Focus Stacking Software

Published: 16th Jan 2009
Updated: 1st Dec 2009

Which of the several available software packages should I use?

The software packages currently available include:

Zerene stacker
Tufuse (Command-line only) [Free]
Tufuse Pro, Enhanced GUI for above [Commercial]
CombineZP [Free]
CombineZM (Older version, now superseded by CZP above) [Free]
Helicon Focus [Commercial]
Picolay [free]

There are others but as far as I know they are not affordable to the general hobbyist, being intended for professional microscope work. If you know of any others I haven't mentioned here please let me know and I'll add them to the list!!

I'm going to treat Tufuse and Tufuse pro as one product, as that is the way I use it - The Tufuse pro GUI does add extra functionality to the command line product. I'm also only going to consider Combine ZP as I understand from Alan Hadley that this supersedes CombineZM including all of it's functionality plus the new pyramid algorithm similar to that used by Tufuse.

Some time ago I was lucky enough to be a private beta tester for Zerene stacker, and since day one I've been very impressed with it. It's output definitely has the edge over Tufuse and CZP, though I cannot comment on comparisons to Helicon as I do not have the full version yet. I also have not yet got round to trying Picolay so I'm not going to comment any further on that here, but it appears to be free so give it a go!

So the four products we're going to consider here are:

Zerene stacker
Tufuse + Tufuse Pro
CombineZP
Helicon Focus

Zerene stacker

Advantages

Ease of use
Good retouching features
Quality of output
Available for Mac and Linux as well as Windows
Stereo output available from single Z-stack

Disadvantages

If you want to sell your stacked images then it's one of the more expensive packages, however if you are only interested in personal use then that license is pretty cheap considering the overall quality of the output.

Tufuse + Tufuse pro

Advantages

Relatively easy of use
Output quality is good
Reasonably cheap

Disadvantages

No alignment functionality
No built in retouching facilities

Combine ZP

Advantages

Completely free
Output quality is good
Reasonably easy to use

Disadvantages

Quality of output definitely not quite as good as Zerene
Interface a bit quirky
No built in retouching facilities

Helicon focus

Advantages

Very polished interface
Has some funky extra features like 3d surface map generation
Easy to use
Fast

Disadvantages

One of the more expensive stacking packages, especially if you want the Pro version for the built in retouching functions.
Personally I was never totally happy with the output from Helicon, although I have to confess I've only played with the trial version for a couple of weeks. I know some people can get good output from it so the best thing to do would be try the trial version and see what you think!

I have the paid shareware version of Tufuse pro, the freeware CombineZP and the paid professional version of Zerene. However I have only trialled Helicon for a month, and that was a long time ago.

To be honest the only reason I can think not to recommend you immediately buy Zerene stacker is if you definitely want to sell your focus stacked images and you can't afford it. The output is best in class. The user interface is good, not quite perfect yet but close. The retouching facilities are the best I've come across.

Having said that, I would definitely recommend you download and try CombineZP as it is totally free. It's output is very good and there's no reason why you need more than this software offers.

Considering there are free trials of both Helicon and Tufuse pro, I would also suggest you download these and give them a go, your tastes in software may well be different to mine.

Full disclosure note - Zerene stacker is written by Rik Littlefield, who is the editor/administrator of Photomacrography.net, where I am also an administrator. I consider Rik a friend. This does not mean I have recommended Zerene because Rik is my friend, or because I would get any benefit from you purchasing it. I just honestly consider it the best software available currently for this task.

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1 Comment so far. Post a comment

This one is not for stacking but for taking multiple photos with different focus

http://www.milosparipovic.com/dslr-bracketeer.html

It can be used with one of free stackers.

David at 16:30 on 5th Jul 2010