Helicon Remote not going through all focusing steps

[smopr86]

I`ve been trying everything to make helicon remote work and I just cant figure it out.

I`m using canon 5ds r with canon 100mm macro L version.

My workflow is as follows:
I set the focus on the closest point and save it then I move one focus step at a time all the way to the back and save it.

then i hit start shooting. its showing that its going through all images ( most of the time its 50 plus images) but at the end when I export everything and stack them with helicon, the focus doest go all the way to the back. its taking the same photo every time.
at this point i really have no idea that to try.

any suggestions ?

thanks

[Catherine]

Hello,

Do I understand correctly that the focus position doesn't move at all while shooting the stack? This is due to the focus settings in the camera. Check that the lens is set to full range if it has a range switch. Then activate live view in the camera and make sure that only the simple single-shot mode is selected (no servo, tracking, continuous, AI, face detection etc.).
It's important to select the focus mode in live view because Canon DSLRs have separate focus settings for live view and non-live view operation.

[KatrinLeoPako]

Hello, I had the same problem with my Canon R and 100mm lens. Everything was set up as you described and suggested. However, after a few attempts, I gave up and resorted to manually focusing, which resulted in sharp images. Do you have any other ideas as to why it doesn't want to focus on the entire image?

Furthermore, I encountered an error message every time I tried to save an image.

[Catherine]

It is due to the focus mode settings in the camera, or the range switch on the lens not set to full range. We don't know why exactly it doesn't work for you, but we do know that checking the focus mode settings as described above always works.
Is it an RF mount lens?

Regarding the message on the screenshot: save the result to DNG to avoid the warning. Otherwise, you can ignore the warning and save to TIFF or JPEG and the image will be fine, but there will be no EXIF metadata in the resulting file.

[KatrinLeoPako]

I checked everything and everything is set up as described in instruction. I did another test with different object. The same problem.
Plus my camera can stop working at all after using your soft and I have to shut down and up again. It started after few times using your app.
I have Canon R. It's a RF, but I use EF and adapter for that.
Plus when I put, based on tutorial, point A and B, it gives me just 2-3 images to shoot and not goes all the way through whole image. Right now I use the trial version of the soft, cuz I wanted to test it before buying.

[Catherine]

At first it sounded like focus didn't move at all, but now that's clearly not the case. Now it sounds like everything works, except the auto-calculated interval between shots is too large. Click the "DOF" button and change the "Correction factor" field from 1.0 to 0.1, that should help.

[KatrinLeoPako]

Thank you. I will try and let you know

[KatrinLeoPako]

At first it sounded like focus didn't move at all, but now that's clearly not the case. Now it sounds like everything works, except the auto-calculated interval between shots is too large. Click the "DOF" button and change the "Correction factor" field from 1.0 to 0.1, that should help.

I've changed the Correction factor, taken more images, but no, it didn't work. After processing it with Helicon Focus, it still shows blur spots!
When I do this manually, in Capture One or LightRoom it works perfect after I render it.

But with Helicon Remote the image lacks sharpness and quality. Furthermore, my camera froze everytime after using Helicon. I'm unsure about what to do with it... I've watched your YouTube tutorials and checked your website, but nothing has helped. It has never worked properly since I downloaded it from the beginning.

[KatrinLeoPako]

Also. What I've noticed. I did shots in Capture one. I see all sharp. I put it in Helicon FOCUS. and after rendring it changeв the color in more pale that it was before, plus my subject partly not in focus! But I know that all images I did really sharp and nice.

[Catherine]

After processing it with Helicon Focus, it still shows blur spots!

That means even more shots are needed (the DOF is still not estimated correctly). To get the automatic calculation to work properly the calculator needs calibration for your specific setup (body and lens). You can follow the calibration procedure, or you can simply keep reducing the correction factor in half until the blue is gone (i. e. 0.1 -> 0.05 -> 0.025 and so on). Or you can visually find the value that yields about 30% overlap between images. Smaller correction factor means smaller interval - more shots to cover the same range.

Also. What I've noticed. I did shots in Capture one. I see all sharp. I put it in Helicon FOCUS. and after rendring it changeв the color in more pale that it was before, plus my subject partly not in focus! But I know that all images I did really sharp and nice.

Click the "Raw development settings" button in Helicon Focus. Which codec is selected?

[KatrinLeoPako]

After processing it with Helicon Focus, it still shows blur spots!

That means even more shots are needed (the DOF is still not estimated correctly). To get the automatic calculation to work properly the calculator needs calibration for your specific setup (body and lens). You can follow the calibration procedure, or you can simply keep reducing the correction factor in half until the blue is gone (i. e. 0.1 -> 0.05 -> 0.025 and so on). Or you can visually find the value that yields about 30% overlap between images. Smaller correction factor means smaller interval - more shots to cover the same range.

Also. What I've noticed. I did shots in Capture one. I see all sharp. I put it in Helicon FOCUS. and after rendring it changeв the color in more pale that it was before, plus my subject partly not in focus! But I know that all images I did really sharp and nice.

Click the "Raw development settings" button in Helicon Focus. Which codec is selected?

I don't understand what are you asking me to do. I don't see Raw development settings button in my app. Maybe, because I use trial?

[Catherine]

Your source images are .tif, this is not a raw format. The "Raw development settings" button only appears when the source images are in raw format.

In this case, if the images are not sharp, this is a problem with whatever software converted your original shots to tif and definitely not a problem with Helicon Focus.

[KatrinLeoPako]

Oh, I see now. Cuz later I've put separate tiff format. now I've put raw and here it is.

[Catherine]

Looks normal to me, not fuzzy as the previous example you've shown. Or is the problem purely with colors now?