I've had a Cognisys for about 11 years and love it. Can't speak to other brands, nor do I know what their currnt pricing is. The unit was expensive back then, but definitely worthwhile for me.
In addition to using it for mounted specimens (I use Canon R5 & 5DIV cameras with MP-E65 and 100mm macro lenses), I've set it up on a vertical copystand, let it equilibrate outdoors overnight (protected from the elements) and then made stacks of snowflakes. I use both Helicon Focus and Zerene Stacker to process the stacks, and usually compose using a CamRanger 2 displayed on an iPad. I've crafted several X-Y-Z-θ positioners and specimen holders to use in conjunction with the rail.
Edit: I just took a look at Wemacro's site. First thing I noticed is that it lacks a dedicated controller, so it may well be dependent on the company maintaining its app (I've been burned with assumptions like that before). The actual mechanism indeed looks like a Cognisys knockoff. Cognisys is a longtime proven product with support; it's anyone's guess what Wemacro will be like.
Do you always use both Helicon Focus and Zerene Stacker or are there specific instances where you use one over the other? I’m just curious as I’m looking into stacking for the first time. Thanks!
Wolverine80 wrote:
Do you always use both Helicon Focus and Zerene Stacker or are there specific instances where you use one over the other? I’m just curious as I’m looking into stacking for the first time. Thanks!
Keep in mind that I'm not super critical; you can probably find picky reviews online.
I generally use Zerene Stacker for larger, higher magnification stacks (typically 100 or more frames taken at 10-50µ" steps and >2X magnification—I use a Canon MP-E65, often with an Extender, for these), and Helecon Focus for smaller, lower magnification stacks (typically fewer than 50 frames and 1X or less magnification). They're both very good. I find that on more extreme stacks of things like insect wings and heads and wolf lichen) that Zerene's results (with the Pro license that includes retouching tools) need less retouching and often have less ghosting than Helicon. For more general work and smaller stacks, I like Helicon's multiple models and especially its capability to export 3D models (pretty fun to see). Both programs run very quickly on my M2 Macs and acceptably fast on my old (2012) Intel Macs.
Both programs can control a Stack Shot (via the computer), although the setup and usage is a bit different between them.
I'm pretty sure that both programs offer reasonable trials, so the best thing would be to try them both yourself.
If I was going for only one, I'd probably pick Helicon, which has a much more user friendly interface, is pretty flexible, and seems to have more development effort (I'm pretty sure that Zerene is a 1-man shop). Note that if you're on an M-series Mac, Helicon is still on Intel-only code (they say they're working on a Univeral app) and Zerene, although they say they're ARM native, shows up in the Mac Finder as being an Intel app. This is going to be a problem with macOS after the soon-to-be-released Tahoe (Apple says they're pretty much dropping Intel support after that).
