Aduku Stacker vs Macro Studio

Aduku Stacker combines photographs taken at different focus distances into a sharp image, for macro, product, landscape and microscopy photography. The free app offers five merge methods: Wavelet, Pyramid, Weighted, Hybrid and Depthmap. Its default workflow processes images at 16-bit and uses 32-bit floating-point merge calculations, with memory-bounded batching for deep stacks. Automatic alignment uses feature matching and subpixel refinement; options include focus-breathing correction, homography, mesh warp and manual alignment seeding. It imports JPEG, PNG, TIFF, BMP, HEIC and DNG, and exports JPEG, PNG, TIFF, linear DNG and depth maps. Proprietary RAW files may require Adobe DNG Converter on macOS. Retouching lets users paint from aligned source frames, erase strokes and undo or redo, but there is no clone tool. Processing is local and does not require an internet connection. It runs on macOS 13 or later and 64-bit Windows 10/11; 8 GB RAM is sufficient for most stacks, with 16 GB recommended for deep 16-bit RAW stacks.

Macro Studio is desktop software for focus stacking and non-destructive editing in macro photography. It analyzes focus-bracket images and merges their sharp areas into one image, with automatic alignment and batch processing listed. The editor includes adjustments, masks, retouching, cropping, image comparison, and watermarks; it also supports RAW files and TIFF, JPEG, and DNG output. AI-assisted tools provide subject masks, species identification, and draft social posts. Macro Studio runs on Linux, macOS, and Windows. Listed integrations include Adobe Bridge, Lightroom Classic, DxO PhotoLab, and ON1 Photo RAW. Its Lightroom plugin works with Lightroom Classic, not the cloud-based Lightroom app. The maker says photos stay on the user's machine and are not used to train AI. The Macro Studio 2026 license is $59.00 USD as a one-time purchase, with a launch price shown as reduced from $99. It includes all features, use on up to three machines, and updates within the 2026 version. Free trials are invite-only, last 30 days, and unlock every feature.