely, other than that it does currently focus, back a single step width, then forward 2 step widths. But that’s it.
could it(closest focuspoint) be too close the sensor? Not sure but wondering if bracketing start from the closest focuspoint...
Great video, thanks for sharing
Thanks for watching!
Whats the fastest between shots this camera can do? And with a flash if possible. Wanting to compare this to the speed of the OM systems OM-1 mkii which is really fast
It will go immediately, the only thing stopping it is the shutter speed, for instance here he has it at about half a second, so its a half second delay or so, but you could have it be at 1/30th or 1/100th and it would be lightning quick
Nice video!
But in landscape, can’t you just shoot at a higher F stop to get everything in focus?
Sometimes! But if you want to get close to your subject, stopping down won't work well enough, you need to blend together more than one image with different focus points to get a single blended image that has everything in focus.
How are you hanging your camera? Is that ring specific for that lens?
That’s using an Atoll ring mount for the camera
On if the great benefits of it it the upside down position which makes this kind of workflow much simpler.
What is the lens bracket I can see attached please?
That is the Atoll by Silence Corner
@@lightmeetslens Thank you.
If I use bracket mode to take multiple photos continuously, should I switch to the electronic shutter to avoid the shutter jamming?
4K 60fps NO CROP ... This is Amazing Update ...
Nick thanks for this. BTW I tried to give you a link to an article that I wrote on my blog, that explains what the step size means and how to calibrate your camera in terms of overlap blur, ie circle of confusion. However, I fear UA-cam kicked out my comment because of the link.
Yes, I definitely didn't see that one Garry.
I thought it would be something like that, but Sony doesn't do an excellent job of explaining it "in camera" to users. Either way, I think trial and error worked best for me, given that I didn't have a ruler and wanted to try out multiple lenses with the feature. Thanks for adding your expierenc pin here as well! :)
Nick if you search for grayheron photography demystified you should pick up the link I’m talking about. There three posts related to in camera focus bracketing and I recommend reading them in order. Cheers Garry
@garrygeorge2811 thanks Garry! I’ll have a look!
youre going to have to show me that waterfall one day! i also now just realized I have never updated my camera, ever. maybe ill do that 😅
I will take you there! Yea, sometimes you get new features!! Thanks for watching Jeff :)
@jeffreysproule be aware that if you upgrade From a version older than 1.05 you have to upgrade in two steps. First to 1.05 and then to 4.0. It’s explained very well on the SONY Website.
this is great for macro. for landscape, 3 focus planes are plenty
also, 11:39 horrible focus breathing? it's almost like you are zooming in
Does it compensate for focus breathing automatically as well?
No, not at all. The 14mm I have breathes a lot, and this feature didn’t change that at all.
The Photoshop merge tool should handle that well enough
I have version 2.0 on mu a7 iv. Can i update it to 4.0 directly?
I think you should be okay, but please check the firmware site directly for confirmation www.sony.ca/en/electronics/support/e-mount-body-ilce-7-series/ilce-7m4/software/00288929
Thanks!
Is it working with the flash?
I don't know! But I would expect that it does.
Yes! I set my delay to 3 seconds to allow for recycling and it is working great.
@@ejschiro Does the flash works with electronic shutter like Olympus cameras or does it only works with mechanical shutter?
Did you use a lens without focus breathing?
I do have a Sony a7 IV and I did try focus bracketing and I set 50 images but It starts from 0/50 images and after 5 shots it didn't go up to 50 shots and it is supposed to shoot 50 or whatever I set. But it finishes after 5 shots means it doesn't to go target 50 images. I am wondering how to fix and get a target shoot.
This may be because your "Step Width" is set to a higher number, or you began the image with a focus point somewhere in the middle of the focus range.
So there is no option to limit the range which the camera goes through? I mean, in landscape thats not a problem mostly, but in macro I dont want the background to be in focus, I only want the nearest part of my object and the farest part of my opbject to be in focus. I gues I have to select those photos in post?
@@juliusleyhe9442 I suppose you can limit the number of photos overall, which will stop before infinity, or yes, you may just need to discard them in post.
@@lightmeetslens read my comments as they will lead you to be able to estimate the number of brackets to set if you are macro biased.
is this can use for milk way photography ?
What about negatives. Last time I updated my firmware suddenly I could not see battery percentages on 3rd party batteries, etc.
Yea, sometimes that sort of thing happens, actually Sony just had to pull back a firmware update on the A1 (I think) because it was bricking the cameras. Sorta scary TBH, I usually hold off but this update was so enticing that I decided to risk it.
I think Sony are really poor in releasing value added firmware. Its great to see this released for A7iv however. When you look at what Nikon especially release for older models is incredible.
Yea, it's embarrassing actually. I would really LOVE to see some quality of life improvements to Sony Cameras. I got to use a recent Hasselblad and needed to stop after feeling betrayed by Sony.
I am so afraid to update. The last time at V2 it broke the camera. Had to send it in for repair
Yea, that is a serious concern. Sorry that happened to your camera.
LOL, welp... I guess I finally have to get around to doing the firmware update on my A7iv now.
I can't speak for anybody else, but I have had no problems with this update. And each of them have some new feature that's useful.
Canon what are you waitinf for ?
A7IV Focus Bracking has a glitch, can't activate recall custom hold.
07:55 ...well tell that to Buzz Lightyear
At least 8 year after Panasonic LUMIX
Woooaooo Sony is FINALLY listening to his users who find unbearable the fact that they don’t update sufficiently their cameras to force to upgrade the body… good news… but too late I switched to Nikon who sells 50 mm f1.4 at 500$ instead of 1500$. Sony seems to be now reserved to fortunate UA-camrs… who don t pay for their gear. About the focus braketing… it exists on Panasonic and Nikon since more than 5 years… good wake up Sony !
Theres plenty of 3rd party lenses for sony, i personally dont own any of sony lenses, i’m happy with the value sigma and tamrom deliver and the variety of lenses
Nikon is only good for single point shooting.
After this Update I have lost the af-c function on my samyang 135 1.8 lens.
So sad
Sorry to hear that!