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Cheers, thanks! 👍

Well, that's a good question. I've just got back from shooting with the 50mm again today, and at the moment I'm really starting to prefer it. Because it's a wider angle (than the 105mm) it shows a little more context - the 105 tends to blow the background away, but the 50 shows a little more detail. I may just like it because of the novelty of something new - time will tell! The 50 is much easier to use because it's a lot lighter (it's plastic), so it's easier to make small adjustments to the camera position on the tripod. The images also seem to stack more easily with fewer problems to fix, but I haven't fully worked out why yet. Optically I'd say the 105 has a slight edge, but at normal sizes and viewing distances I don't think you can really see much difference. Having said all that... the 105 does seem to have some magic in it 🙂

You can try different apertures. I usually use f4 with 50mm and f8 with 100mm (on APS-C), but I'm noob.

Thanks, I will certainly try that to see how much of an effect it has 👍

Good luck! I do love the 105, but I’ve been shooting with the 50 again today, and it is starting to become my new favourite.

Thanks very much, you are welcome!

Thanks!

Thanks! I can never pick a favourite, so it’s always interesting to hear what other people think.

I didn’t think of that at the time, but I think you’re right, that could have made a really interesting shot - next time I find a similar subject I’ll shoot a lot more frames and give that a go.

Thanks very much! Yes, crack on 🤓👍

Yes, loads of stuff, oddly enough. I shot this video last weekend, and I’d say there was probably more to find than I’ve seen for months. It was a struggle to find much over the summer, and even September and October weren’t amazing, but then last week there was so much that it was hard not to just keep treading on things. I’m out shooting again in a couple of days, so it’ll be interesting to see how it compares now that it’s getting noticeably colder.

Ah, thank you!

👍

I don't know, I'm afraid. I imagine it's like a lot of software where you can install on several machines provided it's only used on one at a time, but I couldn't say for sure. Perhaps it tells you on their website?

@@MarkMorganPhotography I went on their web site but theres no contact details. I would assume you could put it on 2 machines.

Would you say that the Pro Version worth the extra money ?

@@rogerhance5883 Well, if you need the extra features then yes, otherwise maybe not. I use the 'Pro' version because it will save stacks as DNG files.

@@rogerhance5883 I couldn't say for sure. All that information will be on the site though.

Thanks very much!

Thanks very much! I do indeed have a video showing the stacking process. If you scroll back about 10 or 12 videos there’s one called something like ‘How I process macro focus stacks’.

Thanks very much, I’m glad you’re enjoying the videos! The spiky things are remarkable, aren’t they?

@@MarkMorganPhotography Yes, it looks very unusual!

Thanks very much, I’m glad you’ve been enjoying them. Glad you’ve got some good shots, too. Crack on! 🤓👍

Thanks very much, glad you liked them. Fully back and firing on all cylinders now 👍

Thanks very much! Fighting fit again and shooting again now 👍

Thanks Barry. Just thought I’d mix it up a little while still trying to keep it fairly natural looking.

It would indeed!

Hi Trevor, yes, I use Helicon Focus - for my own uses I find it better for stacks that include more images. I have the Helicon Pro version, which I chose because it allows you to save stacks as DNG files, giving more flexibility for adjusting later. There is a yearly version as you say, but you can also get a 'lifetime' version if you prefer. The lifetime version is quite a lot more expensive - I seem to remember it's about 4x the annual cost. I also seem to remember there's a 30 day trial version as well, so you could give it a good go before you decide whether to buy. There are other options - a lot of people seem to like Zerene Stacker, but Helicon is the only one I've really got any experience with.

That’s brilliant, I’m glad it’s worked for you! My goal with the videos is to share techniques that work for me in the hope that they’re useful to others, so thanks for taking the time to let me know!

Mark do you use Joby GorillaPod 3K or the 1K and why

@@TrevorHupton I use both. I've got a couple of 1K that I use mostly for holding lights, and a 3K that I often use for holding a second camera. You can put a camera on the 1K, but I find the 3K better for that because it's just that bit more solid. I've got an aluminium 5K as well, but I find it a bit heavy for carrying around all day, so that rarely goes out. The one I'm using in to hold the light this video is the 1K.

@@MarkMorganPhotography I have now ordered a Joby gorilla tripod 1k. My LED's are not powerful enough so what make and model are you using

@@TrevorHupton I use a few different ones. I have two SmallRig P96L LEDs which are super light and compact, and really quite bright. Sometimes they're too bright even at the minimum setting, so I've also got a couple of Aputure MC LEDs, which which can go very dim indeed, which is often what I want if I have the lights really close to the subject. I very rarely use any of them on more than about 10% brightness, and often down as low as 1%.

Thanks!

Ha! I might pinch that! Glad you liked the video 👍

Ah, thank you. That explains why the black ones seem to always be in the same kind of spot as the yellow ones, in the same kind of little clusters.

@@MarkMorganPhotography You're quite welcome

Cheers, thank you!

Hi Glenn, glad you like the images! I am experimenting with being a bit more subtle with the lighting, and I think you're right, that often does the job very well. The gear can get a bit pricey though, I know!

Thanks, glad you enjoyed the video! To answer your questions, at the distance I'm shooting, yes, the camera takes all 100. My understanding is that at farther distances the steps between shots become larger, and the camera stops when it reaches infinity focus, regardless of how few images it has shot. I just tried that with the camera pointing out of the window and focussed some distance away, and it stopped after about five shots, which seems to bear that out. I also just tested shooting 100 shots close up at 1/15 sec, and it took 37 seconds, so a roughly 2.5 frames per second. I guess this is limited by the physics of having to shift the glass to 100 different positions. Maybe it's also limited by the internal processing speed of the Z6, which is coming for about six years old now. I believe some cameras with lighter weight lenses (like Olympus) will shoot focus stacks much faster.

@@MarkMorganPhotography Thank you very much for such a detailed answer! Focus stacking is very rarely discussed in camera reviews, and your answers were very helpful to me.

@esb74 You are most welcome!

I am also enjoying the coffee and lunch interludes, of course 🤓. Also, you can’t beat a sausage sandwich, except maybe with a bacon sandwich. But then I’d need to take a portable grill with me to cook the bacon... That idea does have a certain appeal, I must say 🙂

Thanks! But no, I don't think the Z6III is for me. This will sound like a silly reason, but I think it would be more awkward to shoot video of the screen that flips out sideways. The Z8 is tempting, but hard to justify when the Z6 is still going strong. Very tempting though 🙂

Thanks very much, I’m glad you enjoyed it! To answer your question, I use Helicon Focus for all my focus stacking.

Yes, it’s a Nanlite PavoTube II 6C. I’m not sure if that model is still available, but manufacturers like Godox and SmallRig make similar lights, I believe.

@@MarkMorganPhotography thanks for info. Enjoying videos I’m trying to find the micro fungi that appear in an on tree bark look just like a normal mushroom but only about 5-10mm tall.

Those tiny ones can be so hard to spot. Good luck!

Thank you very much! You are most welcome.

Thanks! Certainly, yes - I find that using too wide an aperture is more likely to result in gaps and other errors around the edges, presumably because there isn’t much focus overlap from shot to shot, so the stacking software seems to find it harder to blend the frames together. It also seems more likely to result in a kind of halo both around the high contrast edges, and where there’s a large jump in distance, for example between the edge of the cap of a mushroom and the stem which is some distance behind it. I find that using too narrow an aperture sometimes gives a more confusing and ‘busy’ background, presumably where the out of focus parts are a little sharper and the software tries to make sense of that. I haven’t found it super-critical, so f/5.6 or f/11 might be fine, but I don’t really like to go much wider or narrower than that. I sometimes shoot other versions with settings that I don’t show on video because they didn’t really work well, so I don’t find it’s always a case of getting it right first time 🙂

@@MarkMorganPhotography Thanks!

Cheers, thank you!

Cheers, thank you!

Thanks very much! I'm glad the technique is working for you. I don't ever mean to say that my technique is the right one, just that it works for me, and I hope it can work for others as well. Cheers!

Thank you, I'm glad you like the images. Your suggestion of an app is good one - I do have a book to help with ID, but I don't really find it useful at all! An app definitely seems to be the way to go.

Thanks very much! I must say that comments like yours are what motivates me to go out and shoot every week, so thank you!

Thank you Barry, I'm glad you're liking the lighting, and can find something useful in the videos. Cheers!

Ah, thank you very much, now that I you say it, I do remember the chap I met calling the purple ones amethyst deceiver. Cheers!

Ah, I see, thank you!

Cheers, thank you. Regarding your question, the reason I take so many images is to ensure that I always get the shot I want. I start the stack in front of the subject to ensure that I don't miss any little details at the front that I didn't see at the time, and end the stack behind the subject to ensure that it doesn't fall short. I shoot a very narrow step width to ensure that I don't have any gaps in the stack. Once I’m back at the computer I delete everything at the start and end of the stack that I don't need, and then I'm left with the images in the middle. I don't stack every one of these though, as it's rarely necessary - I usually choose every third or fourth image for the stack, and only select more images if that stack has gaps. So, I might shoot 100 frames, delete the first 20 and the last 20 leaving the middle 60, and then I might choose every third image from those 60, so out of an original 100 I end with around 15 or 20 in the final stack, often even less. By doing it this way I never find out too late that I didn't shoot quite enough images, or that I didn't shoot a narrow enough step width, so it's a kind of insurance policy. I'd be quite annoyed with myself if I'd spent an entire day shooting a video, only to discover the next day that I'd messed up the stills!

@@MarkMorganPhotography ahhhh ok, tyvm for taking the time to explain, it all makes sense now

Thanks! I completely agree about the way focus stacking works in the Nikons, and maybe others as well. It would be much better to be able to set a start point and end point, and then just tell the camera to shoot whatever it needed to in order to cover that depth, exactly as you describe. I wasn’t aware that Hasselblads did that - it’s a shame they’re out of my price range! 🙂

Yup!

🤣🤣🤣🤣

Cheers, thanks, glad you enjoyed it!

Hi Barry, glad you're enjoying the videos, and that you've been inspired! I haven't tried in-camera stacking (I don't think the Z6 is that advanced), but I suspect that may be part of the issue if you're shooting 100 or so images. Although I shoot a lot of images, I'm usually only stacking quite a small number from the middle of that set of images, and out of those I'm only using every third or fourth image - I find the fewer images you can get away with using in the stack, the better the result. I've found Photoshop is OK for doing pretty simple stacks, but for anything more than a few images I prefer Helicon Focus - I'm using the 'Helicon Pro' version as that allows saving as DNG, which I prefer for flexibility reasons. I believe they offer a 30 day trial, so it might be worth giving it a go to see if you like it. By all means fire over an image or two - from the main channel page description you can click where it says 'view email address'. Cheers!

Hi Mark thank you so much for responding and with some great advice, it makes sense the less images I suppose. I think I may have been trying too hard perhaps. Anyway I think I will give Helicon a go soon. Thanks again Barry

Just bought the R6 Mii and had the same frustrations while I've been practicing. Previously used Canon 80D with a focus rail and did everything manually. The R6 Mii is much faster to use but like you I took 100 shots at a little over 1:2 life size with lots of ghosting on the jpeg stack image. Don't despair, just use them to make sure everything you want is in focus. I'm going to start taking notes of the aperture and take phone shots of the lens distance scale to get a better idea of what I need to do in the field so as not to waste memory card space. What I've noticed so far at a little over 1:2 life size at f11 with a subject depth of 30mm 30 shots is more than enough, and I only needed 15 to make a good stack. The Focus Increment was set at narrow 1. Sometimes it's necessary to do a little cloning for minor ghosting after stacking but nothing major. By the way I've tried both and Helicon focus is way better than PS for image stacking!

I had a big problem with ghosting initially, but found that problem mostly went away with stacking only every third or fourth image. The way the step width actually works on the Nikons seems to be a bit of a mystery (I'm not familiar with Canon), so shooting loads of images seems to be a good insurance policy against failing to get the shot! Totally agree that Helicon is a better choice than Photoshop for complex stacks. A lot of people seem to like Zerene Stacker, too.

@@MarkMorganPhotography Thanks Mark I think your advice about the number of images could well be the answer and has been most helpful thank you. I will see how it goes but may well treat myself to Helicon soon. Did you get the message about tripods?

Thanks! First time I've seen one like that, as you may have noticed from my reaction to it 🙂

Ah, well, I’m afraid I have to admit that I wasn’t able to shoot any 360 footage today for next week’s video… It will definitely be business as usual the following week though, I promise! You are right, of course, I SHOULD learn more about the fungi I’m photographing… I do know a few of the winter ones though, so hopefully I’ll find some of those 😆. Glad you’re enjoying the videos though. Cheers!