Learn Zerene Stacker to Make Beautiful Sharp Images

[@Sarah-g6k]

wow, just found your videos as have been searching for content relating to stacking software. Here comes a newbie question though.......do you denoise a group of images before bringing into the stacking software? If so, which program do you use? Also do you prefer working with Zerene Stacker or Helicon Focus? I am torn between them. I will go look through your other videos, as I have read in comments that you have a playlist for software.....excellent.

[@photobizmethod]

Yay for stacking ;) If you're new, I would use Helicon, but my fav is Zerene...I've been doing this for years. Have you seen my macro chat live show on Zerene? It's amazing. The developer was my guest, and he gave us great tips :)

[@Sarah-g6k]

@@photobizmethod i haven't managed to watch it yet but I have lined it up. Thank you for the tip about the live chat. Thank you also for replying. Happy Thanksgiving to you too!!!

[@bittertruth6175]

Thanks. Very well explained, instead of technical mambo jambo. Have you done any comparison of the same project between ZS and Helicon? What is your verdict and why? Thanks again.

[@photobizmethod]

great question. I love Zerene because it's better at connecting or stitching your work together, plus you can do more in this software, BUT if you're a beginner at stacking, it will take more time to learn.

[@bittertruth6175]

I always believe a little more time in beginning learning is like investment with larger reward in the future.

[@photobizmethod]

@@bittertruth6175 right :). Me too!

[@bittertruth6175]

Great tutorial. I have one more question. Given your own example of flower, if you have to choose only one method, which will it be? Method D or Pmax? Why? What will you do with your chosen method for Retouching? Thanks.

[@photobizmethod]

It really depends on how I shoot the image. Sometimes, I shoot in the studio, and sometimes, I shoot outside. I use a variety of software ;) I have this playlist: kzbin.info/aero/PLY7_qzjCvFjidS-r7g3WFC5IAuUNsHF2r and some others if you want to check out my post-processing?

[@rajewsr]

Please let me know how Zerene Stacker can work with RAW files, my preference as long as the output is also a native RAW file. I just installed the latest version (Build T2021-02-16-2045, Feb 16, 2021) and it only recognizes JPG and TIF files. I do see there is a Lightroom plug-in yet that apparently only converts the images to either TIF or JPG as it moves them into ZS. Thanks!

[@photobizmethod]

It can now convert RAW files now? Did you go to the preferences to check that off? Let me know... Thanks! When you use it with Lightroom I convert my files to Tif's but I remember Rik saying he was working on converting to RAW? I haven't tried converting to RAW because I like the tiffs :-)

[@rajewsr]

@@photobizmethod I don't see any options/preferences to enable directly opening RAW files, or saving as RAW either. Please let me know how you are or were able to work directly with RAW images, settings you made, etc. Thanks!

[@photobizmethod]

@@rajewsr sure I'll jump into zerene and get back to you :)

[@photobizmethod]

@@rajewsr So I checked Zerene to see if you can use RAW files... If you have the Pro version you can take the RAW files from Lightroom into Zerene but when you import the stacked file back you have a choice of TIff or jpeg. I import them to 16 bit Tiff files. Rik has more details here if you're interested. zerenesystems.com/cms/stacker/docs/faqlist#what_kinds_of_image_files_will_zerene_stacker_handle Hope this helps...

[@rajewsr]

@@photobizmethod Thank you for following up and for the link. The article helps, I thought you had identified a hidden feature. It appears that when the Zerene Stacker "Lightroom plug-in" transfers files to ZS a behind the scenes RAW to TIFF format conversion is performed. When you're done stacking/editing in ZS you have to then get the result back into LR or Photoshop for further editing. What I was hoping to avoid is overly large files. When my RAW images are converted to 16-bit TIFF the filesize jumps to over 200MB (up from around 40MB). When I process a 300 image stack those ~200MB sized working files take up a lot of space, roughly 60GB! Apparently everyone has to work through these challenges. Luckily for all of us, it is worth the effort as the result from ZS is incredible.

[@luttekikker]

I downloaded both the trials of Zerene Stacker and Helicon Focus and I get better results with Helicon Focus by far somehow. But I like the interface of Zerene Stacker more (the light interface is just nicer). Hard to decide....Helicon is also more expensive but it's also a lifetime registration so it's neglectable in the end since you use it for years to come. Anyone else that has the same doubts between those 2 (most used?) focus stacking software programs?

[@florijnpockele9916]

i have a couple questions... is it better to put them first in lightroom and edit them before stacking? and why are the tiff files so blurry in zerene stacker... i dont have it with jpg files

[@photobizmethod]

What I like to do is fix the camera calibration but I don't do much in Lightroom. You can actually send over RAW images now, and save them as a RAW to have the power of post-production after your stack. On the question regarding Tiffs and jpgs... The camera processes your images and then sends them out to jpegs, part of the processing is sharpening. If you're shooting RAW and not sharpening your images they will be blurry. Are you shooting RAW?

[@florijnpockele9916]

​@@photobizmethod yes i started shooting raw.. then put them in lightroom and make them tiff files for zerene stacker

[@photobizmethod]

@@florijnpockele9916 That's what happened then. If you didn't sharpen the RAW's before they went to tiffs they won't be as sharp. Here is a video I made if you're interested... kzbin.info/www/bejne/aZSugqZ6js2Id6M

[@MNA7movie]

Thanks for the video. Can you tell me if there is a way to have multiple photos in the program and have them automatically stacked without having to sit and watch ever single one? Thank you in advance.

[@MNA7movie]

Janice Sullivan thanks for the reply Janice. Sorry, I wasn’t clear. What I meant was if there is a way to have 30 different images, each with their own stack, one after the other, run through the night while I am asleep, for example. So when one is done, it automatically starts the next one. Thank you again.

[@luishecheverym56]

Muchas gracias muy buen video mejor explicado no podria ser, arregle unas imagenes que hace poco habia tomado

[@photobizmethod]

You're welcome! :)

[@exdantex]

Thank You.

[@photobizmethod]

You're so welcome! Just an update... Zerene now will work with RAW images too :)

[@wassim2364]

☕️👍

[@photobizmethod]

Thank you