Sony A7R IV without focus bracketing?

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Adalbert
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Sony A7R IV without focus bracketing?

Post by Adalbert »

Hello everybody,
Does anybody know if focus bracketing will be implemented in this camera?
https://www.sonyalphaforum.com/topic/11 ... -launched/
BR, ADi

Lou Jost
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Post by Lou Jost »

Wow, 16-image pixel shift technology! 240Mp!! If it has focus bracketing I'd sell my Panasonic S1R.

dmillard
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Post by dmillard »

Lou Jost wrote:Wow, 16-image pixel shift technology! 240Mp!! If it has focus bracketing I'd sell my Panasonic S1R.
Wow is right! Even without focus bracketing (which would be very nice, but I haven't seen it mentioned in any of the announcements), it would provide over 100Mp pixel shift images in APS-C crop mode, somewhat more manageable for stacking, and more versatile in terms of lens and objective choice.

TheDocAUS
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Post by TheDocAUS »

No Sony A7 series camera (or the A9) has focus stacking. It is not on Sony's radar.

Video on 16 image pixel shift: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwwzM81 ... e=youtu.be

dmillard
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Post by dmillard »

TheDocAUS wrote:No Sony A7 series camera (or the A9) has focus stacking. It is not on Sony's radar.
But this thread suggests ways to get around that shortcoming: https://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/4314348

Lou Jost
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Post by Lou Jost »

This technique works for any decent tethering program, and no special program is needed, you just make a robot in Auto HotKeys. I had hoped to get around my Panasonic S1R's lack of focus stacking by this method. However, to my surprise, the Panasonic tethering software's focus advance button does nothing! That was with a Sigma Art lens. So the devil is in the details. Hopefully the Sony tethering software works better than the darned Panasonic version.

I can't express strongly enough my irritation at the shortcomings of the Panasonic S1R for our kind of work, in spite of its excellent image quality. If anyone is thinking about a new camera for micro work, I highly recommend waiting a bit and looking closely at the new Sony. Though almost all the problems of the Panasonic would seem to be easy to fix in a software update. Maybe the arrival of Sony competition will light a fire under the butts of the Panasonic software writers.

chris_ma
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Post by chris_ma »

looks like a really nice camera. with 16 captures for one high resolution image they should be able to reduce the artefacts improve resolution significantly over the MKIII.

will be interesting to see how it compares to the 8 capture mode of the S1R, personally I'd expect them to perform very similar.
It sounds like they save the pixel shift frames as individual images and one has to use the sony software to combine them. hopefully lightroom (and other software) can support it too later.
they mention faster usb tethering (twice the MKIII I think), and hopefully one can capture the next images while the first burst is transferred, which might make it significantly faster then the S1R where you'll have to wait about 15secs for combining the images (transfering 16 60MP images might take a while too though).
chris

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Post by Macro_Cosmos »

The Sigma fp looks very nice too, maybe not the MP monster many are after though.

Hope Sony uses 16-bit ADC for their 61mp, that will probably make me brush aside all the Sony dissing. It's about time something revolutionary happens to the camera world. I want to see 16b ADCs used for commercial cameras.

Lou Jost
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Post by Lou Jost »

It sounds like they save the pixel shift frames as individual images and one has to use the sony software to combine them.
That could be a significant advantage for stacking, since the time taken to calculate the image isn't part of the stacking time. Still, I think the major portion of the time taken is due to write time.

It sounds like you can choose what kind of pixel shifting you want to do, including just four-frame shifting to get rid of Bayer interpolation without increasing pixel dimensions. That would be very helpful.

ray_parkhurst
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Post by ray_parkhurst »

Lou Jost wrote:
It sounds like they save the pixel shift frames as individual images and one has to use the sony software to combine them.
That could be a significant advantage for stacking, since the time taken to calculate the image isn't part of the stacking time. Still, I think the major portion of the time taken is due to write time.

It sounds like you can choose what kind of pixel shifting you want to do, including just four-frame shifting to get rid of Bayer interpolation without increasing pixel dimensions. That would be very helpful.
For me it will still come down to workflow, and IQ. If Sony has fixed the problem with oversharpening in Imaging Edge, then it can be a reasonable flow, especially if the program auto-detects the source files. But if you have to manually select 16 files each time, oh my.

Edited to add: I'm still hoping to see a compo of the rendered pixel shift files vs a real optical image at appropriate magnification.

TheDocAUS
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Post by TheDocAUS »

dmillard wrote:
TheDocAUS wrote:No Sony A7 series camera (or the A9) has focus stacking. It is not on Sony's radar.
But this thread suggests ways to get around that shortcoming: https://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/4314348
Not practical for in field use, my main need. There was a Sony app that allowed 3 images to be stacked - not very practical either. Focus stacking is an area Sony can improve, greatly.

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Adalbert
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Post by Adalbert »

Hi everybody,
Maybe we should write a petition to Sony asking for the support of the macro photography and focus bracketing in particular?
BR, ADi

Lou Jost
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Post by Lou Jost »

Sony and Panasonic too.

Lou Jost
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Post by Lou Jost »

Not just Sony. Panasonic too.

Beatsy
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Post by Beatsy »

Lou Jost wrote:Wow, 16-image pixel shift technology! 240Mp!! If it has focus bracketing I'd sell my Panasonic S1R.
That does look a very interesting feature but Sony s/w is so clunky I bet it will be a royal pain to use for anything other than single (composite) images. And that won't be much fun either.

The sensor upgrade to 61MP is the main interest for me, plus other upgrades relative to the A7R2 (battery, UI, focus, tracking etc). I skipped upgrading to the A7R3 because I'd already got an A9 along with two A7R2s and the R3 just didn't add enough for the cost at the time. But jumping from R2 to R4 works out as a big hi-res camera upgrade for me. I pre-ordered mine within 5 minutes of the Sony launch event starting and I'm at or very close to the head of the list!

Overall, I don't see the A7R4 doing much, if anything, for my macro work (other than free up an A7R2 for permanent attachment to my rail). Even the 42MP FF sensor of the A7R2 outresolves all the objectives I own for macro so the extra 19MP in the A7R4 is of no use there. It should pull more detail from a couple of my macro lenses, but I'm mainly buying it for "normal" photography needs/wants...

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