Automatic focus stacking with Sony - It can be done (software inside)

[UtopiaArchitecture]

Hi, I am an extreme macro enthusiast, and really excited about your software. But i can not make it work. I only can make it start capturing image if only I turn the lens switch to MF. Is this right ? But then the focus did not move, just capturing the same images. If I turn the lens to AF, the camera did not work. I did the process with Objective lens mounted on my Sony a7iii + Sony FE70200 f4 with 10-15x magnification. Really hope your software can work like Olympus / Fuji so I dont need to buy automatic focusing rail . Let me know if I did it wrong. Thanks

You need to be in MF. The SW adjusts the focus distance. If you have AF on it would refocus on the same point each time. Consequently the camera won’t accept focus step commands in AF mode.

I have already set the lens switch to MF ( so the camera is MF mode too ) but I can not get the focus moving. I have tried without objective lens and shooting ordinary object. Still the same. Auto review already OFF, what did I do wrong? How I should set the focus ring on the lens? on the nearest or farthest? Thanks

 

[UtopiaArchitecture]

Paul made a similar program for mac:

https://github.com/paulrbarnard/stacker

I don't own a mac, so I can't really help with any mac related questions.

can you help me? I have already set the lens switch to MF ( so the camera is MF mode too ) but I can not get the focus moving. I have tried without objective lens and shooting ordinary object. Still the same. Auto review already OFF, what did I do wrong? How I should set the focus ring on the lens? on the nearest or farthest? Thanks

 

[roger2013]

Paul made a similar program for mac:

https://github.com/paulrbarnard/stacker

I don't own a mac, so I can't really help with any mac related questions.

can you help me? I have already set the lens switch to MF ( so the camera is MF mode too ) but I can not get the focus moving. I have tried without objective lens and shooting ordinary object. Still the same. Auto review already OFF, what did I do wrong? How I should set the focus ring on the lens? on the nearest or farthest? Thanks

I have just tried the app on an old MacBook Air, and though Imaging Edge makes the fan work hard, it all seems to work.

I had a similar problem with an A7II, but then I tried with an A7RIII, and realised that the problem is that Imaging Edge Remote appears not to offer the option to adjust focus manually with the A7II - buttons that appear in the app when the A7RIII is connected are just not there with the A7II. I wondered whether it might be the lens (one had an MF button, the other did not) but swapping lenses did not affect anything. So I think the answer is that you need to look at the IE Remote window, and see whether there is a button that enables you to switch between MF and AF, and whether, when you select MF, there are buttons to move focus back and forth. If yes, you should be OK, if not, then your camera does not support this. I may be wrong on that (I am no expert) but its what my experimentation with the two cameras I have suggests. As the A7RIII works I would expect the A7III to work too, as it is newer. (If I want to stack with the A7II, I use the playmemories app, with its 3-shot limitation.)

It took me a while to work out a few things (apologies if I should have found this from posts I have read and forgotten). Checking the "Home" box moves focus to the closest possible focus before the first shot, and the "Step size" determines the number of times that ">", ">>" or ">>>" (whichever is selected) is clicked between each shot. With standard lens and focus a few feet away, coarse (>>>) seemed too big to be useful, and if I used coarse I would try step size at 1, whereas medium (>>) moved the focus a noticeable amount if I set step size at 10. It will be interesting to try it with a macro lens and something close up.

Having worked that out, it seemed to work nicely, so a belated than you to those who worked on this.

 

[Paul Barnard]

Paul made a similar program for mac:

https://github.com/paulrbarnard/stacker

I don't own a mac, so I can't really help with any mac related questions.

can you help me? I have already set the lens switch to MF ( so the camera is MF mode too ) but I can not get the focus moving. I have tried without objective lens and shooting ordinary object. Still the same. Auto review already OFF, what did I do wrong? How I should set the focus ring on the lens? on the nearest or farthest? Thanks

I have just tried the app on an old MacBook Air, and though Imaging Edge makes the fan work hard, it all seems to work.

I had a similar problem with an A7II, but then I tried with an A7RIII, and realised that the problem is that Imaging Edge Remote appears not to offer the option to adjust focus manually with the A7II - buttons that appear in the app when the A7RIII is connected are just not there with the A7II. I wondered whether it might be the lens (one had an MF button, the other did not) but swapping lenses did not affect anything. So I think the answer is that you need to look at the IE Remote window, and see whether there is a button that enables you to switch between MF and AF, and whether, when you select MF, there are buttons to move focus back and forth. If yes, you should be OK, if not, then your camera does not support this. I may be wrong on that (I am no expert) but its what my experimentation with the two cameras I have suggests. As the A7RIII works I would expect the A7III to work too, as it is newer. (If I want to stack with the A7II, I use the playmemories app, with its 3-shot limitation.)

It took me a while to work out a few things (apologies if I should have found this from posts I have read and forgotten). Checking the "Home" box moves focus to the closest possible focus before the first shot, and the "Step size" determines the number of times that ">", ">>" or ">>>" (whichever is selected) is clicked between each shot. With standard lens and focus a few feet away, coarse (>>>) seemed too big to be useful, and if I used coarse I would try step size at 1, whereas medium (>>) moved the focus a noticeable amount if I set step size at 10. It will be interesting to try it with a macro lens and something close up.

Having worked that out, it seemed to work nicely, so a belated than you to those who worked on this.

The app only works for iii cameras the ii bodies have the playmemories app that does stacking

i find it best to set my minimum focus manually then let it step from there. It eliminates a lot of waster shots

A note for latest OS: In the latest OS the app asks for permission to control other apps. If you said “no” to that then it won’t work. It doesn’t ask on older versions of OSX.

 

[Camley]

Hi, I am an extreme macro enthusiast, and really excited about your software. But i can not make it work. I only can make it start capturing image if only I turn the lens switch to MF. Is this right ? But then the focus did not move, just capturing the same images. If I turn the lens to AF, the camera did not work. I did the process with Objective lens mounted on my Sony a7iii + Sony FE70200 f4 with 10-15x magnification. Really hope your software can work like Olympus / Fuji so I dont need to buy automatic focusing rail . Let me know if I did it wrong. Thanks

I you are really into extreme macro, an auto focusing rail is the way to go. I use a Cognisys Stackshot macro rail with Zerene Stacker software. It's a pleasure to use.

 

[Honeyboy]

Thanks a million to the primary and secondary developers of this B8 Stack. What a HUGE help to me. You all deserve medals! (and Sony should be wearing a Scarlet Letter of shame for their lack of support for focus bracketing!) Love this app. Doug

 

[Mike Fewster]

Thanks a million to the primary and secondary developers of this B8 Stack. What a HUGE help to me. You all deserve medals! (and Sony should be wearing a Scarlet Letter of shame for their lack of support for focus bracketing!) Love this app. Doug

I totally agree. Sony's lack of action on this is a major error.

I dont have this software. From some of the posts, am I correct in thinking that it can only be used with ios?

--
Mike Fewster
Adelaide Australia

 

[Paul Barnard]

Thanks a million to the primary and secondary developers of this B8 Stack. What a HUGE help to me. You all deserve medals! (and Sony should be wearing a Scarlet Letter of shame for their lack of support for focus bracketing!) Love this app. Doug

I totally agree. Sony's lack of action on this is a major error.

I dont have this software. From some of the posts, am I correct in thinking that it can only be used with ios?

Windows or OSX

 

[Mike Fewster]

Thanks a million to the primary and secondary developers of this B8 Stack. What a HUGE help to me. You all deserve medals! (and Sony should be wearing a Scarlet Letter of shame for their lack of support for focus bracketing!) Love this app. Doug

I totally agree. Sony's lack of action on this is a major error.

I dont have this software. From some of the posts, am I correct in thinking that it can only be used with ios?

Windows or OSX

Thank you.

Just what is the process for using it?

--
Mike Fewster
Adelaide Australia

 

[Prognathous]

Does this work with APS-C models, specifically the A6400?

 

[Paul Barnard]

Does this work with APS-C models, specifically the A6400?

if you can use the Sony remote app on your computer to adjust focal length then the app will work.

 

[mkfed]

Does this work with APS-C models, specifically the A6400?

The a6100 a6400 and a6600 are listed in the imaging edge app with manual focus support. So I assume it does work. Can you try and confirm that please? Would be another pro argument to buy the 6600 for me

 

[fferreres]

I'm hoping for a way to avoid Sony and Windows.
Surely a modern phone/tablet has enough grunt not to need the framework ?

It looked like he developed an app that effectively macroed the Imaging Edge UI - so no.

This should in theory be possible with gphoto2, but in practice when Sony added the additional focus control features to gphoto2, they changed the protocol enough to mostly break the A7R3 and completely break gphoto2's ability to talk to the A7III. (I tried just updating the USB PID/VID table - it sort of works but the camera will drop out of remote control mode if you try and capture a picture...)

Unfortunately Sony doesn't document the protocol, so you'll have to wait a while for reverse engineering to be done.

 

[Entropy512]

I'm hoping for a way to avoid Sony and Windows.
Surely a modern phone/tablet has enough grunt not to need the framework ?

It looked like he developed an app that effectively macroed the Imaging Edge UI - so no.

This should in theory be possible with gphoto2, but in practice when Sony added the additional focus control features to gphoto2, they changed the protocol enough to mostly break the A7R3 and completely break gphoto2's ability to talk to the A7III. (I tried just updating the USB PID/VID table - it sort of works but the camera will drop out of remote control mode if you try and capture a picture...)

Unfortunately Sony doesn't document the protocol, so you'll have to wait a while for reverse engineering to be done.

What they gained with more open mount they will lose to software not having access to anything. Bad turn from Sony. They think it’s a Gaming Console or TV. Makes the entire Sony adventure on shaky ground if you invest in their glass

It's questionable how much more open the mount really is.

We have their 2011 announcement for "basic" specifications, but beyond that - 2018 was the first time we saw evidence of any manufacturer other than those they had a contract manufacturing/cross-branding relationship with (Zeiss and Tamron) receiving any meaningful assistance in electronic protocols.

Prior to that we saw a LOT of evidence of reverse engineering, and Metabones explicitly stating they received no assistance from Sony despite, at least on paper, meeting all of Sony's publically stated criteria for receiving the specifications. Which says that their specifications were woefully incomplete (mechanical specs only?) or while free of monetary charge, were under such egregious licensing terms that Metabones passed on the offer.

--
Context is key. If I have quoted someone else's post when replying, please do not reply to something I say without reading text that I have quoted, and understanding the reason the quote function exists.

 

[Honeyboy]

I'm using this (B8Stack) on my Windows 10 machine. There are links on this thread to downloads on GitHub; that's how I got my copy