| sent on 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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| sent on June 18, 2012 (20:23)
Hello!
In what magnification range do you intend to do the stacking? Neither of the options are good enough for more than 0.8X.
I have a Novoflex Castel-Q and the best I can do in the field is 0.2 mm. Is not nearly enough. I doubt it's possible to do much better with Velbon.
I would suggest to try a manual linear stage which I have and is excellent or a Velmex macro rail. I think Velmex has a subsidiary in the UK and they also make custom rails. Worth looking at!
See here an example: www.flickr.com/photos/reallysmall/7006925829/
If you are interested I could post some pictures of one of my setups with a Sigma Macro lens.
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| sent on June 21, 2012 (13:39)
Hi Cristian
Many thanks for your reply.
I was thinking in the region of 0.5 - 2x, I am also going to purchase the MPE-65 to compliment my Sigma 180, so I just want something that is a bit more well built and stable. You mention the Novoflex Castel-Q, I have been looking at this one too now and 0.2mm to me sounds very good. That's 5 frames per 1mm.
In the past I have done a couple of stacks with the 180 and a teleconverter and got good results, the only problem is that I cannot measure the specific distance between frames when adjusting the focus ring, but I am sure it is more than 0.2mm.
I did have a look at your other suggestions, though I was not sure which one of the manual linear stage I should be looking at, they seem to be a very technical engineering firm so I am not familiar with their terminology! The Velmex looks quite good too, but in this case, getting hold of one may be a little difficult.
What is your opinion of the Novoflex Castel-Q?
Heath |
| sent on June 25, 2012 (20:53)
The Castel-Q is a wonderful piece of equipment. Very nicely made, not heavy and smooth. And it has an Arca Swiss base. If you want to put your Sigma lens on it you'll also need a bidrectional anti twist plate from Novoflex, you won't find something similar. So that would cost about 220 Euros. Not cheap for a rail.
I have 2 complaints about it: it's hard to see on the rail the travel of the setup especially with a collared lens like Sigma or Canon MP-E. The second one is that is not easy at all to make consistent and symetric steps when stacking. It's possible but you loose to much time with it. I didn't had fun with it so I bought a stage last year to complement it.
About the stage: think about it like super fine rail. It's not complicated at all. It mainly consists of 2 plates and a micrometer attached to them. You move the micrometer (many of them are able to move the stage at 0.001 mm easily!!!) and make the required stacking steps. They are priced quite steep when bought new but eBay is your friend here...  |
| sent on June 27, 2012 (9:11)
Many thanks Cristian, I am very interested in the Castel-Q with the anti twist plate, I've got my order for the MPE-65 so I think I will start with this focus rail and see how I get on, do intend to keep an eye out for any ebay bargains, as you say the stage is a bit pricey new, thanks for the advice.
Cheers
Heath |
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