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Automated Focus Stepping for Stacking (Nikon D850 in Particular)
It took a while for the realization to set in, but in my November 2017 blog I postulated that automated focus stepping for focus stacking with the Nikon D850* was the most important advance since Live View. Nikon has done it 'primitive' way to start (no way to set a focusing endpoint and spacing maybe not quite tight enough with super-wides), but it is a huge step forward (and in spite of very poor documentation).
* Nikon erroneously calls focus stepping “Focus shift shooting, a very poor choice of terminology in direct conflict with the well established optical term of focus shift, an entirely different optical design matter..
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Diglloyd Making Sharp Images articulates years of best practices and how-to, painstakingly learned over a decade of camera and lens evaluation.
Save yourself those years of trial and error by jump-starting your photographic technical execution when making the image. The best lens or camera is handicapped if the photographer fails to master perfect shot discipline. High-resolution digital cameras are unforgiving of errors, at least if one wants the best possible results.
- Eases into photographic challenges with an introductory section.
- Covers aspects of digital sensor technology that relate to getting the best image quality.
- Technique section discusses every aspect of making a sharp image handheld or on a tripod.
- Depth of field and how to bypass depth of field limitations via focus stacking.
- Optical aberrations: what they are, what they look like, and what to do about them.
- MTF, field curvature, focus shift: insight into the limitations of lab tests and why imaging performance is far more complex than it appears.
- Optical aberrations: what they are, what they look like, and what to do about them.
- How to test a lens for a “bad sample”.
Intrigued? See Focusing Zeiss DSLR Lenses For Peak Performance, PART ONE: The Challenges, or (one topic of many) field curvature.
NIKON D850 + Zeiss Milvus 35mm f/1.4
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NIKON D850 + Sigma 14mm f/1.8 DG HSM Art
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