CombineZM/ZP (Focus Stacking Software) on Vista?

[Lancashire Lad]

Does anyone use, or have information as to whether the Focus Stacking software CombineZM is compatible with Windows Vista?

Info I've found only mentions compatibility with XP and ME

Also, ZM has apparently been recently superseded by version ZP, but info on that also, only mentions compatibility with XP and ME.

Regards
Mike.

[glsammy]

I've no idea if it will work with Vista but as it's free, there's no harm in trying.
Thanks for the info re the new version, I've just installed it. One thing to note for anyone else, the two systems are not compatible so a file created with ZM will not open with ZP but you can install as a separate program so that shouldn't cause any problems.

[Tormentil]

Originally Posted by glsammy

Thanks for the info re the new version, I've just installed it.

Ditto.

[ron1863]

It is fully compatible with Windows Vista:

CombineZM Software Informer: Latest version download, news and info about this Alan Hadley program. CZM betters photos by merging their focused section and creating a new image

[squishy]

i've been using both versions, and it works absolutely fine with vista.

one thing you have to do is put a particular .Dll file in the same folder as it, so it can access it, but it comes with that, so no worries

very useful piece of freeware

[Lancashire Lad]

Well both seem to work on Vista without any problems.

Does anyone have any opinions on ease of use, and whether ZP is easier to use or performs better than ZM?

I read a review recently which said that the previous Z5 version performs better than ZM with regards to producing far less problems with "Halo's" on the finished stack, thus requiring less post-stack tweaking.

I'd be very interested to hear any comments from regular CombineZ5/ZM/ZS users.

Regards
Mike.

[Geoff F]

I had been thinking about Helicon Focus but that is £75 for the basic programme; so thanks to the recommendations here, I have downloaded ZP.

At the moment it looks a bit complicated but I have printed out all the info and it now looks like a bit of serious reading is required before attempting anything complicated.

[squishy]

i've seen people discussing helicon on another site.
they say it is marginally better then CZM/P, but £75 is a real stretch for it.

[Geoff F]

Well, I tried ZP on a stack of 3 images, 8 bit tiff. After 90 minutes I pulled the plug and went to bed. Tried it once more but it said that I didn't have enough memory, 512mb with Pentium III; so I've zapped the programme now.