Focus Stacking with 8x10 Large Format Film...Ben Horne

[Tin Can]

Focus Stacking with 8x10 Large Format Film

Requires Digi and Film

Ben Horne project, I like everything Ben does

and this topic was on my mind

[j.e.simmons]

Isn’t that what camera movements are for?

[Greg]

Isn’t that what camera movements are for?

I don't think that focus stacking is related to camera movements. My take is that if he wanted everything in his image to be sharp, he would have to use f/128 or f/180, but then diffraction would nullify his resolution/sharpness. Or am I missing something here?

[Dan Fromm]

I wonder why he changed magnification to move the plane of best focus instead of moving the camera/lens assembly.

[B.S.Kumar]

Fiddling with rear focus just changed the actual magnification somewhat each time;

Changing rear focus won't change magnification. Changing front focus will change magnification.

Kumar

[Peter De Smidt]

I tried it once or twice with a macro image in 8x10. This would be about 10 years ago. At that time, my computer couldn't handle multiples of the large scans, and so I never ended up with a final image. For the right subject, it could be a very effective technique, but, obviously, it involves a lot of expense and work....but is that really something that LF photographers should object to?

[Dan Fromm]

Changing rear focus won't change magnification. Changing front focus will change magnification.

Kumar

Sorry, Kumar, focusing by moving the rear standard changes extension. Changing extension changes magnification. If you don't believe me and don't want to read a book on closeup work, try the experiment.

[Michael R]

It’s pretty cool if it works well. I certainly wouldn’t mind learning how to do it with 4x5 once I get up and running with hybrid.

On the other hand when I see things like this I’m tempted to say why not just go digital.

[sanking]

I have a friend who has used focus stacking with 5X7 film in a view camera and he has been able to create some images that would have been impossible to make with routine view camera adjustments such as focal length of the lens, size of aperture, and tilts and swings. Eventually he got the message some of you suggest and moved on to FF digital and still does some focus stacking.

When focus stacking with a digital camera focusing is typically with lens on the front of the camera. This also changes the size of the image, which is corrected in the stacking software when all image files in the stack are aligned to a common size. This of course involves some cropping of the image to fit in a given space.

Since this guy obviously knows how to focus stack with digital methodology I am going to give him the benefit of the doubt and suggest he probably had a reason for using rear focus with his lens and subject distance, which is supported by the observation that he completed a very interesting personal adventure and produced what appears to be a nice image that is in many ways superior to his previous image made at this site.

Sandy

[Dan Fromm]

Since this guy obviously knows how to focus stack with digital methodology I am going to give him the benefit of the doubt and suggest he probably had a reason for using rear focus with his lens and subject distance, which is supported by the observation that he completed a very interesting personal adventure and produced what appears to be a nice image is in many ways superior to his previous image made at this site.

Sandy

Sandy, the story he told about why he shifted the plane of best focus by moving the rear standard is nonsense. That said, he adjusted his images' sizes digitally to make stacking work. So, overall, whatever works .... works.

I can only speculate about why he used the rear standard, suspect that using a focusing rail to move the camera/lens assembly might have created worse problems of stability etc.