Helicon Focus vs OpenFocus

Helicon Focus combines photographs captured at different focus distances into one image with extended depth of field. It is designed for focus stacking in macro and micro photography, close-ups, jewelry, products, landscapes, flowers, animals, and still life. The software processes images at 16-bit precision, supports color profiles, opens RAW files, and can save Pro results as DNG. It handles stacks of hundreds of high-resolution images and supports unlimited stack length. Retouching tools copy areas from aligned source images or combine areas from outputs, with a grid for detailed work. Batch rendering can queue and split stacks, while command-line parameters allow calls from other applications. Lightroom and Capture One plugins export stacks. Pro features add 3D model export and 2D micropanorama stitching. Current downloads support 64-bit Windows 10 or 11 and macOS 12 or later. A fully featured trial lasts 30 days; Demo mode then limits resolution and adds a watermark.

OpenFocus aligns and fuses multi-focus image sequences to create images with focus throughout. It offers ECC and Homography alignment and several fusion methods: Guided Filter, DCT, DTCWT, GFG-FGF and the StackMFF V4 AI model. A wipe view lets users compare source frames with results, and the software can generate depth maps showing focus position per pixel. It supports folder-based batch processing and a headless command-line interface for scripting and CI. Listed inputs include JPG, PNG, BMP, TIFF, MP4 and numbered image folders; the manual also describes decoding additional video formats. Outputs include those image formats, image-sequence folders and GIF animations. Research functions include metadata-calibrated scale bars and multi-page TIFF stacks that preserve 16-bit depth. The interface supports English, Chinese, Japanese and Spanish, with automatic system-language detection. OpenFocus is free under the MIT License, though included algorithms may have separate license terms. Its Windows and macOS app builds are unsigned and may trigger SmartScreen or Gatekeeper warnings on first launch.