Bracketing focusing is a very simple method to get the sharpest image possible. This feature is especially useful when using non-autofocus optics.
Bracketing focusing
The essence of any bracketing - take several similar pictures with different specific parameters. In this case bracketing focusing carries out a series of shots of the same object, but with a different focusing distance of the lens. For example, a series bracketing can consist of 3 pictures, the first picture is taken with focus on the desired subject, the second picture is taken with the focus shifted behind the subject, and the third with the focus shifted in front of the subject. Then you can do anything with these pictures.
Many cameras do not have an automatic function. bracketing focusing, for example, Nikon central control centers are not able to do this at all. But like any bracketingTo perform it yourself manually is not difficult. It is enough to turn on the manual focus mode or the manual focus priority mode and shoot a series of frames with different focusing distances.
A huge number of similar shots when shooting in focus bracketing
What is it for:
- When working with optics without an automatic focusing system, it is very difficult to get in sharpness the first time. Sometimes everything is sharp in the optical viewfinder, but in fact, strong focusing misses are visible. In this case, it is extremely difficult to protect yourself from focusing misses. But if you take several shots with different focusing, then the chance to get a sharp frame increases in proportion to the number of shots in the bracketing series. I use this method a lot, focus bracketing is often called 'focus broach '. For example, I focus on the subject and start taking gray pictures, while simultaneously rotating the focus ring on the lens until the area of sharpness is in front of the subject. Thus, I carry out the stretching of the zone of sharpness from the focus to the front focus. Depending on the specifics of the lens, the series can consist of 3 shots, and even 50. It’s very convenient to use the focus stretch burst shooting.
- When working with fast autofocus optics, the focusing system can often be mistaken. This is especially noticeable when working on open apertures and long focusing distances. For example, shooting an object at 50-1.4 f / 30 50-XNUMX meters from the camera. In this case, you can use bracketing and get at least one sharp shot.
- Focus bracketing can be used to create unusual multi-exposure scenes; for more details, see multiple exposure.
- Focus bracketing can be used to depth of field programmatically. To do this, you need to take a lot of shots at different focusing distances, and then put together in one shot with a decent depth of field. This is a very useful and interesting technique for shooting landscapes, subject shooting, macro shooting. Below is an example of such an implementation based on 6 shots.
- You can also do focus bracketing at different focus points. This is useful when you don't know what exactly you want to show in the picture - the foreground or background, or which specific object will look better in the field of focus.
Photo for example (not the best one). Take multiple shots using bracketing. I took 6 pictures. In Photoshop File -> Scripts -> Load Files into Stack -> try to auto-align the original images. Then: Editing -> Auto Blending Layers -> Stacked Images
The disadvantages of focus bracketing when working with non-autofocus optics and continuous shooting are the quick wear of the shutter and a bunch of unnecessary 'shots' that you have to sort through later. But with focus bracketing, you can use the high rate of fire of modern cameras for their intended purpose, it's a pity that many cameras have a very small frame buffer. Personally, I often use focus bracketing. I usually just take a few shots by slightly turning the focus ring.
Conclusions:
Focus bracketing is easy to do on your own. This is a very useful technique to get a sharp shot in almost any difficult situation.
Help to the project. Thanks for attention. Arkady Shapoval.
And why do I have dcs on d700 called dcs and not ark?
File names can be set on most cameras.
Thanks for the articles, informative!
Correct point 5 bracketing “focus”.
Good luck and inspiration!
Thanks. Updated.
unfortunately in the article the author does not specify that this is used for static objects. if people are animal transport then this is not relevant at all.
I think that goes without saying.
that's what kind of people !!! no, to write an interesting article himself, he’s better sucked up and will try to humiliate a person who writes informative blogs not only for normal people, but also for bastards like himself !!!
And nobody here cursed before you. And the comment was written as a rhetorical question. Maybe there is a similar solution to the problem of shooting objects.
The articles are good and informative. Thanks to the author, please also filter out comments with personal insults! Since they are not in essence ...
and besides, wed ... t without punctuation marks and the slightest literacy!))
Arkady makes a huge contribution for those who like useful information about photos. Focus bracketing is most commonly used for macro. after all, with a small or even scanty grip, it is difficult to catch a successful rakuos from the first frame. If you have any thoughts, who else is using this fuction, share it)
But how did this topic not touch upon another important topic of varifocal and parfocal lenses? or is it all so good and there was no image resizing when the focus was changed? :) I think the article needs to be added, with a list of these rare (parfocal) lenses. True, there is software that allows you to fix it, but at least you can discover this feature for yourself, and it’s better to be ready. Not everything is as obvious as it really is.
I do not consider it necessary to overload this topic with branches.
just such general educational articles are a dime a dozen (in English), I thought you might somehow be different. but the goal is not the same, right :) just with a macro at least with the same 50mm at f / 1.4, and so it’s impossible to glue the stack of pictures in the forehead. I haven’t been at 30-50 meters, maybe the increase in size is not so visible, but maybe it’s not so sharp, but maybe it’s even blurred).
Each article pursues a certain direction, and to inflate it to madness makes no sense. Many do not know about focus bracketing at all.
Thank you very much for this and other very useful reviews! Arkady, please explain where this back- and front-focus comes from on autofocus lenses, because the camera controls the lens and it gives it a command to stop at the desired focus point when the motor rotates, corrects it if necessary, or do I not understand something? Why then recommend testing the lens tables with the purchase?
In SLR digital cameras in the normal focus mode, phase focus sensors are responsible for accuracy, which makes focusing very fast, but can be mistaken when focusing. Given that some lenses have inherent specific abnormalities, this leads to the fact that the focusing system simply does not cope with its task. On digital mirrorless cameras (including soap dishes), a completely different principle is used, which is slower, but gives a very good result, the same is used in the Live View mode with SLR cameras.
Thank you Arkady!
Quote: “This is especially noticeable when working at open apertures and long focusing distances. For example, shooting at 50mm f / 1.4 an object 30-50 meters from the camera. "
as an option: if the situation permits, you can solve the problem using the “Live View” mode, when the focus is on the contrast ...
Yes you can. It's just that not all cameras have it :)
Arkady, here in the instructions for the nikon d80 for focus bracketing you need to VERY QUICKLY hold down the bracketing button when the red dot in the viewfinder lights up. I do not have time to do this on the Nikkor 50 mm AF-S 50 1.8 lens. Sometimes for about three minutes from the 20th attempt I manage to press focus bracketing because the lens focuses too fast.
Maybe I'm doing something wrong? You are familiar with this fotik not by hearsay. Tell me please.
Nikon D80 does not have a focus bracketing function.
We will proceed from the fact that the mirror in the camera is precisely adjusted, that is, it is installed at an angle of 45 degrees to the optical axis and the distances from the mirror to the focusing screen and to the matrix are the same. Then we send to hell with all the indicators of "accurate" focus and trust only our eyes. Everything should work out without bracketing.
Adjustment is a delicate matter.
"Adjustment is a delicate matter" that is, all the central controllers are adjusted somehow ??? So they are all crap?
No, it only means that a service center is needed to align the camera. It may seem difficult to adjust the DSLR device yourself, and I'm not sure whether all modern digital mirror cameras have adjustment mechanisms. I met that many czk in their series still have special bolts, with the help of which adjustment takes place. Modern cameras support focus compensation for a variety of lenses. Even if the lens has a "mismatch", it is enough to set a correction in the camera.
All modern DSLRs have an adjustment mechanism, and even, let's say, not one))
+ 100500!!!
You, Valentine, have a super-eagle eye if you can focus in the viewfinder without wedges and magnifiers
Thanks for the article!
Thanks for the article, very helpful! here is a video from adorama_tv just on this topic http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqAXR94X0T8&list=FLnxBpZcEAXhLEZOJto1-PEg&index=12
Sharpness, sharpness ... Generally, some of the photographers who call themselves professionals, give the client clearly defocused photos. Is the presence of sharpness one of the signs of professionalism, or is defocus the norm today ???
So a professional from an amateur differs only in that he takes money for a shot :)
Well, for that you just have to beat in the face. Kicking. The fact is that many lop-sided comrades who bought the simplest amateur DSLR begin to imagine themselves as photographers. Although they shoot on the D3100 with whale glass and a built-in flash.
You need to kick such commentators in the face! just the fact is that many people who have been involved in photography for a long time are FORCED to take 3100, as big-ass moneybags can afford something cooler! and an experienced talented photographer can shoot masterpieces even at 3100! Check out the review on the site! a huge mountain of expensive equipment will not make you a photographer either ... And the 3100 is a normal camera, the only thing is not suitable for all shooting conditions.
Interesting judgment: "Kick in the face" for an amateur SLR. For some reason, I thought that the main thing is the head, what you take is secondary.
However, there are even more of those who bought an expensive camera and a large white lens for it, And solely on the basis of these acquisitions began to consider themselves a photographer) ... or a photographer
In general, this remark applies to all “professionals”, not just photographers. It is worth moving into a new apartment made with such difficulty by "professionals" to understand this :)
A professional - the one who makes hack for money, can find those who will pay for it and explain that the customer simply does not understand anything and it should still creak, fall off, be blurry, sparkle, etc.
Sorry Arkady, and if (item 5) “when you don’t know what you want to show in the picture” why shoot at all? Even being familiar with your photos only from the posts on this site, I dare to assume that you know exactly what you want to show us :)
Thanks for the sensible and understandable reviews.
I know, but sometimes a shot with a missed focus that hooked another object into sharpness can look much better.
Of course, you excuse me, but there is not a single clickable example (?).
They should not be.
Thank you for the article!!! I suffered with these mistakes ... And somehow it didn't even come to the head, although it seemed nothing complicated, because at 70-300 I shot in series with a change in focus ..
Arkady! Thank you so much for the article, finally sharp photos began to turn out on old Soviet lenses, a very useful article
Please write about the problem of back and front focus on modern DSLRs. It would be very interesting
I have read a lot of your articles, looked through ... Everything is interesting to me, even what I once knew (I started filming in a school circle, in 1964-69), but after 40 years of "photo pause" I have forgotten ... Thank you, I remember. Fortunately, it is necessary - he retired and returned to photography. Tsifromylnichnuyu. While. Shot at least 30.000 frames in 6 years. The Sony N-12 camera with 2x zoom is already using the shutter (this is its first weak point). she no longer always pleases with the sharpness at the small end ... I probably will not repair it - it will be expensive. However, let's wait ... By winter-spring I will save up for Nikon D7000. Maybe they'll drop the price ...
I don’t like amateur Nikons… I’m not talking about a bunch of other people's works, I used to shoot with soap dishes and DSLRs like D60… Is the D7100 model “cut through”, but here is another grief - the camera is foolishly expensive. After all, it is not professional even in the main parameters, and the crop is terrible - so why tear up such money from unearned and working people?
I love Sonya very much (my favorite camera is a pseudo-mirror N-2). Color rendition is almost perfect (boots and nikon grow off!). And what wonderful Fritz lenses! And this is on children's devices ... Then why will I take Nikon D-7000? Everything is as simple as from a bridge: since the end of Soviet times I have 4 new lenses (I shot no more than a dozen films) from Kiev-19TL ... MC Helios 81N, MC Kaleinar 5N, MC Mir 24N and Telear. I didn’t buy from under the counter (there was never any pull, especially in the early 90s), but, you won’t believe, by a simple letter to the general director of Arsenal (I didn’t know and don’t know his last name, but apparently he was wonderful person!). I wrote a letter, asked to send a Kiev-19tl camera by cash on delivery (this is the model I liked in the review - not a 17, not a 20), but three lenses for it - I listed which ones. All others duplicated my selections. By the way, I could order all six or seven, all (!) In the loop of this line of H-mount cameras. However, I would have entered everything if I had so much money ... I a little bit figured out those premises: I got into big debts, quarreled with my wife ... Now you know why I can't sell today (and they strive to buy for a hiccup-ridiculous price: for Kaleinar, one asshole offered as much as $ 20!) nothing that he got with such an anguish.
For you, Arkady, I have the following question: the above-mentioned specific optics (with H mount) on a specific Nikon D7000 orifice, what exactly will it be capable of? In other words, by clicking on the mount of the Telear-N lens, I can work with it as if it were on… what Nikon's own lens (the brand of this lens). Say, will autofocus be? And how fast will it be? .. Infinity? What's wrong with her? .. A bird on the fly? ..
Unfortunately, in your articles about old Soviet optics, I did not find a clear and detailed answer to these and many other (similar) questions specifically for all my "Kiev" lenses.
There is absolutely nothing about optical (achrom- and so on) attachments, all kinds of filters (ZhS, ZhZ, K, O, UV, etc., and they are not all - especially for film?) For such lenses. Interestingly, Arkady, but how and what will they (specifically in my case) behave on the D7000 digital mirror?
By the way, nowhere and none of the authors of articles on Soviet photographic equipment and optics says that (I testify, I testify specifically for the complete set of lenses from the Kiev Arsenal) the lenses of that time were equipped with: a compact book (there were also colored texts-photos!) - manual, instruction , guarantees, seal-signature; verified lens assembly, with plastic front and back covers, the lens is placed in a strong plastic case-tube, on the bottom and in the cover of the case there are foam rubber mugs. Any look and hold in your hands! Or take a telephoto case (200 mm), It has two U-shaped "cheplyalkas" for a strap - you can wear it at least on your belt, at least on your shoulder, at least strap it to your backpack. I personally don't see such a simple, unobtrusive, human service today, and even at far from the photography business capitalist breeders. There are, however, exceptions. The same world famous Bosch, or Nilti, or Makita. From them, I bought, I know, all power tools in branded cases and cases. And yet those Soviet ones are dearer and dearer to me. A month before the collapse of the Union, and four parcels from the plant arrive intact, even without attempts to break-in and loot. And the requests of ordinary citizens (it was!) Were taken into account! Someone parcels for me (such capital ones are not sold at the post offices) worked for me, packed them, took them to the post office, issued a cash on delivery shipment ...
Sorry, Arkady, that hit in a memoir. I will give an answer.
Yes, Arkady, I want to join those comrades who thank you for the great work people need. And I myself have learned a lot (I copied the articles - I reread, look for answers to questions). Along the way, such a remark (sorry, if I did not understand or did not manage to do something - I mastered the laptop for a three with a minus, and then - to type texts, send, without nuances): examples of whether this or that old-new lens would shoot well or badly if only to see it in A4 format. Small ones don't even need to be put here - what's the use? Do you know, Arkady, why I specifically hate my laptop (about love - understandable)? Only because the screen is only 15 *, and also that the color rendering is absolutely lousy (photos from Sony, Fuji, Olympus are just as dead as from Nikon. Well, and also - my laptop infuriates me because it is so wise, and I (against the background) - Dunno's father! I don't even know what or with whom he, laptop, and me to compare. Perhaps, with a month-old baby - commander of a rocket to Mars.
In the reviews of photos from 2 to 4 MP, to see them, just click on the thumbnail picture with the middle mouse button (video).
Arkady, excuse me, I’ll tell you in pursuit: speaking of the complete set of Soviet optics, I did not name the hoods (rubber-metal and plastic)! By the way, the prices for filters and hoods were incomparably lower. Maybe the quality of today's glasses is nanotechnological - there are 35, 58 and more “Djordzhiks” ?! Blends - respectively. But those Soviet blends were no worse - that's a fact.
I'll finish, perhaps, with lenses. There were always good lenses in the USSR (I'm not talking about space and military optics - all the best is there). There was no own, domestic, Zeiss. Such a party did not set the task (the average milk yield was enough). Why do we need a massive Zenitar or Helios with a glass clarity of 1,0? Moreover, such glass will cost more than a colored diamond. How much does an elite lens cost today for a Pentax or Nikon? About 350-2500 dollars and more. And the Soviet high-aperture (F \ 2,0) glasses of the Kaleinar-5H and Helios-81H type - if the equivalent is 130-160 dollars).
It is also important to note: Soviet optics, if someone specifically dealt with it specifically (this is how Kalashnikov was engaged in weapons, Korolev's astronautics, and Sukhoi or Tupolev aircraft design), from the beginning of the 60s would be at the forefront in the world. We would have bought optics for their cameras, binoculars, guns, etc., and the Germans, and Japanese, and Americans. Skipped this industry too!
we write in agitators
Arkady, you got to the point with this article, everything is described briefly and clearly, without water and unnecessary troubles. I will be happy to use this method.
I would like to make an addition: as the logical finale of a series of bracketing focus shots - the HELICON-FOCUS PROGRAM (Helicon-Focus).
Such clever software, I’ll report to you, gentlemen, I was simply amazed ..!
We push a series of shots into it with a different focus area of the object and after a few seconds we get our super-macro object in focus from the tip of the nose to the tip of the tail !!!
Too lazy now to look for a vivid example for persuasiveness in their gigatons of photographs, but I think that any hungry macro photographer will very quickly get the result on their own ...
Thanks for the tattoo.))) Let's try ...
cool article, but I did not understand how to combine the pictures later? This can be done directly in the camera as I understand it
No, under the photo the sequence of manipulations in Photoshop is described.
Arkady, tried it in Photoshop and Helicon Focus. The latter gives less artifacts when docking - I studied the result with passion. :)
Helicon Focus. And Helicon Remote can do a series with a focus shift if the carcass is connected to a PC (not on all cameras).
Arkady, you write that many cameras do not have an automatic focus bracketing function, it’s interesting to know I personally don’t know which cameras have this function and it is implemented in cameras as a separate function, well, let's say automatic panorama and HDR stitching.
Thanks! Thanks only to this article, he opened a couple of useful chips for the D600 paired with Helios. I will read further)