Can tilt/shift replace focus stacking for jewelry macro on a Nikon D850?
Asked 6/5/2019
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I photograph jewelry with a Nikon D850 and a 200mm Micro-Nikkor, and I usually rely on focus stacking. My main issue is loss of detail/definition in shadow areas. I’m wondering whether mounting the Nikon on a studio camera or bellows setup with movements, or using tilt/shift movements, would be a better approach for macro jewelry work. What kinds of movements are useful at close distances, and what results should I realistically expect compared with stacking?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
7y ago
2 Answers
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A Nikon PB-4 bellows is a nice piece of kit for close up + macro photography. It will give you a very limited set of movements (shift + swing) and these are not geared but workable.
I haven't tried using a 35mm camera on a studio 4x5. I imagine that you want to use 35mm lenses as those made for the 4x5 camera will be low resolution for the 35mm format. However, 35mm lenses may not give you a large enough image circle to allow for the movements you want. All that being said, If you already have a studio camera and necessary adapters around you might as well give it a go.
The following general knowledge for macro/closeup may be helpful (which you may already be aware of): 1) If you're magnifying the item above 1:1 reversing the lens will generally give you better results. 2) Once you approach 1:1 diffraction becomes a much bigger issue. f8 at a magnification of 2:1 will give you diffraction effective to f24 or f stop * (magnification + 1).
I hope that something above helps, good luck!
Originally by user28224. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user28224
7y ago
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Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
Tilt/shift movements and focus stacking solve different problems.
Tilt/swing lets you reposition the plane of focus, which can help if the important surfaces of the jewelry lie on a slanted plane. But it does not increase depth of field around that plane. So if your subject has real 3D depth, movements usually won’t replace stacking.
For jewelry macro, stacking is still the better tool when you need more of the piece sharply rendered front-to-back. Movements can be helpful in limited cases, but they won’t fix thin depth of field by themselves.
A bellows such as the Nikon PB-4 can provide limited movements for close-up work, but the movements are modest. Using a 35mm camera on a 4x5 studio camera is possible in principle, but lens choice is tricky: many 35mm lenses may not have enough image circle for useful movements, while large-format lenses may not be ideal for extracting maximum resolution on a 35mm-format sensor.
So: expect movements to help place focus more strategically, not to replace stacking. If you already have access to a studio camera or bellows, it may be worth experimenting, but don’t expect a dramatic improvement over a good stacking workflow for deeply three-dimensional jewelry.
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