Zeiss Loxia 85mm f/2.4: Focus Stacking with Moving Water, and Other Examples
Get Zeiss Loxia at B&H Photo.
This 3-frame focus stack was the only way to render sharpness near to far; even f/16 would badly blurred near or far, let alone the destructive effects of diffraction at f/16. Perhaps a tilt lens might have done the job, but that would have meant Nikon or Canon and an adapter and performance notably lower to start with.
On my in-progress examples pages:
Zeiss Loxia 85mm f/2.4 Examples: Examples: Tenaya Lake Area (Sony A7R II)
Zeiss Loxia 85mm f/2.4 Examples: Examples: Lundy Canyon, Snow and Sun (Sony A7R II)
You have to see the 28-megapixel version on an iMac 5K to appreciate it. The depth of field here is an outstanding demonstration on what can be done at 85mm for landscape. Never before have I succeeded at making an image sharp near to far like this at 85mm; focus stacking gets it done.
There are always small losses with focus stacking, but the very high contrast of the Loxia 85/2.4 keeps things at a high grade. Aperture f/11 was used here to keep the stack to only 3 frames. The Zeiss Loxia 85/2.4 is a wonderful lens for outdoor work at 85mm: compact and relatively lightweight and with outstanding performance.