Macro Rails and Tethered Focus Bracketing for SD15
Mar 6, 2014
I've been looking to get a little more in depth from an equipment standpoint when it comes to macro photography. I was wondering if anyone had experience with a digital rail and Sigma cameras, or a tethered auto focus bracketing software with Sigma cameras.
I'll be picking up Helicon Focus soon (or at least trying it out) to use for focus stacking shots, and now I'm thinking about the best way to capture images.
Helicon has a software called "Remote" by which you tether your camera to a computer, and set the closest and furthest points of focus on your subject and the program sort of figures out the rest and takes a series of images, adjusting the focus using auto focus by a little bit each time. This sounds great, right?! But it only supports CaNikon -_- I don't know if this is the type of thing Sigma Capture Pro can do, but from what I can tell that's only for the SD1 series and I have an SD15. Maybe someone can just confirm that last part.
So if the computer isn't going to help me with focusing, I guess the next thing to look into is manual. This almost seems more ideal anyway since I like to shoot flowers, and can't always bring a laptop with me into the field to shoot. There is a macro rail system that physically moves the camera a little bit with each shot called the Cognisys StackShot, however in addition to being pricey, I'm still worried about compatibility issues with Sigma, and whether or not I still need to involve a laptop (which I'm having trouble determining). Anyone used one of these products and can comment?
The last thing I can think of is pure manual. Get a macro focus rail like this, and just manually take a bunch of shots in little increments. I have a remote for my SD15 so hopefully there wouldn't be too many movements between shots that would result in ghosting and artifacts once Helicon Focus stacks my shots.
Thoughts? Anyone with experience in this stuff?
Sigma SD15
Nikon D7000
Sigma 70mm F2.8 EX DG Macro
+1 more
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