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Post by txrockhunter on Jul 27, 2017 14:08:49 GMT -5
jamesp , I hear you loud and clear on the cameras having focus stacking availability. It's a very minor programming issue. I can't believe that someone would be able to hold a patent on the technology?! The pictures you posted are great examples of what stacking can produce! The photo of the damselfly with 2 tails is a pretty common issue in stacking. The software makes it pretty easy to remove the least desired areas of the photo. I really love the water lily shots! Like you said, the software should be able to spit out a small series of different focus points, in a matter of seconds. The stacked pictures I posted were all run with manual focus, which makes it easy to leave areas unfocused and takes much more time. I picked up the Helicon Focus Tube, which attaches to the lens and automatically steps the focus. Just haven't used it yet! I will break it out tonight and give it a shot. I've also downloaded the Helicon Remote App, that allows you to customize your shots, run time lapse photos, and can be used to run the shutter for long exposures as well. It allows my phone to connect and control my camera through wi-fi. Pretty cool on paper, just need to play around with it. On a side note, I did a little stalking last night and came across a female Blue Dasher that was willing to pose for a few shots. She would fly off, catch something to eat, and come right back to let me take a couple more shots. It went on about 10 minutes until she got tired of me trying to get closer. Got some pretty cool shots. 
Also found a few spiders along the way. rockpickerforever could use your help with the first one. I know it's an orb weaver, but couldn't find anything with those patterns. It would be a good candidate for a photo stack. Couldn't get the body and head in focus at the same time.
Feather legged Orb Weaver.
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Post by Garage Rocker on Jul 27, 2017 14:25:01 GMT -5
But seriously, do you get decked out in camo? Hide in a blind? Talk sweet to 'em? Or just have a trusting face? Super close-ups!
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Jul 27, 2017 18:14:51 GMT -5
Watch out Jeremy, Randy has manipulated my body with photo shop. You might be next. He's good at that too !
Gotta study your retort on Helicon. Sorry about crashing your thread. It was just technical stuff I thought appropriate. Will get back to you.
Off the chart photos, and you have a darn good coach. Heck, he can even tell the difference in DSLR Nikon and Canon.
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Post by txrockhunter on Jul 27, 2017 21:21:16 GMT -5
But seriously, do you get decked out in camo? Hide in a blind? Talk sweet to 'em? Or just have a trusting face? Super close-ups!
Randy, we've talked about this.....I wear my bathrobe, tubesox, Birkenstocks, and mesh John Deer cap. That's why I have to stay in the backyard, out of site. Not sure why the bugs are so comfortable around me. |
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Jul 28, 2017 6:52:41 GMT -5
Dashers are loaded with color and structure. Just their wings and eyes are marvels. There is a lot of variety and types of them too. A whole photo journal waiting there. They often return to the same spot, that is a characteristic. You must have tamed this guy to get so close. Insect whisperer ? As far as owning stacking technology, it is a puzzle that more camera makers are not involved in incorporating it into their cameras. Why only Olympus seems to be mastering it is a mystery. Olympus has always been leading edge in digital camera technology. The math involved in stacking is crazy complicated and maybe Olympus R&D is just way ahead. The Japanese folks don't like their competitors out doing them. An enigma. It takes the new age fast auto focus and fast image reception to another level in taking a bunch of focal planes and adding them together. Perfect digital camera application. Allowing the photographer to be less precise about focusing, much less having an image in focus beyond what the most dedicated lens can do. It reduces the amount of lenses, or makes one lens so much more flexible. You get more bang for your buck out of expensive lenses. Plus it blends with the new high speed burst technology that requires high speed SD cards with giant memories. The stage is set. Using this TG-4 there is no reason not to take every still shot in stack mode. It is as routine as taking single focus shots. Only drawback is that it drains the battery faster and subject can't be moving. I'll make a video of the TG-4 doing stacked shots. The sounds made by the shutter is impressive. Speaking of rockpickerforeverI have never seen that child not be able to ID an insect or spider. Never. Bet they will come up with insect recognition software like they are doing with plants. I use google images for ID with good success. Ex, search 'yellow spider', go to images. This one may be a Garden(Cross) spider. The hour glass on the back. Maybe. Araneus:  |
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Jul 28, 2017 11:40:53 GMT -5
txrockhunter Garage Rocker @shotgunner Here is the TG-4 taking a stacked photo of a telephone keyboard. Hard to count number of shutter cycles. Believe it is 8 shutter cycles. May be programmable, not sure. I believe the Olympus DSLR can be programmed to take like 100 shutter cycles in any given distance. Then it takes about 10 seconds to perform the calculations. Looks like it takes about a second to calculate each of 8 frames as the bar graph moves across the screen. The LED screen displays the median focus photo on the left of the screen, and the right side of screen is the stacked photo. It will do this stacking in micro, macro or landscape mode, no matter. Rubber camera cover for harsh conditions. Had to cut the rubber away for nubby fingers on small buttons. Something about having a bulletproof camera invites you to use it in real world situations. Rain darn sure won't hurt it. It is water proof to 50 feet deep. Can be dropped from 7 feet. Built in WiFi and GPS. Great outdoor device in addition to being a camera. Fully controllable by cell phone. More options than you could imagine.
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Post by txrockhunter on Jul 28, 2017 15:42:45 GMT -5
txrockhunter Garage Rocker @shotgunner Here is the TG-4 taking a stacked photo of a telephone keyboard. Hard to count number of shutter cycles. Believe it is 8 shutter cycles. May be programmable, not sure. I believe the Olympus DSLR can be programmed to take like 100 shutter cycles in any given distance. Then it takes about 10 seconds to perform the calculations. Looks like it takes about a second to calculate each of 8 frames as the bar graph moves across the screen. The LED screen displays the median focus photo on the left of the screen, and the right side of screen is the stacked photo. It will do this stacking in micro, macro or landscape mode, no matter. Rubber camera cover for harsh conditions. Had to cut the rubber away for nubby fingers on small buttons.Something about having a bulletproof camera invites you to use it in real world situations. Rain darn sure won't hurt it. It is water proof to 50 feet deep. Can be dropped from 7 feet. Built in WiFi and GPS. Great outdoor device in addition to being a camera. Fully controllable by cell phone. More options than you could imagine. I think we're getting some traction here. Olympus has done the best job of incorporating the Focus Stacking / Bracketing into their own equipment. It will be interesting to see if others follow suit! I did a little testing with the Helicon Focus Tube, that auto focuses the lens in incremental steps, when you fire the shutter. Still learning how to use it, but seams like it could be a great alternative to a new camera. Here's a few of the test shots with photo quantities and the time it took. As I got a few under my belt, I started using the burst mode on the camera and it was a huge time savings! All photos were taken with a tripod. Only the spider used the flash and that has some serious issues trying to run in burst mode. I think these are better viewed bigger, so if you want, click on the image and then click on them in the Flickr page to zoom. You may have to wait a few seconds for them to load and clear up.... Local Arrowhead - 63 photos in the stack / 33 seconds start to finish 
Local Arrowhead - 61 photos in the stack / 55 seconds start to finish
Local Arrowhead - 80 photos in the stack / 44 seconds start to finish
Possible fossil tooth - 41 photos in the stack / 63 seconds start to finish
Botryoidal from Marfa, TX - 74 photos in the stack / 55 seconds start to finish
Snail Fossil from West Texas - 53 photos in the stack / 52 seconds start to finish
Some type of Orb Weaver - 21 photos in the stack (then it moved) / 53 seconds start to finish
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Jul 28, 2017 16:18:40 GMT -5
So in these photos did you set the amount of burst time and picked a burst rate, then engaged the shutter ? How did you change the focus ? Perhaps a bracketing mode does that for you. And can you choose the distance the focus covers ? Never mind, the Helicon focus tube does that part for you. That's a mystery, I must look on Youtube for a demo of that device. It sure does a good job. Depth over the top. I did watch the demo on the retouch software. Impressive. |
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Post by aDave on Jul 28, 2017 19:22:49 GMT -5
txrockhunter, did you see my PM. Shoot me an acknowledgement, and I'll send you a phone number. I'd love to talk about this process instead of trying to type about it. Thanks and regards. Dave
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Post by Deleted on Jul 28, 2017 19:40:23 GMT -5
txrockhunterJeremy I think your first is an argiope type. Later she will have a prominent zig zag in her web.
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Post by Garage Rocker on Aug 6, 2017 19:39:55 GMT -5
Anyone else being devoured this summer? It's been a beetle battle. I guess the mild winter didn't help. |
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Post by aDave on Aug 6, 2017 20:16:45 GMT -5
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Aug 6, 2017 22:02:30 GMT -5
Anyone else being devoured this summer? It's been a beetle battle. I guess the mild winter didn't help. Mid summer, here they come. Thankful they attack after plant sells were done. Hard to combat, drink pesticide like a milkshake. Eat fast. |
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Post by Garage Rocker on Aug 6, 2017 23:32:38 GMT -5
Anyone else being devoured this summer? It's been a beetle battle. I guess the mild winter didn't help. Mid summer, here they come. Thankful they attack after plant sells were done. Hard to combat, drink pesticide like a milkshake. Eat fast. Pesticide doesn't help. They can drop off by the bucket full, but more beetles keep taking their place. Damage done before they croak. As you say, some seem immune. Attacked the red maples, rose bushes, cherry trees, crepe myrtle got hit hard...they aren't picky. The Japanese beetle is kinda cool looking though.
Still prefer to be overrun with beetles than these things... 
Female Eastern Dobson Fly (thx txrockhunter ). Found on the door at a rest area in TN. The whole building was covered with them. Very welcoming, indeed.
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Aug 7, 2017 5:38:23 GMT -5
Mid summer, here they come. Thankful they attack after plant sells were done. Hard to combat, drink pesticide like a milkshake. Eat fast. Pesticide doesn't help. They can drop off by the bucket full, but more beetles keep taking their place. Damage done before they croak. As you say, some seem immune. Attacked the red maples, rose bushes, cherry trees, crepe myrtle got hit hard...they aren't picky. The Japanese beetle is kinda cool looking though.
Still prefer to be overrun with beetles than these things...
Female Eastern Dobson Fly (thx txrockhunter ). Found on the door at a rest area in TN. The whole building was covered with them. Very welcoming, indeed.
The Dobson Fly is a strange bug. Has a mouth full of pinchers and likes to use them. but never seen them swarm, yes, no thanks. If the Jap. beetles arrived early the plant species they attacked were rendered useless for sale. Those species basically become sacrificial lambs. If there were larger propagation stock beds of potted stock they often focused on them instead of the potted plants. |
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