Working With Focus-Stacking--A Few Results.

Today I downloaded a trial version of Helicon Focus--here are a few results on coins. For these tests, I used my Nikkor 60mm micro lens. It has noticeably less chromatic aberration than my 105 as well as being sharper. And, for the technique I use, there's enough room for my lighting setup--which is just a single Jansjo LED light with diffusion.

Something I really like about the technique I've developed--it really keeps highlights under control. For each shot, I've made a curves file for ACR (.xmp) and applied it to each focus increment. I get far more flexibility applying this to the native RAW file than fussing later with the curves for an RGB or LAB file. Each shot was made using Mup and EFCS. There is no sharpening done in the camera or with software. Each photo is 100% crop--you can enlarge to see everything.

Here's a repunched mm I found recently. This technique brings out every blemish. I don't mind because it shows everything--from flow lines on the die to little spots of corrosion, and of course the RPM.



I think high-grade silver coins really look good with this technique. Again, this really kept the highlights under control.
I like it this way, it shows a lot of detail--you can see clashing, die scratches, repunched letters, and lathe lines too.



It also does well with copper coins that have some luster remaining.