Stacking Photo's

As SuperDave mentions, focus stacking is mostly needed for higher magnifications. It can be a benefit when doing variety photos at 3:1-5:1. Above 5:1 or so it is mandatory. For normal full-face images of Dollar size coins (mag ~0.5 on APS-C) you won't need to stack even at f4. The only time you might want to stack at that mag is if you are significantly tilting the coin for lighting effects.

If you want to look into this further, here is a link to the CombineZ Yahoo Group. You can follow links and download the CZ stacking software for free. You'll need to learn the workflow, but it's not too difficult.

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/combinez

You can also use this software to do multi-image merging (non-stacked). The "Do Weighted Average" macro is what I used to show the combined lighting technique in a previous thread on this forum.

...Ray

I can't answer that, having never tried Zerene. Most of the really nice stacked photos I've seen are made with Zerene, and from what I've heard Zerene is easier to use, but that you can get essentially the same result from CZ. Being open source, CZ is more "programmer" friendly and as such has a customizable macro interface that lets you create macros for bulk processing, etc. Since you are a fan of Gimp as your processing tool, I think you'll have no issue making the most of CZ. Plus it's a great way to start since it's free...Ray

Most probable, is you have not enough desk space, I have the same issue, I have to push everything back to the monitors to put a coin on the table... squeeze in the lights and I still have to pony up a tri pod to the table, As I dont have a "copy stand" yet that only works on smaller Macro lenses, get over 75MM and I need much more lenght to focus...
If I can just quit reading these posts I can get back to taking pictures LOL...I got my new Cheapo lens in the other day LOL....my son had it for 2 days before I k=knew it was here...But at least I was able to get some remodeling done,,,
other wise I would be here,,,Addiction comes in many forms
Thanks guys, Stacking, is a feature I most likely don't need, but should be aware of and how to do it in my eventual post processing knowledge I have yet to learn..
I'm still working on the lenses, there qualities and there usage for coins, which is very much different from normal camera usage, This forum, has had some simple understandings to the EXTREME insight to the subtleties
of using a camera for what and how we want to do...Many thanks to all of you,
Especially Dave and ray, who have many a thread of general point and shoot technique's to complicated bellows and manual control of the camera.. Showing the important relationships of the fundamental's of lighting, apeture,
and shutter speeds, from the changes of these settings these variables and the out come from these changes that help us to understand the final picture....
It's from this shared knowledge we can apply to the lens or camera we have that helps us get the most out of what we are working with...My many thanks to all who contribute to this forum...