A lot of macro work is shot with a variety of flash setups. The focus bracket interval setting should be set to whatever your flash needs to recharge before the next shot and/or prevent overheating. I've had good luck using 1 second intervals, but I'm sure it will vary depending on the flash power settings and battery condition.
Please don't ever stop making videos!! 90% of what i know is what you taught us! Thank you so much! I pray that you get a hell of a boost on this channel!! You are amazing!!
I've actually sat and watched this video 3 or 4 times now. It takes a bit longer for us oldies to absorb all this information. Anyway, a brilliantly helpful tutorial, thankyou.
Hey Marcin, you are most welcome! Yeah, it is a lot of fun to do this technique and what is great is that it can be done anywhere. I'm sure you are going to get some great photos!
Thanks for this, I am completely in awe of this video and the time you must of spent researching and filming this. Focus stacking is something I have thought about but always scratch my head and put it in the too hard basket. Certainly going to have a go at this, but might have to re watch this vlog another 20 or 30 times !!! Awesome stuff.
Sorry about that dinging bell every minute in the 1st half of the video! I wish I could edit that darn sound out. 🎥RU-vid doesn’t allow us to edit a published video like that. 🤨 oh well...
Wouldn't it be great if RU-vid let you replace a video with a newly edited one and not lose your comments and likes? I get that there are arguments against allowing this but Flickr _does_ allow it and, every once in a while, this capability comes in really handy.
dinging bell... what dinging bell... I was too focussed on the video and its details... kind of like the psych test counting the passes made by basketball players and no one noticed the character in the gorilla suit walk through... www.theinvisiblegorilla.com/gorilla_experiment.html
Hey Tammy! Thank you so much! Yeah, this video was like a stale hangover that went on way too long. LOL, I actually shot much of the basic footage back in November but got stuck on the "steps" part and that took a hell of a lot of time to figure out. Anyhow, I am looking forward to seeing a new video from you and see that your channel is growing (as it deserves to be!). Take care and I will definitely see you again around this electronic campfire.
This was by far the best explanation of the steps setting I've seen. I've played with shooting stacked images with my X-T3 and have had a lot of success, but just could never figure out what changes were happening when I would test it with different steps. I knew I was missing something and this was an awesome explanation... had to subscribe!
Hey James, thank you so much man. Yeah, I was pulling my hair out at the steps portion of the video. I had everything else finished and shot but I could nail it down until I finally stumbled across an ancient article by a Fujifilm engineer which explained it. Once I read it and got the data, I was able to put everything together so all is good. Thank you again for the kind words and all the best to you sir!
Thank you so much for your "easy to learn" video! I tried to read this stuff from books various times. Without success. It's a hell a lot of information and as you mentioned not all adjustments at the Fuji are self explanatory. Today I picked my X-T2 and ran various trials with a freshly harvested lemon, my neighbough brought me proudly from his tiny tree. Haven't developed all frames so far, but I had much fun taking the pictures and know I understand the basics of fokus bracketing. Thanks again, Jan.
Hey Jan-Arne!! Thank you for the kind words sir!!! A lemon is as awesome subject as any. Keep it up and you'll refine and learn your technique, not to mention pick up a few tips of your own. Keep shooting!! 👍
Great video on multiple levels. I'm in the process of converting to Fuji X for several reasons, not the least is I'm old school and want the manual "feel". I've only in the past year begun using focus stacking, and honestly wasn't aware of the features these cameras have to support it. You've both educated me on the technique, but also on the camera I plan to use. Thanks!
I’m still learning how to use my XT3 and I had no I idea about bracketing or stacking. It’s very interesting and I really love how I learn about so many other functions and tips and tricks from your videos. Thank you.
Thank you kind Sir, your thorough explanations on all your videos are excellent. Without you I would still be fumbling through a next to useless manual, and I may well never have achieved the level of enthusiasm for photography that I have. This video not only helps us with Fujifilm camera bracketing mode, but also LR to PS photo stacking. You are an inspiration, keep well!
Ah! Thank you for the step explanation. From trial and error I’d determined 10 was a good setting to use, but it’s great to understand what’s actually happening. Kudos to you for figuring it out!
Thanks Christopher! Yeah, you would think logically that step #5 would be the correct setting to use - but for so many of the shooting situations when I set it to 10 it seemed to work the best. Anyhow, thank you for the kind words and all the best to you!
Thank you very much for this GREAT tutorial. Your directions were spot on. A couple of things tho... You may want to mention that if you have a manual lens, the camera can't automatically do the bracketing. I created my photo manually with your directions. It turned out fantastic! Also, I had a bit of issues saving it because it was such a large file. Some comments regarding that may be helpful. I think there was an update on Photoshop, as I didn't have the option to untick layers. Thanks again!
You are such a fantastic teacher. This compliment is from a former public school teacher with 20 years of professional photography experience also. I would pay for Fuji specific classes from you. Something to consider... These days you can teach online so much easier. I think you could really fill a need for Fuji users but really your experience level is so broad that you could of course teach people who use other brands too.
@@pal2tech May be late to the party but I always thought histograms were just those funky graphics I had get off my viewfinder. Would love to know thier purpose.
Your research and knowledge on this subject shines through. Thanks for taking the time to put this together. I find the most value in these full walk through tutorials. Aloha from Hawaii
Wow, I doubt if I ever get this "nuts and bolts" into my photography/X-S10 but it's great to know there's this instruction on how to do this. This guy is the "Ken Rockwell" of the internet!
Sir, i totally appreciate your really down to earth videos, easy, honest and straight forward... I enjoy it any time even I am a photographer with more than 15 years of experience. Keep up that work.
Hey Darren, that's great! You definitely wanted to try it out one or two times for sure. Even if you don't end up shooting a lot of focus bracketing photos, it still is great to learn and play around with from time to time. All the best to you sir!
I found your video as I was starting to tell myself I should try focus stacking with my recent XT4. I'm so glad you took time to go into details of all steps, as you usually do. I'm looking forward going outside and shooting some landscape! Thanks again for your excellent tutorials.
This video has been by far the most helpful thing I've seen in regarding doing focus stacking with Fuji XT cameras. I particularly appreciated how you demystify the "Step" setting in the Fuji Focus Bracketing menu. Also, that showed yourself trying to get started while in the "S" shooting setting - haven't we all been there, done that?! While there are many knowledgeable people out there making photography "how to" videos, you explain everything in a clear, concise way that is easy to follow. Thanks so much for putting this excellent video together and sharing it.
Hey Richard! Thank you so much Sir you have totally made my day! 🙏 🙏 I can't tell you how frustrating it was trying to figure out the Step process. Everyone kept pointing to an ancient article that Fujifilm had removed from their website. After weeks of research, I was able to finally dig it up on an Internet archive area and pull up the original article. From the data in there, I was able to rerun all of the tests and confirm how the step process works. Unbelievable in that Fujifilm couldn't simply have explained this in the first place in the user manual for the damn camera, LOL! Anyhow, thank you for such kind words and you totally made my day. Please stay safe and all the best to you!
I tried focus bracketing today for the first time with my Fuji X-T2 (that I've had since October 2019). I shoot a lot of macro but never had the capability to create multiple focus area images easily when I was using my Canon FF camera bodies. HOLY WOW!~ I adore my Fuji gear so much. And your videos are always so helpful. Thank you so much for all that you do.
Thank you for sharing!.. I've just got my first Fujifilm camera thanks to this awesome channel!.. having loads of fun with my X-T30!.. and I'd love to learn more about histogram!
Excellent video on this topic, Chris. I don't think there's a better one out there. Kudos for letting me know I'm not the only one who forgets to move the switch to BKT! Big kudos for decoding the mystery of the STEP setting. One of the interesting things about Fuji's focus bracketing system is that it doesn't seem to adjust the step dynamically. In other words, the step distance, whether 5mm or 5m, doesn't seem to adjust even though the farther the camera focuses out the larger the depth of field becomes. I will often use the DOF indicator (set to "pixel level" in the menu) on the focus scale that appears in manual focus mode and manually turn the focus ring, taking shots that just overlap each other in terms of focus. It's more work when capturing but can result in significantly fewer files to deal with. I hope I'm making sense. I would like to suggest one more alternative for a post-processing workflow that can result in higher quality, more flexible files. Users of Iridient's $29 X-Transformer Lightroom plug-in know that it can really increase the quality and detail of Fuji RAF files. I take the RAFs in my focus stacks and export them to X-Transformer. X-Transformer returns a very high quality DNG file for each RAF file. Once I have the DNG files, I send them to Helicon Focus. Helicon Focus has the unique ability to output a DNG (RAW) file when the source files are also DNG. This leaves me with a single, focus-stacked DNG file that I can continue to tweak non-destructively whenever I wish. The intermediate DNG files used to create the final focus-stacked DNG file can be deleted and re-created again later as long as I keep the original RAF files. My results have been outstanding. That final focus-stacked DNG file can also be exported into Photoshop as a smart object just like any other RAW file.
In my camera "window shopping", I think this is an area the X-T4 looks to have improved on, even over more expensive cameras. It has an automatic focus bracketing option, it takes you out to the live view so you can see what you're actually shooting, gets you to focus on a point "A", then a point "B" and it works out the rest!
Absolutely fantastic! I’ve been hoping you’d cover this! My wife won a coveted ‘Chelsea Flower Show’ Gold Medal 🥇 last year & now I’m going to focus bracket it & get it framed! Stay safe & thanks again!
Hey Andy! Thank you so much. And that is awesome she won the gold medal with that. You definitely want to try focus bracketing out and that sounds like the perfect object to use for this sort of thing. If money is tight, I would recommend downloading Zerene Stacker and activating their 30 day trial. It's free for 30 days and then you can simply remove it when you are finished if that is all you plan on doing. Honestly, between all three types of software I covered in the video, I think that one will yield overall the best results. Keep in mind that my testing was quite limited and I'm sure you could match all the results with the others but with default settings in the way that I did it. I found it to be overall the one that produced the most consistently best results. Anyhow, good luck and I hope your photos turn out great!
THANK YOU VERY MUCH! You're such a good teacher, I wish I could meet you and work by your side and ask the 1000s of questions I have everytime I go to the softwares. Thanks!
I'm glad you stuck with it too. Thanks for pointing out those things that can "really trip you up." It's nice to be forwarned about those not so obvious gotcha s. Chris, thanks for another informative vid.
Wow Chris!! This is the best tutorial on Fuji focus bracketing in the whole world. The step parameter was driving me crazy. Thanks a lot for the explanation about it and all the other stuff!!! This weekend will be macro photography weekend!
Great, now I have something to do which I have wanted explained for a very long time. Just purchased a Fuji 80mm Macro. So you have hit the nail right on the Head. Thanks for all your effort and hard work. I’m also waiting for my pre ordered XT4 with 16-80mm lens in silver body which I’ve heard will come about a month later than the Black Body.
I cannot begin to tell you how much you have helped me with understanding the steps! I always thought that doing macro would be step 1 and used (say 10) shots...NEVER could get it to work, soI abandoned this feature and just manually moved focus points. Can't wait to try it out now!...and BTW, I always just 'flatten' the layers in Photoshop and hit save, back to LR. BUT now you have got me interested in Helicon Focus! Thank You Chris!! Another new trick for an old dog!!
This is a video that explain very well what is bracketing and stacking. Thank you pal2tech to give us a great and easy learning experience. Have a great day !!
Great video and super useful during the pandemic. I just purchased a steampunk type pocket watch to do a macro shot with, and you saved me a pile of time with the explanation of the Fujifilm focus bracketing. I'm glad you stuck with it to make this video.
Dear pal2tech Sometimes life is strange. In Lockdown United Kingdom yesterday, I thought what shall I do. I have my trusted X-T3 with me. Then I thought “I know, try the Focus Bracket feature”. So, I did. It went ok. But oh how I wished I had waited just 24 hours for your video to drop onto the planet. So today, me and X-T3 will be out again, in the garden, and giving it another go. So thank you very much for continuing to inspire us in these most trying of times. Hope you and all your family & friends remain safe.
Thank you for this video. I should have viewed it before I spent an afternoon of frustration! Thank you for all your informative and entertaining videos.
Thank you for a great video! I thought I knew what I was doing, but...... First, missed the head menu selecting focus bracketing over Exposure bracketing. And second I had no idea what the steps were. You are now my go-to for explanation of different aspects of my new XT3. Peace!
Excellent and interesting video. I’m so happy I found your channel as I’ve bought an X-t30 as a walk around to save carrying a large dslr and having never used Fuji I have a lot to learn. Your channel has been invaluable, thank you
Thank you so much! Yeah, most of the video was shot and the demos completed in November. Then… I got to trying to figure out exactly what the steps mean. The Fujifilm instruction manual was useless and it wasn't until I tracked down an ancient article written by a Fujifilm engineer that had been removed from the Internet (which I was able to relocate on Internet archive) that I was able to figure out and draw the pieces together. Anyhow, like a stale hangover that went on too long, I was able to finally get that figured out and put into the video. I'm glad it was helpful though! I appreciate the kind words and take care…
Just put in a down for an X-T3 a few days ago since my X-T20 was dying. This helps me so much since I shoot a lot of food and don't use focus stacking since it takes too much time. Thank you so much! ^_^
Thank you so much. Really great movie. Great explanation as usual. I'm from Portugal and I love your way of "pass your knowledge" to us. Thanks for your work.
Thanks Mick! Yeah, I was so confused by the steps I had actually shot and edited most of the segment examples back in November. Then, I realized I needed to explain what the steps meant. That was when I went into a black hole which lasted for months trying to figure it out. All roads finally led to an ancient article that was pulled off the Internet and was written by a Fujifilm engineer. I put a link to that article on the Internet archive in the description of the video - but once I read it that was when I was able to connect the dots together and finally understand what the hell they were talking about with steps. As we all know, any mention of it in the manual is nonexistent. Anyhow, thank you for the nice words and take care!
This was great. I knew of the bracketing functions in Fuji cameras but I thought it was only for exposure or if you want different film simulations. I never knew it had the focus bracketing functions though. This video came out at the perfect time. I learned something new that I can actually put to use during this quarantine.
That was brilliant. I have to take macro images for education resources that involve quite a lot of electrical components. Having just purchased an XT-4 it will save me so much time as I don't particularly like photo stacking as its a bit of a pain. This looks like a muck better technique and will be trying it for my next set of images. Thank you so much.
I just wanna say I love your videos! And you pay so much attention to the level of skills of your viewers! Please keep up the good work. I’m binging all of your videos everyday now lol
Привет из Санкт-Петербурга (Россия). Регулярно смотрю Ваше видео. Спасибо за творческий подход и доступные разъяснения. Являюсь счастливым обладателем XT-3 и с нетерпением жду новых уроков. Извините за обращение на русском, желаю Вам творческих успехов .
Я люблю Санкт-Петербург. Я был там несколько раз, и я думаю, что это один из самых красивых городов на земле. Я хочу вернуться однажды. Я обычно тусовался и обедал возле Казанского собора
You are a fantastic instructor. I subscribed to your chanel and always look forward to your tutorials. I’m a Fuji enthusiast also. Thank you for sharing this. I will start using it in my landscape photography.
Hi Piper, thank you so much! That really means a lot to me and I am so glad that you found the video helpful. Please don't hesitate to connect with me if you have any questions. Take care!
Chris, great video, very informative and detailed. I have an X-H2 and, although the settings are in different places, your technique still applies. So glad I use ACDSee for my post-processing. It does the whole stacking thing without going back and forth to other programs.
Thank you for this very detailed video on focus bracketing. I have been inspired to try this again with my Fuji XT4. Your explanation on the settings and how they work is very beneficial. You’re right, one has to research this topic greatly to figure out these steps. Thanks for doing the leg work, much appreciated!
Great tutorial, you told me (sometime ago) that you were going to make a video on the subject and you did, it was worthwhile the wait. Thank you very much, now I can go and play with my X-T2
Super post for complex process, Chris. Well done. 👍 Congrats on pick-up of this vid by Petapixel - exposure should really boost your subs. Love bell and checkmark sequence. Pavlov would be so proud!😁. Great tip for front/back hand sequence marker - will definitely use that one - have been using only front hand. 50 images seems excessive, given the subject. Don’t understand why auto white balance would be a problem for same lighting and subject - wouldn’t expect scene coloration variance to be that great between shots. Two schools of thought on macro focus bracketing - one says adjust focus via lens, other says adjust focus via cam movement on macro rail. (BTW, some Olympus models do focus bracketing internally to yield single image recorded to SD card (must shoot JPEG however).)
Hey Paul, thank you so much! Yeah initially I was shooting only 30 images. However, the last thing I would want to have happen would be for one of the viewers to go to, say, Iceland, and shoot only 20 images and then get back to realize not all of them achieve the focal range! I know that's far-fetched… However, because the camera stops shooting once it reaches the final focus point, I figured that 50 would be a good place to start. Always better to delete shots than to not have enough. You make a good point about color balance - but I think where I was headed with this was for average shooter it's really hard to determine what type of lighting conditions they are going to be dealing with -- and so the absolute #1 safest way to guarantee as little difference between each frame as possible would be to set custom white balance, I figured I would throw that in there. Besides, they should darn well learn how to set their cameras custom white balance anyway! Anyhow, great to see you here again and take care buddy!
Thank you for another great video Chris. I love your enthusiasm! You've done great in demystifying focus bracketing for me and showing us HOW to do it in a very clear manner. But I am still not sure WHY I would want to use it. If you need to be on a tripod anyway you can always stop down the lens, particularly in landscape photography. Though I understand Marco lenses generally have very thin depths of fields, so perhaps it is less avoidable there.
Thank you very much for this video. Exactly then I tried to find some info about this function on my camera it was just a few sentences especially about steps. Now it is more clear for me.
Quick start focus bracketing settings According to the aforementioned article, the following values can be used as a general guide for getting started: Landscape photography Frames: 20 Step: 10 Interval: 0 Macro photography Frames: 100 Step: 5 Interval: 5 Low-light photography Frames: 20 Step: 5 Interval: 10
Hey Carlos, thank you so much! Yeah, I started using Photoshop and it was driving me crazy because the actual focus stacking just never looked that right. I know I could have gone into the layer mask settings and played around with it for hours but I did not want to do that. I think Zerene stacker is the best of the third-party software applications that I used and they do offer a 30 day trial - I have no affiliation with them whatsoever. Anyhow, good luck and I hope you get some great photos!
Hey Andrzej! Thank you so much - I really appreciate your kind words and look forward to seeing you around the channel real soon! Hope you are staying safe and take care! 🙏
Wonderful, and a thousand thanks pal2tech. This is the info I've been waiting for since I got the first of the X-series. I've been too timid to try but now I will.
Hi Anne! that is so awesome! It really is a great and fun technique to try out. And the best thing about it is you can pretty much do it anywhere. Good luck and I know you will get some awesome photos!
