first stack ("amazonite")

[johan]

First Zerene stack, started off with a really easy pretty rock:



Not, perhaps, the most interesting photo in the world, but it did an instant job in zerene with 8 stacked shots. pmax was slightly more contrasty than dmap so used that one, and not sure how to work the contrast control on dmap. Otherwise not sure what conclusions to make from it other than it was a doddle really.

[rjlittlefield]

Glad to hear it worked well for you. Regarding the DMap slider, be sure to read the tutorial, "How To Use DMap", linked on the Zerene Stacker Tutorials page.

For a subject like this where there is sharp detail clear across the frame, the slider position is not very important. Generally you'll get best results by adjusting it so that low-contrast flat faces go black in preview, since those are the areas that are most liable to be misinterpreted due to image noise and OOF highlights.

The increase in contrast with PMax is typical. That's a side effect of the way it does focus stacking. You won't get that increase with DMap, but of course if you prefer the higher contrast version, you can get that with a sharpening filter in postprocessing.

--Rik