What would be helpful is for Olympus to publish its focus stacking algorithm, ie how the differential interacts with the focal length and aperture, so those of us who use this feature for non macro work, ie landscapes can make better choices.
My E-M5 mkII updated to version 4 firmware but it shows a ‘gray’ focus stacking symbol that is inoperative. I go through the same steps you demonstrated, the word “Focus Stacking” is there but in light gray and inoperative. I keep trying to find someone who will ‘Set-up’ E-M5 mkII but like you they state that the E-M5 mkII can Focus Stack but they always go to the E-M1 mk II to demonstrate...to bad for the rest us with E-M5 mkII. Can you show us or point us to a site where they use a E-M5 mkII to demonstrate “Focus Stacking” Thank
Hi David I have just revisited my EM5- Mk 2 as I didn’t realise that photo stacking was now in camera, I love Macro and have the Olympus 60mm Macro lens also along with four other Olympus M4/3 camera and various lenses, I have tried it, however several issues, one you have to turn off bracketing to set number of shots, then this is the same as one would use for number of shots in time lapse etc, this is not available with bracketing on, two if you set it over ten, it comes up with an error after shot is taken and three when you set the photos to two or one up to four it just seems to take a normal photo. Also could you let me have a list of what the firmware improvements were, as it’s great you do them, but then one has to find out how they work and we’re to find them, perhaps a addenda pdf could be done for these firmware improvements for all the cameras and then at least one can download a guide, I put mine in BOOKS IN IOS.
Thank you. In the video you mention having the camera set to RAW but that the final image is a JPEG. Does the camera also save the RAW images that were used to create the final JPEG?
Hi David. Thanks for a interesting video. Can you tell me when you have selected focus stacking, will it stay for additional photos or do you have to set it each time
Hi David. Thanks for the video. Two days ago I tried a few test subjects and stacking worked fine. Yesterday, I tried a new subject, but also made some MF settings. What are the limitations of settings that will not allow Focus Bracketing or Focus Stacking? My Focus Stacking menu choice is greyed out. Yesterday, I added View Assist (zoom in) in MF, Focus Peaking in general and in MF, I believe I set the L-Func on the 12-100 lens. I also might have set the focus point off center due to composition desired, I also might have used a low ISO, but not below 200. Thanks. I'm stopped right now.
Thank you for the interesting video ! But, it would be very interesting to show all the settings, especially the settings for the stf-8 flash. I also use this flash, but I struggle with the settings for focus bracketing in which unfortunately TTL cannot be used. BR Robert
Great video ..I have just bought the E1 Mk 3 and 60mm Macro lens. When using the Stacking feature however, I have found that the camera loads all the Bracketed shots that forms the Stacked image ( I'm guessing this is the last pic) on to the memory card. If you want to take macro shots of several different things this eats into your card memory, deleting all the duplicate images that forms the stacked image is a bit of a pain, is there any way you can just leave the one stacked image of your subject onto your card? many thanks.
The STF-8 macro flash can't be used for focus-stacking/-bracketing. When using my "Metz 52 AF-1" flash with DIY diffusor the stacking-menue in EM-1M2 is available. With STF-8 it is NOT available! I'm very disappointed about that. The Olympus productpage says "Focus stacking and braketing only in manual mode". What means "manual-mode" with flash? No TTL but fix energy?
I have an OMD5 mark III (Lens 12-40 pro and 60 mm macro) I turn ON Bracketing, then focus BKt, focus stacking is ON too. and I the "set number of shots do not appear" (I can not select it). I can only "see" it when the focus stacking is turned off. Why ? I have the last version of firmware on my lens and gear. Why the focus stacking is not working ?? Please help me, I do not understand. thank you
Very well explained and demonstrated. When viewing the back of your camera I was and almost not surprised to see high speed silent shutter engaged. I thought the camera did not focus in high speed silent, so does that mean there is a workaround somewhere to be exploited in order to get AF in silent mode High?? Also the settings you indicated were they more suited to a medium insect such as a dragonfly or more suited to something like a bumble bee??
Hi Jonathan!Thank you! Yes the shutter is automatically switched to High Speed Sequential burst. In all the high speed modes AF can be achieved but in S-AF not C-AF. This is why we dont recommed H mode for tracking moving subjects. It works perfectly for zone focusing though! These settings would be better suited to a subject that is between 5-10cm long but varying the aperture can result in more or less total depth of field.
Quick question about this great feature, is there a way to set the camera to only store the final stacked jpeg file and not all the raw files that make up the stacked image? I find I spend a lot of time in post deleting the raw images. Most of them are not really keepers.
I donot own a flash for my OlympusOMD EM1 mark lll. I am using fill lighting on my background object to do water droplet images with refraction. My camera is set to do raw and jpeg. On my memory card I see so many images that look almost identical. How do i identify which images belonged to a stack of 15? Will there be a 16th image that is the composite from the previous 15 ? Will I see all the separate images that made up the stack plus the composite render?
Hi friend. On my OM 2 and 60mm the number of shots is grayed out and I can’t select it. Also I try to do the stacking and i get a red exclamation point error where it failed to composite. Any thoughts? Thanks!
For the "Charge Time" setting-you kept it at 0 because you are using the Olympus flash, but what does that mean in general and for non-olympus flashes?
Thank you, Mr Smith, for this demo. You kind of skimmed over the flash operation. Am I correct to assume that the ST-F8 flashed once for each shot for a total of 15 times? Also, was the flash set at TTL or manual mode? I see initially that your file mode was set to RAW but then it got switched over to jpeg plus the raw files once you specified the bracket mode. Do you get all of these files recorded or just the stacked results? Can one specify the resultant jpeg to be an LSF file? Thanks again for your assistance.
Hi, Yes the STF-8 does indeed flash for each shot taken automatically. The flash must be in manual mode to remove the chance of inconsistent exposure. Once focus stacking is switched on, the file format automatically changes to RAW + JPEG, and all the original RAW files are kept as well as the resulting JPEG stack. The size of the JPEG can be chosen too!
Would be useful to know in a table how the focus distance changes between each shot on the focus differential settings and in relation to the focal length of lens and f-stop. Or provide the mathematical formula with these parameters to do a calculation. In the end I guess it is trial and error 😏
Can I don't store the numbers of shots, just want the final stacked photo to be store. Because all those shots will pileup my memory card. Sometimes could be quite annoying.
Graham you can and I do, but it’s all guesswork. As I said, if only Olympus would publish their algorithm, users could, if they were that way inclined, use that info to make informed focusing stacking. Some have tried to reverse engineer it, but it would be so much better if Olympus published it. As an aside, I’m also a Canon shooter and have built the focus stacking into my Canon cameras, thanks to Magic Lantern Lua scripting. If you are interested you can read about my experiments on my blog at photography.grayheron.net
Hi, I noticed with some disappointment that my E-M5 Mk.II camera seems NOT support Focus Stacking when it is coupled with my brand new 12-45mm F4 PRO lens. I'd like to know is it's only matter of waiting for a future FW upgrade (after all, the very similar 12-40mm F2.8 PRO lens is instead supported!), or there's any technical reason that definitely prevent this feature to work with my combo. Thanks a lot!
@@catrionathomson8981 do you mean: "in E-M5 Mk.II there's no space to support the required data for all the possible lenses"? Somewhere I read that Olympus wants to slow down the update of previous versions to push up sales of the newer ones. And in another forum I read an article saying that there's an unauthorized FW patch that allows to do Focus Stacking within the camera with ANY lens. There was also a link to the "patched" FW as well as the loading procedure. But I don't trust it: flashing a FW is always a delicate operation, and if something goes bad your camera is... dead, until you pay an Olympus lab to restore everything. So, at the moment, I don't want to risk my warranty, so I'll keep up doing Focus Stacking using Photoshop...
mine stays grey, too... I think it depends on both camera body AND lens, i.e. each camera body has a different set of supported lenses. Check carefully in the camera's specs and you'll know if your lens belongs to the (small...) set of supported lenses. For example, my new 12-45mm F4 PRO seems NOT supported by my camera (E-M5 Mk.II). I checked several camera specifications, and discovered that E-M1 Mk.III or E-M1X seems to be the only bodies supporting FS with this lens... a real pity! I'd like to know the reason, if it's only matter to wait for an incoming FW release, or there's any technical issue that definitely prevents this combo to work.
@@rorylennon3338 thanks, I knew that already (pls. read my comments below), but I have some concerns in loading unknown firmware in my camera, that's still under warranty.... by now I'd still use Photoshop to do Focus Stacking. Anyway, it would be interesting if someone could provide an example of how the modificed firmware works (e.g. some of the stacked images and then the final result, as produced by the camera - even scaled down woudl be fine, it's just to check the result of the automated procedure).
Hi David - many thanks for this video. Can you please confirm where to initially focus - on some videos from Olympus Ambassadors they say focus at the front and the camera takes a succession of deeper and deeper photos, whilst other say focus in the middle and the camera takes some before (closer) and some after (deeper) into the subject. Clarification would be helpful as the full manual does not specify.
I think there is a difference between focus stacking and focus bracketing as to where to set the initial focus point. With one (bracketing?), you start at the nearest point and with the other you start about 1/3 of the way into the image. Hopefully our guru will confirm and clarify this.
What would be helpful is for Olympus to publish its focus stacking algorithm, ie how the differential interacts with the focal length and aperture, so those of us who use this feature for non macro work, ie landscapes can make better choices.
Hi Garry! Thanks for your comment. We will feed that back for you!
@@ImageSpaceTV Would really like this one answered as it is a under rated feature because it is not really understood by users
Thanks Dave well put. Understand this much better now
Hi David, thanks for the explanation, simple and clear. Francisco
Thanks for that. At last a clear explanation of focus differential.
My E-M5 mkII updated to version 4 firmware but it shows a ‘gray’ focus stacking symbol that is inoperative.
I go through the same steps you demonstrated, the word “Focus Stacking” is there but in light gray and inoperative.
I keep trying to find someone who will ‘Set-up’ E-M5 mkII but like you they state that the E-M5 mkII can Focus Stack but they always go to the E-M1 mk II to demonstrate...to bad for the rest us with E-M5 mkII.
Can you show us or point us to a site where they use a E-M5 mkII to demonstrate “Focus Stacking” Thank
Great Tutorial!!
Well done, thanks
Garry, might have already answered this. But I'm going to ask anyway.
Can we use this for landscape photography?
Why it is not possible to get the stacked image as RAW?
Could the OM1 provide the stacked image as RAW?
Hi David
I have just revisited my EM5- Mk 2 as I didn’t realise that photo stacking was now in camera, I love Macro and have the Olympus 60mm Macro lens also along with four other Olympus M4/3 camera and various lenses, I have tried it, however several issues, one you have to turn off bracketing to set number of shots, then this is the same as one would use for number of shots in time lapse etc, this is not available with bracketing on, two if you set it over ten, it comes up with an error after shot is taken and three when you set the photos to two or one up to four it just seems to take a normal photo. Also could you let me have a list of what the firmware improvements were, as it’s great you do them, but then one has to find out how they work and we’re to find them, perhaps a addenda pdf could be done for these firmware improvements for all the cameras and then at least one can download a guide, I put mine in BOOKS IN IOS.
Thank you. In the video you mention having the camera set to RAW but that the final image is a JPEG. Does the camera also save the RAW images that were used to create the final JPEG?
Dommage que toutes ces vidéos ne soient pas aussi en Français.
can you do similar with a landscape scene, it would be good to know the logic of the differential
Hi David, Great video. Why is focus stacking only available with a few lenses? Why can't all lenses be used with focus stacking?
Hi David. Thanks for a interesting video. Can you tell me when you have selected focus stacking, will it stay for additional photos or do you have to set it each time
Hi David. Thanks for the video. Two days ago I tried a few test subjects and stacking worked fine.
Yesterday, I tried a new subject, but also made some MF settings.
What are the limitations of settings that will not allow Focus Bracketing or Focus Stacking? My Focus Stacking menu choice is greyed out.
Yesterday, I added View Assist (zoom in) in MF,
Focus Peaking in general and in MF,
I believe I set the L-Func on the 12-100 lens.
I also might have set the focus point off center due to composition desired,
I also might have used a low ISO, but not below 200.
Thanks. I'm stopped right now.
Thank you for the interesting video ! But, it would be very interesting to show all the settings, especially the settings for the stf-8 flash. I also use this flash, but I struggle with the settings for focus bracketing in which unfortunately TTL cannot be used. BR Robert
Great video ..I have just bought the E1 Mk 3 and 60mm Macro lens. When using the Stacking feature however, I have found that the camera loads all the Bracketed shots that forms the Stacked image ( I'm guessing this is the last pic) on to the memory card. If you want to take macro shots of several different things this eats into your card memory, deleting all the duplicate images that forms the stacked image is a bit of a pain, is there any way you can just leave the one stacked image of your subject onto your card? many thanks.
The STF-8 macro flash can't be used for focus-stacking/-bracketing.
When using my "Metz 52 AF-1" flash with DIY diffusor the stacking-menue in EM-1M2 is available. With STF-8 it is NOT available! I'm very disappointed about that.
The Olympus productpage says "Focus stacking and braketing only in manual mode".
What means "manual-mode" with flash? No TTL but fix energy?
I have an OMD5 mark III (Lens 12-40 pro and 60 mm macro) I turn ON Bracketing, then focus BKt, focus stacking is ON too. and I the "set number of shots do not appear" (I can not select it). I can only "see" it when the focus stacking is turned off. Why ? I have the last version of firmware on my lens and gear. Why the focus stacking is not working ?? Please help me, I do not understand. thank you
My M5 Mark II has a menu selection for “ stacking “ but is kind of whited out. Can you stack with the Mark II?
Very well explained and demonstrated. When viewing the back of your camera I was and almost not surprised to see high speed silent shutter engaged. I thought the camera did not focus in high speed silent, so does that mean there is a workaround somewhere to be exploited in order to get AF in silent mode High?? Also the settings you indicated were they more suited to a medium insect such as a dragonfly or more suited to something like a bumble bee??
Hi Jonathan!Thank you! Yes the shutter is automatically switched to High Speed Sequential burst. In all the high speed modes AF can be achieved but in S-AF not C-AF. This is why we dont recommed H mode for tracking moving subjects. It works perfectly for zone focusing though! These settings would be better suited to a subject that is between 5-10cm long but varying the aperture can result in more or less total depth of field.
Quick question about this great feature, is there a way to set the camera to only store the final stacked jpeg file and not all the raw files that make up the stacked image? I find I spend a lot of time in post deleting the raw images. Most of them are not really keepers.
I donot own a flash for my OlympusOMD EM1 mark lll. I am using fill lighting on my background object to do water droplet images with refraction. My camera is set to do raw and jpeg.
On my memory card I see so many images that look almost identical. How do i identify which images belonged to a stack of 15? Will there be a 16th image that is the composite from the previous 15 ? Will I see all the separate images that made up the stack plus the composite render?
Hi friend. On my OM 2 and 60mm the number of shots is grayed out and I can’t select it. Also I try to do the stacking and i get a red exclamation point error where it failed to composite. Any thoughts? Thanks!
For the "Charge Time" setting-you kept it at 0 because you are using the Olympus flash, but what does that mean in general and for non-olympus flashes?
Your explanation about focus differential is unclear as higher numbers mean larger focus distance so it seems counterintuitive to be using 7 or not?
Thank you, Mr Smith, for this demo. You kind of skimmed over the flash operation. Am I correct to assume that the ST-F8 flashed once for each shot for a total of 15 times? Also, was the flash set at TTL or manual mode?
I see initially that your file mode was set to RAW but then it got switched over to jpeg plus the raw files once you specified the bracket mode. Do you get all of these files recorded or just the stacked results? Can one specify the resultant jpeg to be an LSF file?
Thanks again for your assistance.
Hi, Yes the STF-8 does indeed flash for each shot taken automatically. The flash must be in manual mode to remove the chance of inconsistent exposure. Once focus stacking is switched on, the file format automatically changes to RAW + JPEG, and all the original RAW files are kept as well as the resulting JPEG stack. The size of the JPEG can be chosen too!
@@ImageSpaceTV Excellent! Thank you Mr Smith for your reply, it is very much appreciated. Cheers.
@@ImageSpaceTV. Thank you for the tutorial. Does the FL900R work with focus stacking in the same way as the STF-8?
Me gustaría videos así en español, GRACIAS
Now I work from home in Hsinchu, Taiwan. I do have more time to keep practicing at home.
What are the exact numbers of pictures with a fosouspoint nearer to the point you choose? So what are "a few images" ;-)
Would be useful to know in a table how the focus distance changes between each shot on the focus differential settings and in relation to the focal length of lens and f-stop. Or provide the mathematical formula with these parameters to do a calculation. In the end I guess it is trial and error 😏
Can I don't store the numbers of shots, just want the final stacked photo to be store. Because all those shots will pileup my memory card. Sometimes could be quite annoying.
Graham you can and I do, but it’s all guesswork. As I said, if only Olympus would publish their algorithm, users could, if they were that way inclined, use that info to make informed focusing stacking. Some have tried to reverse engineer it, but it would be so much better if Olympus published it. As an aside, I’m also a Canon shooter and have built the focus stacking into my Canon cameras, thanks to Magic Lantern Lua scripting. If you are interested you can read about my experiments on my blog at photography.grayheron.net
Thank you Garry, I know what I'll be doing when we are allowed out. In the mean time, looks as though I've got a blog to read.
David, do you have to have the camera in Manual mode to do Focus Bracketing / Stacking ?
Probably not. My TG5 stacks and brackets in all modes.
I got the omd 5 ii when I enable the Fokus BKT Focus Stacking is disabled and gray. I cannot enable it. Any idea?
It is lens dependent so may not be compatible with your lens.
Hi, I noticed with some disappointment that my E-M5 Mk.II camera seems NOT support Focus Stacking when it is coupled with my brand new 12-45mm F4 PRO lens. I'd like to know is it's only matter of waiting for a future FW upgrade (after all, the very similar 12-40mm F2.8 PRO lens is instead supported!), or there's any technical reason that definitely prevent this feature to work with my combo. Thanks a lot!
Not enough space on the EM5 II for the upgrade. Olympus let us down by not making this widely known. I have the same problem
@@catrionathomson8981 do you mean: "in E-M5 Mk.II there's no space to support the required data for all the possible lenses"? Somewhere I read that Olympus wants to slow down the update of previous versions to push up sales of the newer ones. And in another forum I read an article saying that there's an unauthorized FW patch that allows to do Focus Stacking within the camera with ANY lens. There was also a link to the "patched" FW as well as the loading procedure. But I don't trust it: flashing a FW is always a delicate operation, and if something goes bad your camera is... dead, until you pay an Olympus lab to restore everything. So, at the moment, I don't want to risk my warranty, so I'll keep up doing Focus Stacking using Photoshop...
hello David, followed your tutorial, on the last screen in menu
when you get to Focus Stacking, mine is greyed out and is off, any ideas?
mine stays grey, too... I think it depends on both camera body AND lens, i.e. each camera body has a different set of supported lenses. Check carefully in the camera's specs and you'll know if your lens belongs to the (small...) set of supported lenses. For example, my new 12-45mm F4 PRO seems NOT supported by my camera (E-M5 Mk.II). I checked several camera specifications, and discovered that E-M1 Mk.III or E-M1X seems to be the only bodies supporting FS with this lens... a real pity! I'd like to know the reason, if it's only matter to wait for an incoming FW release, or there's any technical issue that definitely prevents this combo to work.
Thanks Ivan, I’ll check as recommended.
@@ivandalmonte2997 go to m4/3 forum and search Modified FIRMWARE.
@@rorylennon3338 thanks, I knew that already (pls. read my comments below), but I have some concerns in loading unknown firmware in my camera, that's still under warranty.... by now I'd still use Photoshop to do Focus Stacking.
Anyway, it would be interesting if someone could provide an example of how the modificed firmware works (e.g. some of the stacked images and then the final result, as produced by the camera - even scaled down woudl be fine, it's just to check the result of the automated procedure).
Can you list the equipment used?
Hi DavidIn this instance, an E-M1 MKII, 60mm f2.8 Macro lens, STF-8 Twin head Macro flash and the RM-CB2 remote cable release.
Hi David - many thanks for this video. Can you please confirm where to initially focus - on some videos from Olympus Ambassadors they say focus at the front and the camera takes a succession of deeper and deeper photos, whilst other say focus in the middle and the camera takes some before (closer) and some after (deeper) into the subject. Clarification would be helpful as the full manual does not specify.
I think there is a difference between focus stacking and focus bracketing as to where to set the initial focus point. With one (bracketing?), you start at the nearest point and with the other you start about 1/3 of the way into the image. Hopefully our guru will confirm and clarify this.
En français est-ce possible ????
Is there any advantage is swithing off my IS when using a tripod for the Focus Stacking.
You half assed explained differential. I guess if I'm taking a picture of a feather I'll use 7.