Harley, I use Zerene. I have found it very consistently better than Helicon focus. Of course I am on a Windows system, but Zerene does support MAC.. Zerene is slightly awkward to use in the non-pro form (you have to create a series of TIFF or JPEG images, then import those into Zerene). The pro version is much better, working as a plugin within Lightroom exporting directly to Zerene as a temp TIFF file straight to Zerene. I like the editing screen in Zerene, which is very easy to use. A caveat: I have used the software in closeups and macros, never in landscapes. They do have a trial version you can download, if that helps.
I have also used Helicon in times past and finally decided on Zerene. The layout in Helicon looks slick and professional. Zerene looks clunky, but it makes a much better product. It shines when it comes to editing. If you edit in Photoshop and use clones from images in the image set, keeping up with and finding an image to clone from is a nightmare. Be aware, whatever program you choose, you will have to edit. There is no escaping the "pixel peeping" you will have to do as you build your final image.
Posted by Mark Seaver on November 25, 2014 at 11:44 PM
Harley, I've tried Helicon Focus, Zerene Stacker, and Photoshop on my Mac. Photoshop does the best job of dealing with oof backgrounds, but it has the very annoying habit of sticking some soft pixels in the middle of sharp areas in the final image. Those are hard to see at NPN sizes, but are very clear at 100% or when working on a larger monitor. The Zerene interface is clunky but it does a good job most of the time. Zerene's fix up tools are limited if you're used to PS. The Helicon interface works pretty well, again most of the time, but their "fix up" tools are also limited, with undo being a major pain and there are occasional freezes. Helicon gives you 3 choices for how you stack, which lets you handle almost all situations. In terms of the output, I don't see significant differences between Zerene and Helicon for most images and I almost always end up doing final clean up in PS. So I'd suggest testing the trial versions of both Zerene and Helicon.
Posted by Jim Zablotny on December 1, 2014 at 3:27 PM
I prefer Zerene over Helicon. Zerene is much simpler to operate than Helicon and the editor is easier to use than Helicon. I use Helicon at work and Zerene at home and I produce excellent images with either software program. Try both and see which program meets your expectations....................Jim
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I have also used Helicon in times past and finally decided on Zerene. The layout in Helicon looks slick and professional. Zerene looks clunky, but it makes a much better product. It shines when it comes to editing. If you edit in Photoshop and use clones from images in the image set, keeping up with and finding an image to clone from is a nightmare. Be aware, whatever program you choose, you will have to edit. There is no escaping the "pixel peeping" you will have to do as you build your final image.