Sony A7R V Focus stacking "distance"? Am I thinking of this technique correctly?

[brphotographycanada]

I've been experimenting with focus stacking with my A7RV. I set a focus bracket with 10 exposures with a width of 4(Standard). My goal is to have the majority of the image in focus from foreground (the bush) to background (house and evergreen tree). What I tend to get is the foreground (or background) in focus to varying degrees and a confused look on my face. This is where I wonder if I'm thinking of this technique correctly. I'm envisioning the camera adjusting the focus from say 1m away to 1.5m to 2m to 2.5m and so on to infinity. The trick then would be to ensure your aperture and therefore depth of field is such that there's no weird lines of focus and blur. Is that correct? If not, any clarification would be appreciated.

If that is correct, then does the width correspond to a standard distance or does it vary with aperture?

Example image where I was trying to get the entire garden in focus. Also, I realize that I could have changed my aperture from f/3.5 to something much narrower f/16 or something to achieve a similar result.

• ILCE-7RM5
• FE 28-70mm F3.5-5.6 OSS
• 28.0 mm
• ƒ/3.5
• 1/1600 sec
• ISO 100

 

[AlphaWorld]

Here you go Gary

LeDave
LeDaveII
LeDaveIII
LeDaveIIII

Gosh, and all in focus from front to back, too.

 

[brphotographycanada]

Hi Brian,
Focus stacking is based upon the principle that the camera focus plane moves forward from your subject focal point to cover the desired focal depth you want to achieve.

For landscapes, many photographers use the hyperfocaldistance approach which is a methodology whereby for the foreground to far ground distance you
Wish to cover ,and have in focus, you engage aperture between f7 to f16 and then focus on a position 1/3 of the total distance between where you stand to the far distance (estmated) and this should enable you to have the complete image sharp or near sharp.....this 1/3 distance is approximate but their are published calcs which will calculate the actual metre based hyperfocal distance.

As regards specific focus stacking if your camera does not have such functionality you will need to execute it manually rather than automatically in camera.

I haven't used the A7RV but from your post assume it has focus stacking functionality and within that function you can set the start and stop locations
For your image as seen through your viewfinder and set the FS steps in line with the depth of field for your lens and aperture setting so you get your full image in critical focus.

The trick is ensuring the depth of field for your selected lens and aperture are long enough to keep the focus stack limited and ensure critical fo us throughout for landscapes

In macro at very low depth of field the focus stacks can be anywhere from low tens to 200 images to ensure all images overlap and hence complete sharp focus can be achieved over the entire image(bugs,insects and product photography)

The other consideration for landscapes is sometimes there may be differences between lighting levels between the near/mid ground and far distance wherein you may need to execute two stacks and combine in post

As above if you do not have auto focus stacking capability in camera you can still create a stack by manual focus and using the lens focus wheel to advance and check position with the with fo us peaking engaged to assist in identifying the focus position in your viewfinder image.

Focus stacking in the field for macro subjects at high fps and body movement is another alternative but needs a lot of practice and patience.

As you can see from the above lengthy but simple overview, focus stacking can be complicated,and i havent even touched on the post production stacking and blending of the images ,but as always practice makes perfect...hope the above helps in some way.

Feel free to send any further questions you may have......

Thanks for the detailed response. You've confirmed that I understand the concept and the issue is simply setting the camera up correctly. Since there are numerous applications from macro to landscapes to product photography, the required setup will obviously vary wildly. I will continue to experiment and let you guys know if I have any follow up questions

 

[Deleted Member 5003]

You are welcome any time Brian....we all have been through or are in the process of having to go through a learning cycle to reach our full potential....

Stick with it you will get there........