Several Questions

[DireHavok]

Sorry but thought this method would save from having to type out each question individually.

I just recieved focus tube, & trying to figure things out. I shoot with canon & sony. I have only tried with the canon 6D,77D to follow, Sony will be another story

All seems to be working except I'm guessing canon 100mm macro has electronic focus as the focus window on lens never moves yet I see the changes.

1st question) How do I know if firmware update completed successfully? In app it lists 3 FW update versions 1.0.4, 1.1.4.0 & 1.3.12. I sent 1.3.12 green LED flashed for maybe 5 seconds then went solid green & stayed that way, however app counter finished. there seems to be no way of knowing what version tube is currently at correct? And the only way for me to get LED to turn off is to disconnect it from camera body.

2nd question) Does tube tell camera to stop shooting? In app I send lens config to FB tube LED flashes & goes out leaving a faint red LED, I have focus distance set at Full, I tried both manual & Auto on lens, AF set to Flexzone single, drive set to continuous. When pressing shutter button LED flashes for every shot. I am under the impression that the shutter should stop when reaching its set step setting. it never stops for me unless I remove my finger.

When reviewing image stack it seems to be shifting focus for each shot.

Any insight to this would be great, as it seems all tutorials & YouTube videos are tailored to NIkon.

[Stas Yatsenko]

First of all, there’s no need for you to update firmware, you had the latest version pre-installed. But if you decided to do it, please make sure that Live View is on, send the data to the tube and watch the led flash until it goes constant green. Unlike tube configuration process, you will need to take the battery out of the camera for a few seconds after the firmware update.
Please let me remind you that the Recommended step in the utility (https://www.heliconsoft.com/helicon-fb-tube-configuration-utility/#recommended_step ) is not the number of frames to be taken, but the size of the step between two consecutive shots. We say ‘Recommended’, because for some lenses we’ve determined the optimal step, i.e. the one that will allow DoF areas of consecutive shots to overlap and not to leave areas out of focus between shots, and on the other hand, for them not to overlap too much causing excessive shots.

Focusing steps of the tube is the value proportional to rotation of the focus ring of the lens, and not to the linear movement of focus in mm, it’s in arbitrary units. The step size will be different for different lenses and apertures, as well as distance to the object. Step sizes for some lenses and different apertures are preset in the utility. As for the other ones, the step size should be determined experimentally, for instance, this way: https://www.heliconsoft.com/helicon-fb-tube-setting-step/

The tube does not control the camera, so it is not possible for the tube to set the required number of shots. When using the tube you control the number of shots manually, or by watching the focus move in the focus distance window of the lens. If at the end of the series you see that the focus hasn’t reached the end of the desired range, you can make additional shots if needed. In general, we’d recommend to make more shots and to delete excessive ones on the focus stacking stage.

[DireHavok]

Thank you for responding so quickly, It's gonna be a slight learning process for me & that makes thing more clear for me.