Electronic First Curtain Shutter Necessity?

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Deanimator
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Electronic First Curtain Shutter Necessity?

Post by Deanimator »

During my recent struggle to obtain sharpness with my 4x Amscope objective, EFCS was recommended.

Unfortunately, as far as I can tell, my Canon T4i doesn't support EFCS.

Would it be worth the money for me to upgrade to a T6i or T7I to obtain EFCS?

Or would it be better to finally invest in a couple of Flashpoint studio strobes?

Pau
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Post by Pau »

Your camera has EFSC: just use it in live view mode.
Pau

anoldsole
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Post by anoldsole »

Some cheap flashpoint/godox speedlights at lowest power would work well at a lower price than studio strobes and work a bit better in most instances, particularly to stop vibration. However, If you do decide to go with studio strobes I would check out the flashpoint rapid series (which I use - a lot of flash for your dollar), they can fire close to the speed low power setting speedlights and have absurdly low refresh rates. At lower magnification I use the flash to freeze my subjects with minimal settling time since I do multi thousand stacks and speed is an issue. But when I travel I use speedlights and they work quite well at a fraction of the price.

Deanimator
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Post by Deanimator »

Pau wrote:Your camera has EFSC: just use it in live view mode.
Can you do that and focus stack with a Wemacro?

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Post by Deanimator »

anoldsole wrote:Some cheap flashpoint/godox speedlights at lowest power would work well at a lower price than studio strobes and work a bit better in most instances, particularly to stop vibration. However, If you do decide to go with studio strobes I would check out the flashpoint rapid series (which I use - a lot of flash for your dollar), they can fire close to the speed low power setting speedlights and have absurdly low refresh rates. At lower magnification I use the flash to freeze my subjects with minimal settling time since I do multi thousand stacks and speed is an issue. But when I travel I use speedlights and they work quite well at a fraction of the price.
I've already got Amazon Basics flashes which I use.

I've already got the Flashpoint strobes picked out. I just had other priorities crop up.

Pau
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Post by Pau »

Deanimator wrote:
Pau wrote:Your camera has EFSC: just use it in live view mode.
Can you do that and focus stack with a Wemacro?
I'm not 100% sure as I don't have experience with your kind of camera, I think so, test it yourself. With the 7D it works both with and without LV.

In principle it is not supported if you have live view activated at the computer via Canon DPP tethering software. With my 7D it works if I activate first LV from DPP and later from the camera button and control Wemacro from the same computer via USB, not wirelessly from the phone.

Be aware that if you use flash EFSC doesn't work: if the camera detects a compatible ETTL strobe it deactivates EFSC and if the unit is not detected it doesn't fire.
Pau

jurkovicovic
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Post by jurkovicovic »

Hi. As Pau wrote. EFSC has to work with LV.
Im usinig similary canon camera with AmScope and I didnot noticed problem with sharpness. I dont know your equipment and work process, but problem can be elsewhere. I checked your last posted photo and you do not mention informations like shutter speed, stepsize and exact magnifation. Maybe here can be answer.
canon EOS *

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Post by ray_parkhurst »

Pau wrote:
Deanimator wrote:
Pau wrote:Your camera has EFSC: just use it in live view mode.
Can you do that and focus stack with a Wemacro?
I'm not 100% sure as I don't have experience with your kind of camera, I think so, test it yourself. With the 7D it works both with and without LV.

In principle it is not supported if you have live view activated at the computer via Canon DPP tethering software. With my 7D it works if I activate first LV from DPP and later from the camera button and control Wemacro from the same computer via USB, not wirelessly from the phone.

Be aware that if you use flash EFSC doesn't work: if the camera detects a compatible ETTL strobe it deactivates EFSC and if the unit is not detected it doesn't fire.
I think you mean it IS supported ONLY if you have live view activated at the computer, right? With the T2...T4i (I am not sure of T5i and T6i) you have no choice but to have EFSC active when Live View is on, regardless of how you turn it on.

edited to add: this functionality also goes back to the XS and T1i, and I will bet it is same on T5i and T6i.

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Post by Pau »

ray_parkhurst wrote: I think you mean it IS supported ONLY if you have live view activated at the computer, right? With the T2...T4i (I am not sure of T5i and T6i) you have no choice but to have EFSC active when Live View is on, regardless of how you turn it on.
No, maybe I didn't write it enough clear.
With the 7D to have it working with Wemacro and EFSC you just need to activate LV at the camera either controlling the Wemacro via USB or Bluetooth.
(with the 7D you can have LV without EFSC deactivating "silent shutter" mode but I never use this option. As you say, with Rebel series equipped with a single motor for both mirror and shutter this option doen't exist, you have EFSC always when in LV except with flash)

Although not officially supported, with the 7D I'm able to have LV at the computer screen if I connect both the the Wemacro controller and the camera via USB to the same computer and I activate LV first from DPP and later from the camera button. Other tested configurations don't work.

I guess that with Rebel cameras it would be the same but I'm not sure because I haven't tested it.
Pau

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Post by Deanimator »

Pau wrote:Although not officially supported, with the 7D I'm able to have LV at the computer screen if I connect both the the Wemacro controller and the camera via USB to the same computer and I activate LV first from DPP and later from the camera button. Other tested configurations don't work.

I guess that with Rebel cameras it would be the same but I'm not sure because I haven't tested it.
A lot of stuff is crippled on the Rebels versus the more expensive Canon DSLRs.

I don't have a Windows PC to use to control the Wemacro or the camera. I use an Android tablet to run the Wemacro software. My only laptop runs 32 bit Ubuntu 16.04. There's no usable camera control software for 32 bit Ubuntu.

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Post by ray_parkhurst »

Pau wrote: I guess that with Rebel cameras it would be the same but I'm not sure because I haven't tested it.
With the Rebels I have, I can start LV either from EOS Utility, and then press the camera LV button, or I can start LV at the camera, which then starts it on EOS utility (if open), and it works the same.

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Post by Deanimator »

ray_parkhurst wrote:
Pau wrote: I guess that with Rebel cameras it would be the same but I'm not sure because I haven't tested it.
With the Rebels I have, I can start LV either from EOS Utility, and then press the camera LV button, or I can start LV at the camera, which then starts it on EOS utility (if open), and it works the same.
I use Live View to set my focus points with the Wemacro, and outdoors when I'm shooting at night.

I was wondering how I would use Live View for stacks. Apparently, I have to set the camera not to go to sleep until it's manually turned off. I'll have to give that a try tomorrow.

mawyatt
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Post by mawyatt »

With EFCS I believe most cameras will prevent triggering the flash from the hot shoe. There's a good discussion on this here: You can find other discussions as well.

https://www.photomacrography.net/forum/ ... cs&start=0

The circuit I created in the above post will work with any camera regardless of make because it bypasses the camera and triggers the flash/strobe directly. The camera trigger command from the stacking controller is also used to trigger a delay timer that subsequently directly triggers the flash/strobe. The idea is to place the flash optical burst toward the end of the exposure like you normally do with rear curtain flash trigger, this allows the front curtain (if not EFCS) and any other vibrations (mirror for example) to subside before the image is captured by the flash burst.

This circuit works with the Stackshot and Wemacro controllers, and should work with any others.

Best,
Research is like a treasure hunt, you don't know where to look or what you'll find!
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