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I recently purchased a StackShot automated focus rail. The unit of travel for the rail is measure in µm. Is there a formula where I can enter in X Y and Z to get the amount of µm the rail should travel between each shot so I only slightly overlap for each depth of field slice?

Current set up is 60mm macro lens with Kenko Auto Extension Tubes (12, 20, & 36).

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  • \$\begingroup\$ How large do you intend the display size to be? You'll need a lot finer steps for 100% pixel peeping than you'll need for looking at the entire image on a smartphone screen. DoF is not only dependent upon focal length and aperture, it is also dependent upon display size and viewing distance. \$\endgroup\$
    – Michael C
    Commented Jan 6, 2018 at 2:23
  • \$\begingroup\$ @MichaelClark I am not doing for smartphone screen. I want to print some of these out eventually and maybe make a scrap book type thing for myself. So like coffee table book size? \$\endgroup\$ Commented Jan 6, 2018 at 2:52

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Is there a formula where I can enter in X Y and Z to get the amount of um the rail should travel between each shot so I only slightly overlap for each depth of field slice?

Since a rail moves the entire camera forward or backward without changing the focussed distance, you just need to know what distance you want between shots. If you know how much total depth of field you're getting with each shot, you'll probably want to make your layers bit less than that. Using a depth of field calculator can help, although your macro rings may complicate that.

Here's an example: Using a 60mm lens on a full frame Canon 5D, and a distance to subject of 20cm, f/4 gives you a depth of field of 0.19cm. So you might want to space your layers around 0.1cm.

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