Focus Bracketing/Stacking With A Fujifilm X-T3/X-T2

Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railway in Silverton, Colorado (click to enlarge)
Fujifilm X-T2, 16-55mm f/2.8 lens @ 29mm; f/11; three exposure bracket; ISO 200
Since I've been ill, I didn't have time to create a focus stacked image.  So, I'll give you this HDR image instead.

I first started experimenting with Focus Bracketing and Focus Stacking about 18 months ago, mainly because those two features were included in the Olympus E-M1 Mark II camera body that I had purchased a few months before. Some months ago Fujifilm, through a firmware update, added the focus bracketing feature to the X-T2 (may have been other cameras as well, but I'm not sure) and that capability is also included in the long list of features in the new X-T3. The problem became, I quickly discovered, that there was very little information available on what the in-camera settings really meant and how to use them most effectively when employing focus bracketing.  The upshot was a lot of trial and error with some discouragement thrown in.  However, I recently discovered an article that sheds some light, at least on Fujifilm's implementation of focus bracketing, that you might find useful and save yourself a lot of time and frustration in figuring out the most efficient use of this technique.  For those of you who are fuzzy about the difference between the two, let me take a couple of paragraphs to explain. 

Focus Bracketing is a technique you can employ, either manually or automatically (if your camera's features includes it), of making several identical images with your camera's lens focused at different distances.  Those images are later blended together to create a final image in which everything in the frame is in sharp focus.  

Focus Stacking is the technique used to actually accomplish the blending of those images either in-camera (again, if your camera's features includes it) or in software such as Photoshop of Helicon Focus.  There are other programs as well.  The Olympus E-M1 Mark II allows automatic focus stacking in-camera as well.  You compose, focus on your subject, turn on the focus stacking feature and the camera makes the exposures AND blends them together all in-camera.  I will say it works very well.  The Fujifilm cameras, however, don't have this feature.

When would you want to use focus bracketing?  Here are two examples:

Close-up or macro photography is the first example.  Due to very limited depth of field (because of the extreme close focusing distances) chances are not all of your intended subject will be in sharp focus.  Depth of field can be so limited that even stopping down to a very small aperture, f/16 or f/22, still will not allow the sufficient depth of field for the subject to fully be in focus.  Additionally, when stopping your lens down to that degree, diffraction softening comes into play and you lose some of the sharpness of that wonderful lens you spend hundreds of dollars to buy.  Focus bracketing can provide sharpness from front to back.

A second example is when photographing landscapes.  Typically adequate depth of field is not a problem as you can stop down your lens to cover the typical scene.  An aperture value of f/11 can usually cover the subjects you want in sharp focus.  However, there may be times when there is a flower, rock or other object very close to your lens as well as  snowy mountains or some other object far away and you would like to have both in sharp focus.  Both in sharp focus can drawn a viewer's eye into your image.  Stopping down the lens, again, may not get the job done.  Focus bracketing to the rescue.

To achieve manual focus bracketing, secure your camera on a sturdy tripod, stop down your lens to a moderate aperture, then focus on the nearest object you want in focus.  The second exposure would be sharply focused farther back into the scene and a third exposure at infinity.  Depending upon the scene, you may have to make more than three exposures.  In fact, in some macro images, you may make 20 images or more.  It depends upon the individual scene or subject.

Now here is the crux of this post.  If your camera has a focus bracketing feature, typically there are three settings to make.  First is the number of total exposures you want to make.  Second is a number you have to set, usually from 1-10, which will set a focus distance between exposures.  The third is the amount of time between each exposure.  

The problem arises as to where to set that 1-10 setting as each number can represent different distances between shots depending upon whether you are shooting macro or a grand landscape.  In other words, setting the camera at #5 when photographing a macro shot may move the focus 5mm but that same #5 setting when photographing a grand landscape may move the focus by several feet.  This is where the trial and error and subsequent experimentation comes in.  Also time and frustration.  Some help may have arrived, at least for Fujifilm owners.

As I mentioned, I found an article on the FujifilmXGFX.com website that describes what Fujifilm's settings mean.  The article is entitled, "Advanced Technique: Focus Bracketing With Fujifilm Cameras," The author's name is not given.  You can find and read the entire article here.  This is the first article I have found that gives the photographer an idea of how to use the 1-10 settings to cut experimentation down and achieve success much more quickly.  

I hope this information is of help.  Even if you are an Olympus E-M1 Mark II owner, the article may give you some indication as to how the focus bracketing feature is engineered.

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Thanks for looking. Enjoy! 

Dennis A. Mook 

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