NEW Sony a7R V - Tips & Tricks for Pixel Shift Multi Shooting for Stunning Images

This video is a comprehensive tutorial on how to get the best out of the Pixel Shift Multi Shooting feature of the Sony A7R V, the Sony A1 and various other Sony Alpha cameras. On the Sony A7R V the Multi Shooting feature generally works very well, in contrast to previous Sony Alpha cameras. But what to do if Sony’s Imaging Edge software produces a blurry or low quality stacked high resolution image, maybe even with unwanted artefacts? In this video I show an example of such a case and how to nevertheless produce a super-high resolution image via an action in Photoshop. I also show two stunning images taken in Zurich and Singapore where Imaging Edge actually delivered a perfect quality super-high resolution image. This video teaches you everything you need to know about Sony’s Pixel Shift Multi Shooting feature.

See also my new video "Sony a7R V + Sony 20-70 f/4 vs Sony 24-70 f/2.8 GM II":

Content:
00:00 Introduction
02:03 The Pixel Shift Multi Shooting feature on the Sony A7R V
02:52 How Pixel Shift Multi Shooting works
03:29 Images from two shooting locations: Zurich and Singapore
04:33 Looking at a single shot night photography taken in Zurich
04:52 Looking at 16 frames shot in Multi Shooting mode
05:48 Lesson learnt: never shoot an image series in AWB
06:07 Sony’s Imaging Edge Multi Shooting software: only .ARW files
06:44 I typically do not use Sony’s Imaging Edge for post-processing
07:44 Processing Multi Shooting frames in Imaging Edge
09:23 The stacked image out of Imaging Edge is blurry and not good
10:49 The 16 frames from Multi Shooting are really good and useable
11:23 It takes 5 steps to stack and compose the 16 frames in Photoshop
11:56 Step No.1: loading the 16 frames into a stack in Photoshop
12:46 Step No.2: increasing the image size to the target resolution
13:46 Step No.3: auto-aligning the 16 layers / images
14:24 Step No.4: giving each layer an equally distributed opacity weight
15:42 Step No.5: flattening 16 layers into one layer, exporting the image
16:25 Suggesting automation of the process via a Photoshop action
16:46 Imaging Edge Multishot image vs Photoshop Multishot image
18:20 Processing 16 Singapore images in Sony’s Imaging Edge
18:56 Processing 16 Singapore images via my Photoshop stacking action
20:18 Comparing the results from Imaging Edge and Photoshop stacking
20:34 In this case, Sony’s Imaging Edge did a really good job
22:28 Another example where Sony’s Imaging Edge worked very well

See also my other related videos and subscribe to my channel for more content.

NEW Sony a7R V - 70 Tips & Tricks & Settings

NEW Sony a7R V vs Sony A1 | Full Comparison

Music (if applicable):

#Sony #SonyA7RV #SonyA1 #SonyA7RIV

[douglaspeale]

What you are doing in photoshop is averaging the frames. This is a great way to reduce noise, but pixel shift is an attempt to shift the sensor so each pixel gets data from an R, G and B sensor, 16x pixel shift also attempts do double the resolution by shifting by half pixels. This is what the Sony software is attempting to do (badly it seems). I am not an expert in photoshop, it may be possible to do this in photoshop, I don't know, but there is another piece of software called rawtherapee that attempts proper pixel shift processing that you might try to see if it works better than your averaging frames method. One of the things that pixel shift processing attempts to do is to detect motion in the frame (leaves blowing in the wind etc) and use only a single frame for parts of the frame where motion is detected to keep it sharp. With averaging, these areas will be blurred like a long exposure picture. Depends on your goals though as to which result you prefer. I have not yet attempted this myself as it appears rawtherapee requires pixel shift pictures in the format output by Sony's software, and I'm a linux user, so I can't run Sony's software. I'm currently attempting to find a work around for this problem.

[AffinityPhoto]

“Nearest neighbor” is what you want to use. Then, you select all layers and create a Smart Object. In the layers menu, choose the blend option as “median”. No opacity calculations needed. The sensor does half-pixel shifts.

[Scotphotoamateur]

Thanks. Great to see how to do it manually in photoshop. It would nice to see side by side comparison of 61 MP single shot versus the photoshop manual stack.

[dm]

Thank you. In photoshop it may be best to create a smart objects fr m those 16 images and choose Mean or Median, instead of manually editing the opacity and such

[fredbakhuis]

Great explanation and short cut. Thanks!

[gamkagan]

Great video, I love your clear step by step explanation. thank you. I have a question, Is there a way to make double exposure photos with the A7R5 ?

[paolopaganini]

Really thanks a lot indeed. I own a Sony A7R5 and your video helps a lot to get the best out of this camera that has so many features and setting.

[dsfarag]

Great video, thanks for the photoshop alternative method to Image Edge

[richardlash]

Nice video! I agree with some of the technical recommendations cited in the comments that should make Photoshop work better. I also wanted to ask for a wrist shot of your JLC! What model were you wearing?

[rogerbrown]

To recover the highlights, could you not have edited each individual image before combining them? A lot of work I know.

[pixelpusher]

Interesting video - a couple of ideas:
- How about using AI upscaling (super resolution, Topaz Gigapixel) to upscale each individual frame by 200%, and then import them into a stack, align and merge?
- Try a different algorithm for upscaling, like Lanczos. RawTherapee offers Lanczos for upscaling RAW files. Supposedly it´s one of the best upscaling algorithms out there.
- Instead of adjusting opacity for each individual layer, turn the stack into a smart object and use either median or algorithmic middle as stack mode.

A question: Would you definitely say that the A7r V is noticeably improved as opposed to the A7r IV when it comes to pixel shift? If so, what would would that be due to? Better image stabilization maybe?

[andymanson]

Phenomenal video - nice work! Demonstrations like this confirm the view that, moving forward, nearly all "enlargement" can be done in software. People can forget about the megapixel-count in the camera and focus on the "Image" instead.

[johnclay]

very engaging and informative if a little dense at 24mins.

[denismalerbi]

Hello dear MathPhotographer; what is your rig cage we see on this video if you please? Excellent tuto from brilliant person!+ THx very much...

[blaisesmith]

This is a brilliant video thank you. I photograph artwork with an a7r4 in 16 shot pixel shift mode for prints. Can i ask two questions :

1
would it be worth upgrading to the A7r5 from my a7r4 - is pixel shift better ?

2
And secondly when you are changing opacity why not just set all layers to 6% so that combined they add up to a full image? I am wondering if the 15th layer at 94% and the preceding lower layers are not simply almost totally obliterating the lowest layers? Therefore leaving them out of final image? Where as if they are all same low opacity they add up to 100%. Will try method later today anyway and see.

Thanks so much for great video.

[creambun]

can you put pixel shift images in different folder in camera like with the bracketing on the a7r5

[Dress]

Excellent video...thank you!! One question..I've bought a7rv but is it possible to set up the camera to save the pixel shifts pictures in a subfolder within the main folder for stills? Sometimes is annoying if I shoot a lot and then go back and carefully check them all! Thanks

[RenderizadoD]

Liked and subscribed! Could you share the photoshop script please?

[gurugamer]

Please can you do a video going through A-Z of the menu and best setting for taking photos

[hidaven]

Can you please give us access to your action you made for photoshop and Lightroom? I’d love to use your action for my shots.