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 Replies: 13 / Views: 2,826 |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
10045 Posts |
I don't suppose that most coins need focus stacking, but for ancient coins struck on thicker flans, focus stacking really pulls in all the details, including along the rim. The added benefit is that you don't have to get the lens absolutely perpendicular to the coin, although I'm sure most of you have that dialed-in. This photo of a Syracuse Litra was compiled from 16 individual shots at f8 using Zerene Stacker. The program does all the 'heavy lifting' of scaling and aligning each photo to merge into one sharp image. What I might have spent 1+ hours doing manually I can now do in 5minutes.   The biggest challenge shooting coins is lighting, which I'm still figuring out... Edited by DVCollector
08/12/2014 11:06 pm
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Valued Member
United States
274 Posts |
Museum Quality photo, DVCollector! Nice work!
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Bedrock of the Community
 United States
10045 Posts |
Thanks! I'm getting better with my lighting. This was shot on my Nikon D810 with "flat picture control" set. Two Jansjo lights and no diffusion.
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Valued Member
South Africa
453 Posts |
The art of collecting and photography, nice picture!
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
2830 Posts |
great pic & thanks for the explanation - I look forward to the day when I understand it !
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Pillar of the Community
2087 Posts |
Thanks. Looks like an interesting programme. However...I read that it can handle with ease 15 megapixel images easily; in the context of the final photograph size.....My standard single Photograph size is at least that much....so I wonder if it could cope with a series of 15-20 megapixel pictures. I will email them and ask
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Valued Member
440 Posts |
Different program but I find that stacking really helps when trying to depict an over buffed reverse. To get a good shot of the overbuffed areas you have to tilt the coin which puts parts of the coin out of focus. By shooting different areas in & out of focus & then stacking with a weighted average you can get a pretty decent representation of what the coin looks like in hand.  |
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Pillar of the Community
2087 Posts |
I just tried the programme out.....As I feared I did not get past go......The program just couldn't cope with the individual picture sizes. I went back and looked at Helicon focus software. It does the same job looks much more professional and it doesn't suffer the memory limitations. All that said, as DVCollector first said, I think stacking works best for ancient coins. Try a modern milled coin and the picture is little better than what you could get with good preparation and set up. Heres an 1882 Morrocan 10 Dirhams stacked( from at least 20 individual shots) I used a novoflex focusing rail and adjusted the rail slightly between each shot.  Edited by austrokiwi
08/13/2014 10:15 am
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
4038 Posts |
Zerene can handle big source images no problem. Were you using a trial version? I think the trial versions may force you to use small source images. I personally use Helicon Focus for my stacking. I think the trial version of Helicon allows large images but puts on a watermark. If you aren't afraid of klunky interfaces you can also try CombineZP. Most folks starting out with focus stacking begin with CZP and then move to Helicon, Zerene, or other program. edited to add: I rarely use stacking on full coin shots unless the coin is either an ancient or tilted. Stacking is best used for higher magnifications. That said, some of my best Lincoln Cent shots were stacked... Contact me for photographic equipment or visit my home page at: http://macrocoins.comEdited by rmpsrpms
08/13/2014 10:19 am
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Pillar of the Community
2087 Posts |
Quote:
Were you using a trial version? Yep but I had contacted their customer support first and they acknowledged that I might have problems. I think Helicon is a much better product( but I have limited experience) |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4038 Posts |
The owner/creators of both Zerene and Helicon are moderators on the Photomacrography forum. Lots of information about stacking there, though there is a strong bias toward entomology. Bugs require deep stacks and push the stacking programs to their limits. Another nice thing about Helicon is the 3D functionality. Zerene has it as well but Helicon's has more functionality and as you noticed a very polished interface, and provides good results...  Contact me for photographic equipment or visit my home page at: http://macrocoins.com |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
10045 Posts |
Quote:
To get a good shot of the overbuffed areas you have to tilt the coin which puts parts of the coin out of focus. That's a very good use for stacking, because I often tilt ancient coins to bring out details or highlight markers on an overdate. Shooting the coin on a grid helps me go back and correct the perspective in software. Stacking should solve many focus issues.   Nice results from Helicon Focus too!  I'm using the trial version of Zerene; I'll look into that software as well. Quote:
The program just couldn't cope with the individual picture sizes. I went back and looked at Helicon focus software. It does the same job looks much more professional and it doesn't suffer the memory limitations. You may need to change your memory allocation for Zerene--consult their help and tutorial pages. Because I am processing 36mp tiff files (210mb each) and so far it has processed stacks up to 38 without issue, taking under 5 minutes. Granted, my computer is a bit of a beast--an HP Z420 workstation w/ 32gb ram. I have only stacked one coin so far, so here's a (reduced) image Zerene stacked from 38 individual 210mb images--using the trial version. I focused each increment manually--waiting for tethering software for my D810.  Edited by DVCollector
08/13/2014 12:28 pm
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Pillar of the Community
2087 Posts |
WOW!! I love that shot of the berries and the veges! Well done
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
10045 Posts |
Thanks Austrokiwi! It's really fun to set up a shoot like this, capture the images, and watch the program do all the hard work.
One nice aspect to stacking is I can choose an aperture which affords a faster shutter speed and therefore sharper individual shots--very important when I'm manually focusing each increment. But soon, I'll stop doing focus manually.
Edited by DVCollector
08/13/2014 12:41 pm
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Replies: 13 / Views: 2,826 |
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Posted 08/12/2014 10:59 pm
