Focus Bracketing on Fujifilm Cameras

Focus bracketing on Fujifilm cameras, such as the XT3, XT4, XS10, GFX100S, etc.. Most of the step-by-step Photoshop, Lightroom, and Helicon Focus focus stacking information will also cover the X-T2, as well as most DSLR or mirrorless cameras.
My FAVORITE Tripod: amzn.to/3f95WSX
Fujifilm Macro Extension Tube MCEX-11: amzn.to/2VUDxsx
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Fujifilm XF35mmF2 R WR: amzn.to/2WbCUcQ
Helicon Focus; www.heliconsoft.com/
Serene Stacker: zerenesystems.com/cms/stacker
Link to great focus stacking article by Fujifilm on Internet Archive (since they removed from live site for some reason): web.archive.org/web/201904021...
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#pal2tech #fujifilm #focusbracketing

[@tammysypniewski1891]

You bring such value to Fuji shooters. Each video is like its own master class......except fun. 😉

[@pal2tech]

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.

[@jefferycampbell2243]

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.

[@MarcinSporysz]

Finally, a comprehensive video on Fuji's Focus Stacking, Thanks!

[@pal2tech]

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!

[@MarcinSporysz]

@@pal2tech Yeah, I did some garden flowers shots last weekend. Worked nicely, certainly easier than manually refocusing for each partial frame.

[@ruggieromanente4855]

Best explanation on focus stacking I've seen on KZbin so far. Thank you so much for all the effort you put into this very detailed tutorial.

[@jacoroelfroberts2667]

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!!

[@EduCrakie]

MAKE A VIDEO ABOUT HOW TO READ AN HISTOGRAM PLS I BEG YOU

[@supersizejm]

Thank you! I was just playing with this yesterday and the Steps were giving me trouble. You explained it very well!

[@paulthomas8986]

Awesome video Chris. Focus stacking sure is a lot of fun to play around with. Another top notch video. Thanks for the time you put into making this.

[@stevenmichael7004]

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!

[@pal2tech]

Sorry about that dinging bell every minute in the 1st half of the video! I wish I could edit that darn sound out. 🎥KZbin doesn’t allow us to edit a published video like that. 🤨 oh well...

[@timothylinn]

Wouldn't it be great if KZbin 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.

[@johngoodwin34]

Made me jump and looking around to see what was causing it lol.

[@davebenson1504]

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

[@josecolon8143]

You have done a marvelous tutorial! Thank you, again, for teaching us so much! Blessings to you and your loved ones!!! 🙏

[@tonyelsom]

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.

[@pal2tech]

Thank you so much!

[@malozfilms]

Great tutorial Chris! Thank you. I'm going to try it with some macro jewerly photos

[@miguelosvaldo]

great info!! and I can practice with my xt2. I think it's the first time someone explains the focus bkt clearly. thanks and stay safe.

[@rossjanthony]

This is awesome. Thorough, well presented and inspirational. I immediately had a project idea spring to mind, Thank you.

[@tomwd.2825]

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.

[@1BigBucks1]

Worth it just for the step explanation! Nice job 👍🔍📏

[@pal2tech]

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…

[@schotj]

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

[@pal2tech]

Mahalo very much!!!! 👍

[@ericprouzet3851]

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.

[@FlorianCortese]

Chris, thank you so much for this. Nicely explained and demonstrated!

[@yimmy120787]

I watched so many videos about focus bracketing because I couldn't get it working! but this is it! thank you so much ;)

[@oneworldwoman]

Thank you for another clear and concise tutorial. Your dedication is very much appreciated.

[@juancarlosplaza8301]

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!

[@pencilman1]

Thanks for doing all the research/work so I can just jump in and do the process. DId a good job of explaining it.

[@mauistevebear]

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!!

[@jmiller1819]

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!

[@pal2tech]

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!

[@Enrique-the-photographer]

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

[@YonahMusic1]

Thank you professor. Coming to your classroom is always a great enjoyable learning experience.

[@pal2tech]

Why thank you good sir! And you, of course, are my #1 student! 👍 💯

[@remektekmedia6641]

Thank you for making this. I appreciate how much work you might have had to put into this.

[@pal2tech]

Thank you so much! 🙏

[@picsbyrob]

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.

[@dathuynh7415]

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

[@ChuckRiley]

All your videos are great, but your Fuji tutorials really rock.

[@stefanoguidone]

Another great video!! And yes, always cool to see what happens behind the scene.

[@vladimirhammer3174]

Just bought my X-T3 and your content really helps me a lot! Thanks and keep it up! You’re amazing!

[@pal2tech]

Awesome! Thank you! I know you'll get some great images with it!!! 👍

[@mostosi1965]

Great video, man !! Really quite helpful and explained quite detailed and clear. thanks so much

[@street_biologist6727]

Great Friday night learning & entertainment!! Thank you my friend!!

[@neilbryant8256]

Thanks Chris, you're a great teacher and you make everything fun, please keep it up.

[@pal2tech]

Thank you so much Neil!

[@terryjones6049]

Fantastic source of information. Thanks for taking the time to share

[@rjpcam]

Thanks for getting into the details! It really helps!

[@courtneyddp]

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.

[@arildthingvoll5967]

Amazing video! The best focus stacking video ever!! Now, at least, I understand the focus stacking settings in my Fujifilm X-H1!

[@please20130]

Great teacher, clear explanation and details. Love your videos. Keep it up! :)

[@KristiGay1973]

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.

[@Exercises10]

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!

[@pal2tech]

My pleasure! Thank you!

[@Nafrodite]

Your tutorials are amazing; I've learned a lot about my camera from you. Big thanks.

[@beapeeters2838]

Great Tutorial...clearly and understandable for me! I appreciate all of your tutorials: your enthousiasm is contagious! Thx!

[@viagensebabados]

Amazing video and explanation. I learned a lot. Thank you very much for all the time and effort you put on this!

[@furkantozlu]

great video. Thanks for showing all the key points

[@moserbua]

You explained this whole process so good. Thank you sooooooo much👍👍👍👍👍

[@marcf2895]

👍 Awesome video explanation of a feature that had previously NEVER been fully explained anywhere else I’ve seen.

[@PD-yc3ud]

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!

[@stuarthaythorn183]

Loved this video. I've never considered trying this method as it looked to be too much of a faff, but your video has made it look so simple that I've got to try it 👍🏻

[@AlainLafleche1]

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 !!

[@shivhaaha]

The best video about Focus stacking... Thanks a lot!

[@TheShadowtheCrow]

Many many thanks for your hard work on this video!

[@diegomilanese3930]

it's always a pleasure to follow your tutorials. Thank you so much!

[@pal2tech]

You're very welcome! 🙏

[@petes5152]

Yes please to histograms and white balance and how they interact. Amazingly great video BTW

[@AllRedLFC]

Thanks for taking your time to find out about ’steps’ in that focus bracket menu! I thought it would be something like that, now i now. Good video!! 👍

[@pal2tech]

Hey Patric, not a problem buddy! Yeah, those steps were driving me crazy and the Fujifilm manual was of such little help. Anyhow, at least I got them somewhat figured out and onto the next thing! Take care…

[@piperdude1605]

I was surfing and found your channel and glad I did. Excellent video! Thanks for the hard work.

[@pal2tech]

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!

[@christopherbgriffith]

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!

[@pal2tech]

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!

[@marvesrivas307]

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.

[@pal2tech]

Hey Marves that's so awesome!!! It really is a great feature to play around with!!! Good luck and I know you'll get some AMAZING shots!!!!

[@Milldene]

Thanks, great explanationof all parts of the focus bracketing feature. I have not seen anything that explains it so clearly - a great help

[@hawksboy]

Fantastic job - you put more work into these than most youtubers! I going to try this

[@pal2tech]

Awesome, thank you!

[@diba4645]

Thx. No better channel for practical use of Fuji on earth!

[@jan-arnegewert7840]

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.

[@pal2tech]

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!! 👍

[@Alexandrosflower]

I have owned Fuji Cameras since the X-Pro1 and I didn‘t know this function ! Very thorough and well presented video !

[@anneforbes8214]

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.

[@pal2tech]

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!

[@apixphotographystudios]

As always, super informative video. Thank you!

[@Dal1970again]

Had my X-T3 for over a year and never figured this out - will have to give it another try now! Great easy to follow instructions

[@pal2tech]

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!

[@jmkorreia]

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.

[@renatlatip]

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.

[@TheRedrusso]

Such a great help your are man. No wonder even Angry Ken loves you.

[@carlosrobledo7833]

This was great. Thanks for clarifying the process and showing other processing tools besides PS.

[@pal2tech]

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!

[@dude157]

Well done for making this complicated process so easy to follow.

[@SuperKingNs]

Thank you very much Chris for sharing this great and interesting Video. Now I know finally how to use BKT 👍😀. All the best and take care.

[@skylar767]

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.

[@AJ_Stone]

I dont have a Fuji camera, but I couldn't stop watching this video. Great video!

[@robertsiqueira9899]

Man, i love your videos.. rich of details!! Congrats!!!

[@pal2tech]

Hey Robert! Thank you so much for the kind words. All the best to you and I hope to see you around here again real soon. Take care buddy!

[@brianbeevers714]

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.

[@mattcero1]

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!

[@sphaera3809]

Awesome tutorial! Thank you for this tutorial.

[@werderden]

Thank you for this video, really nice as always! Your videos are really enjoyable and helpful. Please keep up the nice work!

[@vbcolombo]

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!

[@mje1625]

Another outstanding tutorial video. Just when a question entered my thick skull... you answered it!

[@pal2tech]

LOL, thanks!!!

[@richardmardex3014]

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.

[@pal2tech]

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!

[@AnthonySmith-sc4zs]

Such a good channel! Thank you so much for sharing this knowledge!

[@nilgf5131]

Thank you mate, I learned a lot about my XS 10 configuration with your videos.

[@paulboyd6820]

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.

[@themick79i]

Thank yoy for showing me how “steps” works, i never figured out otherwise 👍🏻

[@pal2tech]

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!

[@ertugrul8459]

Thank you for all your hard work. Excellent explanation.

[@jasonwines]

Thanks pal2tech! I needed the step function explained to me and I got it! My photo came out just how I thought it should.

[@kjtubed]

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!

[@eldermael]

You just won a subscriber. This channel is awesome. I like the explanations because they are very clear.

[@bkh7050]

thank you for the lesson, it's very interesting it's clear and understandable :)

[@jimgibson5265]

Just simply fantastic ! Thanks Chris

[@pal2tech]

Jim, wow, thanks man!!! Yeah, I can't believe how friggin LONG it took to finally finish this video, LOL!!!!!

[@andyobrien6263]

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!

[@pal2tech]

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!

[@harshailluri]

Your videos are invaluable resource for learning to use my xt3. Appreciate the work you put in to these videos. Thank you.

[@pal2tech]

My pleasure! Thank you so much my friend!!!

[@terrygoodfellow1876]

I am so glad you made this video. Wish I'd found it a few days ago.

[@tammylong111]

Wonderful tutorial! Thanks so much!

[@roelievandermeer6777]

Thanks!!!! I Iwatched the video over and over. Great the way you explain it.

[@pal2tech]

Awesome, thank you!