Priddy Pools and Mineries

Macro focussing rails
in Discussion Forum June 16, 2012, 15:23


I am looking to buy a macro focussing rail in the near future and need a little advice, the reason for the purchase is mainly for focus stacking.

There are a number of choices currently available, from the cheap ebay versions, the manfrotto 454, Velbon mag slider, Novoflex Castel and a number of other more expensive options.

The choice is not the issue here as I have already excluded the ebay options and the Manfrotto 454. I already own a couple of the ebay versions which to be honest, for the money are not that bad, although not that precise. The two that I have narrowed it down to are the Velbon super mag slider and the Novoflex Castel mini, I hae excluded the more expensive options for the price and I would probably need some additional bits to make them fit i.e compatible plates etc.

What I am trying to find out and what is surprisingly omitted from any of the reviews I have read is how fine an adjustment you can make in the amount of travel between shots. For example, if I want to take a series of 40-60 images to focus stack of, let's say, a Hoverfly, from the head to the back of the fly, how fine an adjustment of travel between shots would I be able to make with either the Velbon or the Novoflex rails, it is possible to make adjustments that are only a fraction of a millimetre and is this adjustment smooth?

Any advice would be greatfully appreciated!

Heath




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