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- #Best focus stacking software registration#
- #Best focus stacking software software#
- #Best focus stacking software series#
There is no way of telling unless one tries it, which I will at some point. But it is what that one guy found and he isn't a planetary imaging expert like the people here on CN. Note that I am not making that claim generally, and from the small image in the older thread I couldn't conclude that. Indeed, the DPReview thread I found claims to have gotten better results with Zerene than AutoStakkert. There might be cases where the focus stacking algorithms pull out some detail in a better way than AS. Yet the problem is close enough that i wonder how the two compare to each other. In general I think that the focus stacking algorithms will be different than a program like AutoStakkert. I understand that it is different, but my speculation - and the result of the one thread on DPReview, are that the focus stacking algorithms might have some value here. In essence, your question is already the basis of "lucky imaging", and so this is already done, although it's not focus stacking as the term is used in other areas of photography. Some of this is due to seeing conditions improving between captures, and some of it could be caused by achieving a better focus. The final results will almost never be equivalent, with some images looking sharper than others.
#Best focus stacking software series#
In practice, most people don't adjust the focus during the capture, but instead take a series of captures, each of several minutes duration, and reacquire focus before each new recording. In fact, when stacking planetary or lunar images, Autostakkert analyzes parts of individual frames (alignment points) independently, and so the final result is already a selection of the best parts of the entire video.
#Best focus stacking software software#
The stacking software (usually Autostakkert) selects frames based upon contrast, so it will always select the ones with best focus if you attempted this method. Some frames will be completely lost during this procedure due to blurring, but only a minority of frames will be stacked in any case. In this case, you could quickly rack through focus and try to reacquire best focus. This is generally only done when conditions are very intermittent, and so you aren't entirely sure of the focus when you begin the recording, but then conditions seem a bit calmer after it begins. During this time, you can absolutely adjust the focus if you wish. However, a recording for planetary imaging usually last several minutes in duration. There is no equivalent to focus stacking as it exists for macro photography. Since I don't, I wonder if anybody else here has tried it, and if not, then I am making the suggestion that it might be worth trying. Now, it may well be the case that this does not work, but I if I had a bunch of planetary images to stack, I would try this. While looking for examples, I found this thread on DPReview, which shows a lunar image. I will hasten to point out that this is speculative on my part.
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However, if you did rack focus and combine photos at slightly different focus points, it would allow correcting field flatness, or tilted field issues. To be clear - I am not suggesting that the focus be changed between shots - just that one takes a sequence of planetary photos and find out if the software does a better job than conventional planetary image stacking. In that case partial depth of field is not the problem - it is blurring of portions of the image by atmosphere effects. This would seem to be a possible candidate for putting together the best planetary shots to do a sort of lucky imaging. There are several algorithms that are used.
#Best focus stacking software registration#
I am wondering if anybody has tried this for planetary imaging? The problem is similar in some ways - focus stacking software does registration - but it has the additional aspect of looking for sharp regions. The software finds the in-focus parts of the picture and combines them. In use, one takes a series of photos - up to 1000 or more - each with slightly different focal point. Focus stacking software is used by macro and microscope photographers (sort the opposite of astrophotography) as well as some landscape photographers, to create an apparently infinite depth of field.