Photography's Post Focus Mode - What a kick!

The final image with additional artwork and conversion to sepia tone

Intro by Skip Cohen

I often refer to myself as the "low-tech poster child of the industry." While my passion is the business and marketing side, that doesn't mean I'm not in awe of the incredible tools Panasonic keeps developing. Here's a great example, post focusing, now in several of the newest Lumix cameras.

Just to say imaging technology is constantly changing would be a huge understatement. Panasonic's tagline for Lumix is "Changing Photography," but check out this guest post from my good buddy and member of the Luminary team, Bob Coates. Panasonic is doing more than changing it - they're redefining it and developing the most creative tools in the history of imaging!

Interested in finding out more about Bob Coates and Lumix? Visit Bob's website with a click on any image in this post. Then stop by the Lumix Lounge and meet some of the most diverse artists and educators in the industry. Even better, check out their schedules and meet them in person when they're teaching near you.

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by Bob Coates

Obtaining extra depth of field in an image can lead to images that have a hyper reality that can be quite fun. Think about it. Your eye can only focus on one thing at a time. If you look at a detail in any scene everything except that detail is blurry. Try it now and really study what you are seeing. When you use the Post focus Mode to stitch images that have differing focus points together you can get a sharper image than the eye can see. This is especially apparent when using a macro lens and getting everything super sharp.

Many of the Lumix cameras have this feature and are able to leverage the 4K video capabilities. (and now the 6K PhotoMode in the GH5) The camera will make a short video clip of the scene using every one of the focus points in the camera. From each of these frames can be extracted an 8MP still image. (18MP still from the GH5) And each of these has a different focus point. Instead of just using that part of the feature, the camera has the ability to process the files in a number of ways. In addition to the single frame of focus as mentioned above the files can also be processed using a range of images can be merged so more area will be in focus or Auto Merging all the files to get the sharpest deepest depth of field possible.

The capture of the Post Focus Video in slow motion so you can see it move through the focus points. There were 49 focus points captured here. In the new Lumix GH5 there are 225 focus points.

The capture of the Post Focus Video above is in slow motion so you can see it move through the focus points. There were 49 focus points captured here. In the new Lumix GH5 there are 225 focus points.

Single image from the focus stack

Stacked images blended for the focus for which I was looking.

For more info on the Post Focus Mode click on any of the three images above.

The new cameras including the GH5, GX85, FZ2500, and G85 all now have the ability to bracket focus with full size RAW files for even higher quality files and more creative possibilities. But, that’s information for another post!