. . . my patience with tinkering has worn thin. I would be willing to give Combine ZP a try. But not a very long one if it continuously crashes on me. (Another fellow named "Chris" responding:) CombineZP, in its day, was stable (I used it quite a bit before Zerene Stacker came along). But it has no...

Try CombineZP too - free. It was "OK" when I used it last - a long time ago! Let me second that. It took a LOT of tinkering to make it work on my PC, but once I did, it's worked pretty well. I tried Picolay and couldn't get anywhere with it. Somebody else who uses it was kind enough to share settin...

Any flash will do, though pop-ups are weak. Diffused (tissue paper) even they can work. I have a Yongnuo ring flash (only use it on manual). but first I'd advise a simple off-camera flash, which you can fire with a "pc" lead, so it can be any make. There are lots, used, for film cameras, very cheap...

Hi Im new here, so I cant give advice, but I need advice :D I hope that my english will be understandable. So big welcome for me :) I using pentax bellows with pentax M 28mm reversed lens. Lens focusing me object 5cm distant from firs lens. I would like and need to buy some flash, but I dont know w...

Flash, is handy for testing ;) Another expense! I have looked at the one below but honestly I would prefer a ring flash option. Problem is there is no such thing as a cheap ring flash for Pentax. This hobby's start up cost is higher than golf :shock: Yongnuo YN585EX Speedlite for Pentax Cameras htt...

I've done very little with Helicon because I haven't bought it, but I'd be surprised if real sharpness were an issue, though the different pyramid methods may extract detail differently. Zerene does take a little getting used to, but not much. If you get the settings somewhere about right in Dmap, ...

After pixel peeping these images, DMax and PMax are sharper than Helicon. In the top left where the yellow seed is in the background, Dmax is the sharpest with PMax in 2nd. I also see ghosting with Helicon. Easy to think I had vibrations as I am on the 3rd floor of an apartment and these were shot w...

I downloaded both Zerene and Helicon trial versions. This is a stack of four pixel shift images all processed the same way. They were shot indoors with low outside window light @ F22 ISO 400. I used tiffs via silkypix for my individual pictures so all things would be equal. I have not done any PP ot...

ChrisR wrote:Try CombineZP too - free. It was "OK" when I used it last - a long time ago!

Chris, I tried and it seems that Hadleyweb is not accessible. I will keep looking for it.

rjlittlefield wrote:Take a look at Picolay. I have not used it personally for a long time, but it seems to be under continuous development and a few other people here in the forum have shown good results with it recently.

--Rik

Thanks Rik, I will look into it!

Hello again, My tripod has cleared customs and should be here Monday. I will order the Acratech Head this week and it should be here no later than Friday. My next questions are to do with software. I have read the forums here and see Zerene and Helicon are the most popular; and for a pro license 200...

Even if a cold period is expected later this week, spring will come! (panorama of 3 times image stack, taken with A7R2, Novoflex Balpro1 with Proshift+, Zeiss 100mm F4 (for Contax bellows)) https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/726/31935210183_db82296c80_o.jpg snowdrops by Hans van den Bosch , on Flickr Ni...

That sounds like Olympus, but then the camera would do stacks all by itself! "All" I was referring to was tethered camera operation, such as CamRanger or Helicon Remote, or the native camera App? --Which would enable you to shift focus at the lens, then take another picture, and repeat. Some do it ...

That sounds like Olympus, but then the camera would do stacks all by itself! "All" I was referring to was tethered camera operation, such as CamRanger or Helicon Remote, or the native camera App? --Which would enable you to shift focus at the lens, then take another picture, and repeat. Some do it ...

Referring to posts above where you commented on a) weight and b) practicalities of mud on trails and fine equipment, have you investigated stacking by focus-by-wire/wifi? Lots of options these days... which may mean you don't need to carry any focus rail for stacking. My camera has Pixel Shift, whi...