Macro Focus rails

Nostromo

Nostromo

Messages
5,919
Name
Dominic
Edit My Images
Yes
I'm thinking of buying a macro focus rail. I don't want to buy a dirt cheap one, but also don't want to spend a fortune (that's subjective).I'm looking at spending up to £80 used. I was looking at a used velbon super mag slider or a sunwayfoto mfr 150. I've seen good reviews for both of these, but have also seen good reviews of the Neewer rail, but my camera (80d) and lens (sigma 150mm macro) are fairly hefty, so feel the Neewer rail would be a bit flimsy (i could be wrong of course).
I'm not so fussed about side to side movement.
Most of my macro, close up work is done on a tripod and think a slider would help.
Any views on these or others would be appreciated.
 
sk66 said:
My experience is that lead screw mechanisms are better than the rack and pinion gearing found on most cheaper/conventional rails. For the price, I would try the neewer worm drive rail... it looks to be a bargain (unless maybe if you need an integrated arca swiss clamp).
Click to expand...
Thanks, I hadn't seen this one, it looks quite promising.
 
Just coming on here to post a most identical question to op, so better to bring this thread back to life than start something new. So op, did you go for the newer worm? How was it? Any other recommendations for affordable 1 dimensional rails? The newer 4 way seems very affordable but as per op, the side to side is not needed so better to go for something that does forwards and backwards well than adding any other complexity to it.

Also interested to understand if that worm drive approach needs both control knobs to be used or if you can just use one? Seems likely it's easy to knock your setup if needing to use two dials?

TIA for any pointers
 
Last edited:
sk66 said:
My experience is that lead screw mechanisms are better than the rack and pinion gearing found on most cheaper/conventional rails. For the price, I would try the neewer worm drive rail... it looks to be a bargain (unless maybe if you need an integrated arca swiss clamp).
Click to expand...

Deliver time is a bit crap " Usually dispatched within 3 to 5 weeks. "
 
F1.2 said:
Deliver time is a bit crap " Usually dispatched within 3 to 5 weeks. "
Click to expand...

Yes, agree, guess it's covid related.
 
.
sk66 said:
My experience is that lead screw mechanisms are better than the rack and pinion gearing found on most cheaper/conventional rails. For the price, I would try the neewer worm drive rail... it looks to be a bargain (unless maybe if you need an integrated arca swiss clamp).
Click to expand...
I just bought one of these under a different name ("Andoer") from eBay,
Despatched from China, it appears to be well made and very smooth in operation.
I don't use one myself but the base of the slide is dovetailed, so it will slip into an ARC Swiss mounting plate.

One thing I would say about it is that it's not very good for cameras with a slim body.
I was trying it with an Olympus m4/3 body and Olympus have a habit of placing the tripod bush near the front edge of the body.
The result was that the camera only sat on half of the circular mounting platform, and it was quite difficult to tighten the mounting screw sufficiently to prevent the camera from rotating.
On a larger body with a more central tripod thread you would probably be OK.
I'm going to try it today with a full sized DSLR.

I don't do much macro work, but I'd been looking at focussing rails.
As with most things, the good ones are the most expensive.
The best focussing rails appear to be the Novoflex series, which are also the most expensive.
There is a decent looking one by Manfrotto which is more reasonab;y priced.
All the others, including the Velbon and those dual axis sliders that are sold under a number of names, come out very badly in reviews.
As I said, I don't do much macro work, but if I was to get serious about it, I think I'd finish up with one of the Novoflex range, but for the time being this Neewer/Andoer rail will suffice.
 
My experience FWIW.....

I started off with a Velbon Super Mag Slider.....decent mechanics but lacks an Arca mount and works fine for smaller DSLR's

Progressed to a Novoflex Castel Cross Q.......a little more precise than the Velbon but not so good for larger bodies (Canon 1srs or equivalent) unless the lens has a tripod ring to bring the CoG down lower.

I'm now using a pair of Really Right Stuff B-150's......a good, solid lead screw design that copes well with larger DSLR's and medium format bodies.

Not surprisingly, the more you pay, the better they get. I should also mention the Red Snapper rails. I tested the prototype some 11 years ago and found it to be very capable. They now come in two widths and custom lengths......a decent option at a mid-price range.
 
sk66 said:
The Manfrottos really aren't that great at all.
Click to expand...
Thanks. I'm not really in the market for another one, but I'll bear that in mind. I did say it looks decent, although I also found a review that was favourable.
I'm a novice at this macro malarkey, so I'm at the experimental stage right now.
I was aware of the bad reviews of those cheap, 2- axis slides, which is why I went for the Neewer/Andoer since it looked (and is) more substantial.
Once you start using it you find out its weaknesses, but I need to spend some more time with it.
 
sk66 said:
The Manfrottos really aren't that great at all.
Click to expand...
I ended up getting one of these on ebay for £40 and it does the job for me. Appreciate it does shift a bit between shots but found helicon focus did a great job of aligning everything. For my purposes (getting slightly more into macros during lockdown) and at the price I found it, it's been perfect - if a choice between no rail and this one, I'd recommend it. That said, at the price on the manfrotto website (£135), I've no doubt a few quid more more get you something infinitely better, or a fraction of the price would get you something reasonable from china. This is probably my favourite focus stack so far after a few weeks of playing...

 
Tricky01 said:
I ended up getting one of these on ebay for £40 and it does the job for me. Appreciate it does shift a bit between shots but found helicon focus did a great job of aligning everything. For my purposes (getting slightly more into macros during lockdown) and at the price I found it, it's been perfect - if a choice between no rail and this one, I'd recommend it. That said, at the price on the manfrotto website (£135), I've no doubt a few quid more more get you something infinitely better, or a fraction of the price would get you something reasonable from china. This is probably my favourite focus stack so far after a few weeks of playing...
Click to expand...
I have a Manfrotto 302 panoramic head, which is basically just a combination of those rails. I installed a couple nylon tipped set screws in each rail to remove most of the slop..._DSC1288-Edit.jpg
 
Canon Bob said:
My experience FWIW.....

I started off with a Velbon Super Mag Slider.....decent mechanics but lacks an Arca mount and works fine for smaller DSLR's

Progressed to a Novoflex Castel Cross Q.......a little more precise than the Velbon but not so good for larger bodies (Canon 1srs or equivalent) unless the lens has a tripod ring to bring the CoG down lower.

I'm now using a pair of Really Right Stuff B-150's......a good, solid lead screw design that copes well with larger DSLR's and medium format bodies.

Not surprisingly, the more you pay, the better they get. I should also mention the Red Snapper rails. I tested the prototype some 11 years ago and found it to be very capable. They now come in two widths and custom lengths......a decent option at a mid-price range.
Click to expand...
I've got a funny idea you sold that to me many years ago!
Now that we're in lockdown my interest in macro has been somewhat forcibly reawakened so I dug out the Velbon and dusted it off. I've modified it by removing the transverse slider piece and it's made it much more stable.
49840854598_dce77b175e_z.jpg

I was tempted tempted to go for something like the Novoflex slider but I don't honestly think I could improve on the Velbon.
I'm now stacking images, I've tried Zerene but opted in the end for Affinity Photo for focus stacking.
49816916311_26affe6c5a_c.jpg

Bluebell bud, stacked in Zerene

49841419777_e840e1cc21_c.jpg

Curly fern stacked in Affinity
 
Tricky01 said:
I ended up getting one of these on ebay for £40 and it does the job for me. Appreciate it does shift a bit between shots but found helicon focus did a great job of aligning everything. For my purposes (getting slightly more into macros during lockdown) and at the price I found it, it's been perfect - if a choice between no rail and this one, I'd recommend it. That said, at the price on the manfrotto website (£135), I've no doubt a few quid more more get you something infinitely better, or a fraction of the price would get you something reasonable from china. This is probably my favourite focus stack so far after a few weeks of playing...

Click to expand...

Fantastic image!!
How do you get it to stay still enough time for you to get your shot?

I've got the Canon 100mm f/2.8L and I've been in the garden trying to shoot bees and they literally never stay still for a second
 
Hanley said:
Very informative thank you!!
Click to expand...
I have the same kit that he uses but I haven't tried the technique yet.
I was surprised that you could focus stack hand held - I guess it needs a bit of practice.
 
Hanley said:
Fantastic image!!
How do you get it to stay still enough time for you to get your shot?

I've got the Canon 100mm f/2.8L and I've been in the garden trying to shoot bees and they literally never stay still for a second
Click to expand...

Thanks! That handheld focus stacking video is really interesting (thanks @Brian G !), but this was shot on the macro focus rail. The weather was so good over Easter that lots of bugs were getting stuck in our conservatory. We tried to 'release' as many as possible, but most morning there would be a few we'd missed. So I'd get them onto my iphone screen (makes a great reflective platform) and take a few snaps before giving them some sugar water to revitalise them and then they'd fly off. They would still roam around the phone screen so still lots of missed shots, but every now and then it would work. Rather than moving my kit, I'd just move the iphone to keep the subject I the frame. I used the camera's inbuilt intervalometer to fire a shot every second, and had the shutter speed at at least 100s, then aperture around f8-13, and ISO set so that my flash could manually fire at 1/8th power (meant the flash could recharge within the second between shots). It's my first time doing these, so those settings are what I've ended up at after lots of trial and error! There are some pics on my setup I posted over on dyxum here and i'm trying to share a new pic and some background on my instagram each day here

Will definitely be trying the handheld approach now though.
 
Hanley said:
Looks okay for the price, and you could always send it back if it wasn't good enough. :)
Click to expand...

Very true Paul...I'm trying to work out how the block grips the rail and hope it's not just a screw!

I can see it now...
 
Last edited:
sk66 said:
My experience is that lead screw mechanisms are better than the rack and pinion gearing found on most cheaper/conventional rails. For the price, I would try the neewer worm drive rail... it looks to be a bargain (unless maybe if you need an integrated arca swiss clamp).
Click to expand...
Haldir said:
Has anyone any thoughts on this one?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B082XGLDFH/ref=dp_cerb_1
Click to expand...
The unit you linked to appears to have the less desirable rack and pinion adjustment referred to by Steven.
I got an equivalent of the Mengs worm drive rail from eBay.
It seems to be one of those items which is marketed under a number of different brand names, mine is called an Andoer W-160 and It's also sold under the Neewer brand name.
My only criticism is that it's quite difficult to get the camera locked solid on the base.
If used in the "portrait" orientation there is a tendency for the camera to rotate and unscrew itself.

The actual focussing adjustment using the lead screw is very smooth and positive, and in my opinion it seems to be a good budget solution, although I haven't had a great deal of experience with this sort of equipment.
 
I think there's more to this than I thought...If I buy the Sunwayfoto, do I need to buy a bracket that clamps to the camera so it'll attach to the Sunway? Would the Synway attach
to any standard tripod head?
 
++
Hanley said:
Yep, I tried it this afternoon and failed miserably :ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO:
Click to expand...
If you do a search on YouTube for "Hand Held Focus Stacking" it comes up with a number of results, although I've only watched the one I posted the link to.
 
The rail should have a standard bush but also has an Arca Swiss dovetail for mounting on your head. You will need an Arca Swiss plate for your camera...
 
Last edited:
Haldir said:
I think there's more to this than I thought...If I buy the Sunwayfoto, do I need to buy a bracket that clamps to the camera so it'll attach to the Sunway? Would the Synway attach
to any standard tripod head?
Click to expand...
That rail has an integrated arca swis clamp (which is good IMO), so you also need an arca swiss plate at a minimum... but I would suggest an L-bracket instead.
 
sk66 said:
That rail has an integrated arca swis clamp (which is good IMO), so you also need an arca swiss plate at a minimum... but I would suggest an L-bracket instead.
Click to expand...

Appreciated Steven.

So the camera is attached to something like this?
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pig-Iron-LB-1-Arca-Swiss-Compatible/dp/B01N63S2YF

And the Sunway attaches to something like this, which is attached to the tripod?
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Harwerrel-...DFGJSQ9NWK6&psc=1&refRID=HHKNNJ296DFGJSQ9NWK6
 
Haldir said:
And the Sunway attaches to something like this, which is attached to the tripod?
Click to expand...
The trending type of tripod head QR mount/clamp is arca swiss, and that rail is designed to take advantage of that. The rail also has two 1/4-20 screw holes underneath, which is the standard for other screw attachments (Manfrotto plates, direct mounting, etc). The holes are off-center, which isn't ideal; but you might not actually need/want the clamp/conversion.
 
Last edited:
sk66 said:
The trending type of tripod head QR mount/clamp is arca swiss, and that rail is designed to take advantage of that. The rail also has two 1/4-20 screw holes underneath, which is the standard for other screw attachments (Manfrotto plates, direct mounting, etc). The holes are off-center, which isn't ideal; but you might not actually need/want the clamp/conversion.
Click to expand...

I did wonder about those holes being off centre...I have a Manfrotto tripod with quick release plate, it's a nice tripod for normal use, not great for getting too low.
Our lass has her spotting scope permanently attached to it at the moment so I've looked at another tripod over the past couple of days and quite fancy a Benbo MK1.
It's getting a bit too expensive at the moment though :giggle: Thankfully, the spotting scope came with a table top tripod which isn't too bad to be fair...I hadn't realised
when I first saw the Sunway rail that extra parts were required!
 
Haldir said:
so I've looked at another tripod over the past couple of days and quite fancy a Benbo MK1.
Click to expand...
Well, I think a Benbo Trekker might be better suited for low level macro type stuff (smaller/lighter/cheaper)... and if you want to make life even more interesting you can add a Benbo head that is equally contortionist.

IMG_20200506_115035241.jpg
(I apparently collect weird tripod heads...)
 
sk66 said:
Well, I think a Benbo Trekker might be better suited for low level macro type stuff (smaller/lighter/cheaper)... and if you want to make life even more interesting you can add a Benbo head that is equally contortionist.

(I apparently collect weird tripod heads...)
Click to expand...

I noticed there was a bit of a price and weight difference between the MK1 and MK3 kit. Having never used one I was looking at the heaviest option, to be on the safe side:giggle:
The MK3 Trekker does look a nice bit of kit though, and would probably suit me better.

Your Benbo Head looks a weighty bit of kit, is that still a current model or an old classic?
 
I have an old classic 2... it's huge and heavy; nearly 9ft when fully extended and weighs about 8lbs. Not my first choice if walking any distance...
Haldir said:
Your Benbo Head looks a weighty bit of kit, is that still a current model or an old classic?
Click to expand...
It's old and rare... I've just adapted it with an arca swiss clamp so it looks kind of modern. It's also not great for heavy equipment/stability because it can put the weight so far off-center, which is why it looks about new.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top