DE&i Posted May 5, 2013 Share Posted May 5, 2013 Does anyone have some experience with stacking software to take photos of their macro-fossils I’ve only just come across this certain type of software and can’t believe I’ve overlooked it...i was completely blown away by some of the results I’ve seen? The software ive been researching is from this company Heliconsoft Regards, Darren. Regards.....D&E&i The only certainty with fossil hunting is the uncertainty. https://lnk.bio/Darren.Withers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted May 5, 2013 Share Posted May 5, 2013 Member pleecan was an early adopter of the Helicon technology, and has posted quite a lot on it (all before your having joined, which is why you never saw it). LINK to archive search results. 1 "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DE&i Posted May 6, 2013 Author Share Posted May 6, 2013 Thank you. Darren. Regards.....D&E&i The only certainty with fossil hunting is the uncertainty. https://lnk.bio/Darren.Withers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jualhadun87 Posted May 6, 2013 Share Posted May 6, 2013 Wow that looks like amazing software. I have always been frustrated by the very very limited depth of field with microscope photography and this looks like a great way to produce some amazing pictures of complex 3D fossils! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DE&i Posted May 6, 2013 Author Share Posted May 6, 2013 My thoughts exactly i was up late last night trying to put a package together on a budget...and like you said the results are stunning kinda kicks the microscope approach into touch. Darren. Regards.....D&E&i The only certainty with fossil hunting is the uncertainty. https://lnk.bio/Darren.Withers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gturner333 Posted May 23, 2013 Share Posted May 23, 2013 I wanted to thank you guys for mentioning the stacking software. I've never used it and have often been irritated by the depth of field blurriness that sometimes occurs. I just downloaded the eval version of Zerene stacker and it seems to work pretty well. I also got it to work without any documentation, which a good program should let you do. Although it is not a fossil, I experimented with a leg (probably grasshopper) and liked the results. See attached. I also used it on the smallest shark tooth I've ever found, which came from some bulk sample from around Lake Ray Roberts. The distance between the black marks is 1mm. Gary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DE&i Posted May 25, 2013 Author Share Posted May 25, 2013 I wanted to thank you guys for mentioning the stacking software. I've never used it and have often been irritated by the depth of field blurriness that sometimes occurs. I just downloaded the eval version of Zerene stacker and it seems to work pretty well. I also got it to work without any documentation, which a good program should let you do. Although it is not a fossil, I experimented with a leg (probably grasshopper) and liked the results. See attached. I also used it on the smallest shark tooth I've ever found, which came from some bulk sample from around Lake Ray Roberts. The distance between the black marks is 1mm. Gary Hi Gary, Excellent photos well done indeed. Darren. Regards.....D&E&i The only certainty with fossil hunting is the uncertainty. https://lnk.bio/Darren.Withers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ckmerlin Posted May 27, 2013 Share Posted May 27, 2013 (edited) Heres one I did of a tooth atached to a partial jaw fragment the original stills were taken with a USB microscope but as has been mentioned the depth of field can be poor so I took several frames at different focal points and ran them through the stacking software heres the result the size of the tooth and jaw is around 1.2 cm photos were x10 magnification through the microscope Edited May 27, 2013 by ckmerlin "A man who stares at a rock must have a lot on his mind... or nothing at all' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DE&i Posted May 27, 2013 Author Share Posted May 27, 2013 Those are excellent finds / photos guys you certainly achieved a sense of depth with the associated software and angled shots im looking forward to eventually use this technique. Darren. Regards.....D&E&i The only certainty with fossil hunting is the uncertainty. https://lnk.bio/Darren.Withers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pleecan Posted May 30, 2013 Share Posted May 30, 2013 (edited) Member pleecan was an early adopter of the Helicon technology, and has posted quite a lot on it (all before your having joined, which is why you never saw it). LINK to archive search results. Thanks Auspex! I still use helicon focus software: Here is an example of the power of Helicon Focus 14 frames stacked to generate mouth parts of house fly... complex beautiful geometries in nature... Imaged through 10x Fluorite Apo Lens on rebuilt Zeiss microscope.... Sony Nex5 camera. PL Edited May 30, 2013 by pleecan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
painshill Posted May 30, 2013 Share Posted May 30, 2013 Although it's not as sophisticated as the commercial applications, there is a freeware program by Alan Hadley called "CombineZP". Details (including links to Alan's site where you can download it) here: http://myrmecos.net/2009/12/05/combinezp-stack-your-images-for-free/ I've switched to Windows 8 in the last few weeks and not yet re-installed it, so can't confirm if it works on that platform. It didn't work on some home versions of Windows (like the dreaded Windows ME)... I think because Microsoft included a restriction to stop you from installing "unsigned" drivers. Roger I keep six honest serving-men (they taught me all I knew);Their names are What and Why and When and How and Where and Who [Rudyard Kipling] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AgrilusHunter Posted May 30, 2013 Share Posted May 30, 2013 I've used CombineZP and it works fairly well. It's not as user friendly as Helicon though. p.s. Why would anyone switch to Windows 8? "They ... savoured the strange warm glow of being much more ignorant than ordinary people, who were only ignorant of ordinary things." -- Terry Pratchett Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
painshill Posted May 30, 2013 Share Posted May 30, 2013 I've used CombineZP and it works fairly well. It's not as user friendly as Helicon though. p.s. Why would anyone switch to Windows 8? Agreed it's not as intuitive as Helicon, but it's free... even the cut-down Helicon Lite is $115 dollars for a full license (or $30 a year). As for Windows 8... it certainly wouldn't have been my choice, but if you buy a top-end spec laptop these days then it's pre-installed and that's almost your only choice (over here in the UK anyway). And it ain't even proper Windows 8... they fob you off with an OEM version that isn't supported by Microsoft. Roger I keep six honest serving-men (they taught me all I knew);Their names are What and Why and When and How and Where and Who [Rudyard Kipling] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AgrilusHunter Posted May 31, 2013 Share Posted May 31, 2013 Gah, frustrating. I greatly dislike the current practice of computer vendors in only selling computers with select installed operating systems, especially the watered down versions. My new Dell came with Windows 8 as well but I wiped the hard drive and installed a dual boot system of Windows 7 and Ubuntu. I do most of my work on the Linux side and only boot into Windows when I want to use a program specific to that OS. "They ... savoured the strange warm glow of being much more ignorant than ordinary people, who were only ignorant of ordinary things." -- Terry Pratchett Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Acryzona Posted June 1, 2013 Share Posted June 1, 2013 I've used CombineZP and the fact that it was free helped. Don't know if works with Windows 8 though. Has anyone used it with Windows 8? Collecting Microfossils - a hobby concerning much about many of the little paraphrased from Dr. Robert Kesling's book Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeloiVarden Posted June 17, 2013 Share Posted June 17, 2013 Thanks Auspex! I still use helicon focus software: Here is an example of the power of Helicon Focus 14 frames stacked to generate mouth parts of house fly... complex beautiful geometries in nature... helicon fly mouth.jpg Imaged through 10x Fluorite Apo Lens on rebuilt Zeiss microscope.... Sony Nex5 camera. PL Pleecan, that house fly mouth parts photo is crazy awesome!!! I have never seen anything like it, and it makes me wonder how many other things we miss because we cannot see them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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