ChimpStackr vs focus-stack

ChimpStackr is a free, open-source application for focus stacking, with graphical and headless command-line interfaces. It offers Laplacian Pyramid, Weighted Average, Depth Map, and Exposure Fusion methods. Automatic alignment supports translation, Euclidean rotation, similarity rotation and scale, and affine correction. Its 16-bit pipeline preserves bit depth from RAW input to output, and automatic cropping removes black edges caused by alignment shifts. Users can drag image files or folders into the app, compare input and output with a slider, and pause, resume, or cancel long-running stacks. Auto-tuning detects parameters from image resolution. Downloads are listed for Windows as a ZIP, macOS as a DMG, and Linux x86-64 as an AppImage; TIFF and PNG are listed output formats, and RAW files are supported. The project uses the GPL-3.0 license. Exposure Fusion is described for images with varying exposure or lighting, rather than focus stacking. Building from source requires Python 3.9–3.13, and builds can only be made for the current platform.

focus-stack is a free desktop program that combines photographs taken at different focus settings into an image with extended depth of field. For each pixel, it selects the sharpest source image, a method documented for uses such as microscope photography. The tool can resize and rotate stack images to align them, or alignment can be skipped or adjusted. Outputs include a focus-stacked image, an optional depth map, and a 3D preview based on that map. Input formats supported by OpenCV include JPG, PNG, and TIFF, while the filename extension determines output format. Processing controls cover denoising, consistency filtering, batch size, and thread count. OpenCV’s OpenCL interface provides GPU acceleration when available, with an option to disable it. Binary packages are listed for Windows 10, Ubuntu 20.04, and Mac OS X. The project is MIT licensed; Linux builds require OpenCV 3.0 or newer and basic build tools.