Typical wide angle lens issue w. a possible focus stacking solution?

[aaron_mccormick]

<p>I've been using a Nikon D7100 with a Nikkor 10-24mm wide angle lens for a while (really nice!) but it has some limitations, and I am looking for creative ways to overcome them in post processing.<br /><br />Question 1: <br />Is it possible to "focus stack" for edge blur due to using wide angle/ ultra wide angle lens?<br />Like, would it not be possible to take multiple exposures, with manually adjusted focal points onto the extreme edges of the frame of the same exposure, in order to get those necessary layers in Photoshop.... to later edit them as focused? <br /><br />What I have found (with my Nikkor 10-24mm wide angle lens on a D7100 crop sensor) is that <em><strong>regardless of aperture</strong></em>, you sometimes take a great picture, but only most parts of the picture plane are in focus and you get either a lot of blur at the outer edges of the frame, or just somewhere closer to the middle/ background. <br /><br />I am posting because this seems to happen to me often. How possible is it? To fuse multiple wide angle shots to fully compensate for focal blur and distortion? Regardless of where those problems are in the picture plane?<br /><br /> I want the perfect shot, and if that takes manual exposure labor plus Photoshop, then I am willing to make the sacrifice. </p>

<p>K thanks, bros.</p>

[Ed_Ingold]

<p>Blur in the corners when the center is sharp in essentially the same focal plane is due to an accumulation of aberrations, primarily coma, at the extreme limits of the field of view. These defects tend to occur regardless of the aperture setting, and don't respond well to focus stacking. On the other hand, there is only one plane of sharp focus, and objects in front of or behind that plane will be out of focus to a variable degree, depending on the aperture. This effect is normal, and improves with focus stacking.</p>

<p>A shallow depth of field is not necessarily a bad thing, because it helps isolate the subject of interest. You need a really fast wide angle lens (35mm or less) to get this effect. My kids think my photos are out of focus because I like to shoot wide open for the reason I just described. It's one of the reasons to use a Leica, so they say.</p>

[alan_cox3]

<p>Well, if your scene is static so that you can even think about focus stacking, then you can also use stitching and either point the center of the lens at several places left-to-right and up and down, and then stitch them all together. You could also stitch using a longer lens with better edge-to-edge sharpness.</p>

 

[JDMvW]

<p>Edward and Alan have it. Focus-stacking is a good tool for lenses with shallow depth of field, but that's not why, as they say, the edges are not sharp on wideangles.<br /> As Alan says, you'll do better with panning and stitching to put together multiple 'sharp' "centers"</p>

[aaron_mccormick]

<p>Thanks for the help. In regards to Alan's answer, I did think before, about fusing the same shot taken with two different lenses. That could be interesting if you do it right in photoshop. ok, bye.</p>