FOCUS projects 4 professional vs PhotoAcute Studio

FOCUS projects 4 professional is a standalone FRANZIS application for creating macro photographs with extended depth of field. Its HQ stacking uses 64-bit calculation, Focus-Boost technology increases sharpness, and stacks can contain up to 1,000 focus planes. The software advertises precise alignment and includes automatic alignment, batch processing and manual retouching. It supports RAW input and outputs RAW, TIFF, JPEG and other formats, with a bracketed HDR merge mode. An Adobe Lightroom plug-in is included. FRANZIS lists the application for Mac OS X 10.7 and Windows 10, 8.1, 8 and 7; the product page also presents it for macOS and Windows. The full version is an immediately available download, and a demo version is linked. The listed Vollversion plan costs €20 as a one-time purchase, with an offer price of €20,00 including VAT and a stated UVP of €99,00. The pricing note says from €69. There is no free plan, but a free trial is available. FRANZIS describes its photography products as suitable for beginners and professionals.

PhotoAcute Studio processes sets of photos, especially continuous-mode shots, to create high-resolution images with reduced noise. Its superresolution feature combines frames to increase spatial resolution beyond a single source image. Combining photographs can also reduce noise while retaining detail. For exposure-bracketed images, HDR processing can restore shadows and clipped highlights, including when photos are misaligned. Focus stacking combines images taken at different focus distances to increase depth of field. The software also corrects geometric distortion and chromatic aberrations and can remove unwanted moving objects. It supports automatic alignment and batch processing, with RAW, JPEG, TIFF, and OpenEXR output. The maker describes RAW-in-RAW-out processing for fitting results into an existing workflow. Trial mode allows use of all image-processing features, but stamps saved images; the guide says the trial has no time limit. The paid product has no free plan. It runs on Linux, macOS, and Windows; its v2.96 download page lists Windows and Mac OS X, with Linux supported via Wine.