Helicon Filter Lite

Developer’s Description

Helicon Filter Lite
Helicon Filter offers full set of the professional post processing tools to the digital photographer. Intuitive interface, context help and full screen preview make it easy to learn. Available filters: noise reduction, white balance and saturation adjustment, correction of chromatic aberration, distortion and vignetting correction, cropping, rotating, resizing, sharpening and deblurring, adding frames, and text.

Helicon Soft Lite Overview

Helping to extend your depth of field by compositing numerous exposures together, Helicon Focus Lite from Helicon Soft is a focus stacking program offering refined and intuitive controls to benefit macro shooting applications as well as landscape, tabletop, and nearly any other kind of controlled photographic scenario. The basic premise of the software requires you to make sequential photographs from a fixed position at varying focus distances, and then the software will automatically combine the images into a single file in order to generate greater depth of field than is possible with a single exposure. An unlimited number of images can be used within each focus stack and both advanced algorithms and interpolation methods are applied to ensure a high degree of clarity and detail, as well as retain an overall natural appearance. The software supports 16-bit color depth files, as well as the ability to work with raw file formats, and it can be seamlessly integrated within existing editing workflows via a dedicated Adobe Lightroom plug-in or using command line protocols for use with other applications.

This download version of Helicon Focus Lite is a one-year license for use on up to four different computers, as long as only one copy is used at the same time.

Focus stacking application lets you composite an unlimited number of focus-bracketed photos into a single file for extending your depth of field.
Supports editing with 16-bit per channel color depth for preserving finely nuanced hues, colors, and tones. Color profiles can also be used for accurate color reproduction throughout the post-production workflow.
In order to preserve the most detail from each image, raw file formats are supported and can be opened within Helicon Focus or in Lightroom via the Helicon plug-in.
Advanced processing algorithms and interpolation methods help to retain the greatest amount of detail possible when compositing images in order to produce a vivid, yet natural appearance.
Ideal for macro and scientific application, a scale bar can be added to imagery to more accurately represent the size of your subjects.
Fast performance and short rendering times are possible through the support of multi-core processors and 64-bit operating systems from both Mac and Windows.
For maintaining your existing workflow, Helicon Focus Lite can be used as a plug-in within Adobe Photoshop Lightroom or command line protocols can be used to call Helicon Focus from within other editing applications.
Key Features
  • Focus Stacking Software
  • Achieve Extended Depth of Field
  • Unlimited Stacking Length
  • Supports 16-Bit Color and Raw Files
  • Advanced Interpolation Methods
  • Add Scale Bars and Text
  • Lightroom Plug-In & Command Line Support
  • For Mac and Windows Operating Systems

Helicon Focus is a shareware program. You can evaluate a fully functional version for 30 days. Once the trial period is over the program will add promotional text to the resulting image and will limit its resolution to 4 Mpixels unless you register the program.

There are three types of Helicon Focus license packages available – Helicon Focus Lite, Helicon Focus Pro package and Helicon Focus Premium package. When you purchase Helicon Focus you will receive an email with the activation code. There’s no special installer for each of Helicon Focus license – no matter which license you purchase, please download the latest version of the program from our Downloads page. Entering of the activation code (online registration) unlocks the license you have purchased.

A registered copy may be installed on up to four computers, as long as only one copy is used at the same time. A single license allows unlimited hardware upgrades and/or transfers to other computers.

Helicon Focus is a program for focus stacking. Program selects focused areas from multiple source images and combines them into one perfectly focused image with extended depth-of-field. Helicon Focus Lite Lifetime EXCLUDES Helicon Remote, retouching tools, batch mode & stack autosplitting, RAW-in-DNG out mode, 3D Modelling, 2D Micropanorama, Helicon Remote Mobile

Helicon Focus Lite Unlimited License Extended Focus Software.  Helicon Focus is a program for focus stacking. Focus stacking is a post-processing technique that enables you to extend the depth of field beyond what is available in one shot. First take several shots of the same scene; then let the program blend them together into one image with an extended depth of field. For each shot, you focus your lens on a different part of the object. The resulting series of photographs is called a “stack,” and the process of merging them into one image is called “focus stacking.”

If you do macro photography — close-ups of flowers, insects, or jewelry, for example — you’re familiar with the problem created by a shallow depth of field. Shallow depth of field is an eternal problem in microscope photography, too, because the greater the magnification, the shallower the resulting depth of field. Sometimes this can also be an issue for landscape photography if you want both the foreground and the background to be in focus. Focus stacking with Helicon Focus can help you to overcome shallow depth of field.

 

Focus stacking with Helicon Focus also allows you to create 3D models of your objects without extra effort, after which you can export them as stereo pairs, anaglyphs, and even videos of the rotating models.
Helicon Focus Lite Unlimited License
  • Automatically adjusts and resizes images (important for stereo microscopes and macro photography)
  • Uses all available processors (1.7 times faster with 2 processors, 2.3 times faster with 4 processors)
  • Preserves details by using advanced interpolators for image manipulation (Lanczos, Sinc256)
  • The internal workflow always uses 16-bit color depth to preserve
  • colors
  • Processes an unlimited number of images in a stack
  • Supports dust map to automatically remove black points from the resulting images
  • Automatically adjusts brightness of the adjacent images
  • Reads RAW, 8-bit and 16-bit TIFF, JPEG, JPEG 2000, BMP, etc., files.
  • Writes 8-bit and 16-bit TIFF, JPEG.
  • Allows the addition of text and a scale bar
  • Provides a command-line interface so that the program can be called up from within other applications
If you wish you can evaluate a fully functional version for 30 days. Once the trial period is over, however, the program will add promotional text to the resulting images unless you register the program.  No disks or manuals are supplied this is a download only product with help files.
To register the program, buy a license and get a registration key.

A registered copy may be installed on up to four computers, as long as only one copy is used at the same time. A single license allows unlimited hardware upgrades and/ or transfers to other computers.

HeliconFocus is an amazing program that can give you UNLIMITED depth of field. The program is designed for macro photography, microphotography and hyperfocal landscape photography to cope with the shallow depth-of-field problem.

It does this by combining multiple images where each image has a different point of focus. It also aligns images as objects often change their size and position from shot to shot. This function is especially important for macro photography.

Helicon Focus is designed for:

  • Micro photography (camera + optical microscope)
  • Macro photography (camera + macro lenses)
  • Landscape photography (infinite depth of field)
  • Remote shooting from computer via USB cable

You use it by mounting your camera on a tripod and setting your camera to manual focus. You then focus on the closest part of your subject and take a picture. You then focus a little further away and take another picture. You keep doing this until you’ve taken enough pictures where each image has part of your subject in focus. You then feed these images to HeliconFocus and magically it combines the sharpest portions of each image to create one image with EVERYTHING in focus.

The PRO version allows you to automate this process with Canon and Nikon DSLRs and also includes a module to turn your processed imanges into a 3D model.

There are VERY few software products that we like, but this is DEFINITELY one of them This program does what no other program can. One of the photographic concepts that most photographers have a problem with is depth of field and sharpness. Using a small lens opening creates more depth of field, but at the cost of overall sharpness. Using f22 will create a SOFT image with a lot of depth of field. The greatest sharpness will be obtained when a lens is set to about 3-stops from wide open. Thus an f2.8 lens is sharpest at f8. HeliconFocus allows you to take sharp pictures at f8 while getting far more depth of field than you could get with f22!!

  • Quality: advanced interpolation techniques, 16 bit workflow, direct RAW input
  • Scope: unlimted number of images, resolution over 100Mpixels, 64 bit support, Windows/Mac versions
  • Performance: very fast, multi-threaded, i7 compatible, batch and command line modes available
  • Tools: clone from source brush to repaint possible artifacts, 3D model , dust map, 2D panorama, Helicon Remote for automated focus bracketing
This is a product that we highly recommend! Helicon Focus is a program that creates one completely focused image from several partially focused images by combining the focused areas. The program is designed for macro photography, microphotography and hyperfocal landscape photography to cope with the shallow depth-of-field problem. Helicon Focus also aligns images as objects often change their size and position from shot to shot. This function is especially important for macro photography. Helicon Focus is able to create 3D model of the object which can be manipulated in free Helicon 3D Viewer (included into Helicon Focus installation) and exported as video file, stereo pair or anaglyph.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We are getting ready to start our next round of macro classes, and I wanted to mention a class favorite; Helicon Focus Lite.  This software performs focus stacking, which radically increases depth of field in your macro image.  Imagine photographing a columbine, a flower with a lot of depth.  To get critical focus through most of the flower, you would need to combine multiple images.  With Nikon cameras you can just set up the Focus Shift in your camera.  If you don’t have this, you can manually change the focus and get the same effect.  Start with the part of the subject closest to your lens, and change focus points going deeper and deeper into the shot.  For this columbine flower my settings were 20 images at F8 with a distance set to ‘5’ in my D850.

I’ve blogged before about combining images in Photoshop, so why would you want to use third party software?  Simply because you have more control on how the images are combined, and most importantly, speed!  Helicon Focus is way, way faster than Photoshop when combining images.  Process speed is greatly affected by your file quality, with RAW files taking the longest.  I’ve started using JPEGs for my focus stacking to speed things up.  With RAW files from my D850 it was taking around 40 minutes on a souped up iMAC to combine 50 images.  With 20 JPEGS in the image above in Helicon Focus it took 10 seconds.  I also really like the threshold view Helicon shows as it combines the images (see image above).  You can watch where focus is being added image by image.  This makes it easy to see if you missed an area in your final shot.  You only need Helicon Focus Lite to combine images.  It runs $30 for a year license, or $115 to own it.  If you shoot a lot of macro and focus stack, you are going to really like this program.  The speed increase alone is worth it.  If you are interested in some really fun online learning, we just posted some new June macro classes.  Come join us!

 

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