focusing rail advice

kenglade

I'm a beginner in macro and am considering buying a focusing rail but those little buggers can get expensive. I'm not shooting professionally but just because I like it. I'm also retired so i don't have a lot of extra cash floating around. So i decided to come to the experts.

How many actually use focusing rings? What recommendations can you make without forcing me to bust my meager budget. I understand there are both plastic and metal rails. i don't want something that's going to break the third time I use it, but neither do i want to spend several hundred dollars.

Appreciate your help.

Lord Vetinari

Hi Ken, can only say I don't use a rail but then I don't use a tripod either for macro.
Brian v.

kenglade

Lord Vetinari wrote: »

Hi Ken, can only say I don't use a rail but then I don't use a tripod either for macro.
Brian v.

Thanks, Brian. Guess I'm a little older and my hands shake a bit more. On the other hand, maybe I really don't need to either.

Ken

basflt

i agree w Brian
you dont need it
lay your left hand on something solid , rest the lens on your hand and manual focus by moving to/fro , not by the focus-ring
should work fine

kenglade

basflt wrote: »

i agree w Brian
you dont need it
lay your left hand on something solid , rest the lens on your hand and manual focus by moving to/fro , not by the focus-ring
should work fine

Sounds good to me. I'll give it a shot. Thanks for the advice.

kenglade

basflt wrote: »

i agree w Brian
you dont need it
lay your left hand on something solid , rest the lens on your hand and manual focus by moving to/fro , not by the focus-ring
should work fine

On second thought, you could do this with a monopod

puzzledpaul

Imo, it depends somewhat on subjects being shot, gear used, how you like to operate etc ... whether you'll find one useful or not.

If you're interested in taking pics of jewelry/watches/coins etc (especially if doing a series) ...then whilst all of this can be done hand held, it's also great to have the gear on a tripod so's you can tweak composition / arrangement to your heart's content ... and not have to worry about the cam moving.

I used to use a macro rail + tripod based rig for natural light dynamic subjects for a while because of the gear I was using ... old Canon FD manual lenses on a dslr via a converter ... so having a stable platform whilst changing settings was useful - to say the least

I used a converted (Canon) bellows rail rather than buying a 'proper' one ... about £25

pp

kenglade

puzzledpaul wrote: »

Imo, it depends somewhat on subjects being shot, gear used, how you like to operate etc ... whether you'll find one useful or not.

If you're interested in taking pics of jewelry/watches/coins etc (especially if doing a series) ...then whilst all of this can be done hand held, it's also great to have the gear on a tripod so's you can tweak composition / arrangement to your heart's content ... and not have to worry about the cam moving.

I used to use a macro rail + tripod based rig for natural light dynamic subjects for a while because of the gear I was using ... old Canon FD manual lenses on a dslr via a converter ... so having a stable platform whilst changing settings was useful - to say the least

I used a converted (Canon) bellows rail rather than buying a 'proper' one ... about £25

pp

I think I'll try Bas' and Brian's ideas before i rush out to buy a rail. I shoot with a D300. Right now my subjects are all over the map since I'm still trying to find a niche. I'm not crazy about snakes and spiders and insects are not very common since I live in a high desert area. One of these days I'll work up some courage and post a few but compared to others I've seen mine are very amateurish. Takes time and patience.

Thanks for the comment.

paddler4

You probably don't need one for tripod work either, unless you are doing very high levels of magnification. I routinely do images in the 1:1 to 1.5:1 range on a tripod, and I focus-stack the images, so alignment is critical. I don't even own a rail. I just focus on the closest part of the image and then focus slightly further back (manually, of course) for each successive image. It works just fine, as long as you are very careful to make small changes in focus. As an example, I am about to post two peony shots I did this way. one was 10 images, and the second was 13. No problem doing it without a rail.

To put this in perspective: my hands never were terribly steady, and they haven't gotten better as I have approached retirement. for macro work where a tripod is not practical--e.g., chasing bugs on a hot day--I have a lot of discards and almost never can align images well enough to stack them. I do use a cheap monopod, which helps a lot. When you are doing tripod work, however, which is the only time a rail would be useful, it doesn't much matter. Get yourself a cheap remote release (you can buy corded ones for $10 or so on eBay), set the camera for mirror lock up, then make the change in focus, let everything settle down, and stand or sit very still while you take the photo.

kenglade

paddler4 wrote: »

You probably don't need one for tripod work either, unless you are doing very high levels of magnification. I routinely do images in the 1:1 to 1.5:1 range on a tripod, and I focus-stack the images, so alignment is critical. I don't even own a rail. I just focus on the closest part of the image and then focus slightly further back (manually, of course) for each successive image. It works just fine, as long as you are very careful to make small changes in focus. As an example, I am about to post two peony shots I did this way. one was 10 images, and the second was 13. No problem doing it without a rail.

To put this in perspective: my hands never were terribly steady, and they haven't gotten better as I have approached retirement. for macro work where a tripod is not practical--e.g., chasing bugs on a hot day--I have a lot of discards and almost never can align images well enough to stack them. I do use a cheap monopod, which helps a lot. When you are doing tripod work, however, which is the only time a rail would be useful, it doesn't much matter. Get yourself a cheap remote release (you can buy corded ones for $10 or so on eBay), set the camera for mirror lock up, then make the change in focus, let everything settle down, and stand or sit very still while you take the photo.

Sounds like a plan. I printed your response and will put it to a test first chance I can slip in the backyard and clip some of my wife's flowers. What software do you use to stack?

paddler4

Ken,

I use Zerene. It has two stacking algorithms. I find DMap usually superior for flowers--it preserves textures and colors better. Not as clear for bugs. it has a very good retouching tool that allows you to get rid of artifacts by selecting the image from the stack that is in focus at a given point and painting from there to the stacked image.

Dan

kenglade

paddler4 wrote: »

Ken,

I use Zerene. It has two stacking algorithms. I find DMap usually superior for flowers--it preserves textures and colors better. Not as clear for bugs. it has a very good retouching tool that allows you to get rid of artifacts by selecting the image from the stack that is in focus at a given point and painting from there to the stacked image.

Dan

Dan

Very interesting. I'll check it out. Does it work with Mac? The one I see most often is Helicon, which does work with Mac.

Ken

Snowgirl

kenglade wrote: »

Dan

Very interesting. I'll check it out. Does it work with Mac? The one I see most often is Helicon, which does work with Mac.

Ken

I use Zyrene on my Mac very successfully - well relative to my limited talent with macro photography so far. I am also new to it.

I did get a focus rail but truthfully, if I take the time to dig EVERYTHING out - lens, ring flash, tripod, focus rail etc. and get it all set up - I'm worn out before I even start.

It is fun, though.

kenglade

Snowgirl wrote: »

I use Zyrene on my Mac very successfully - well relative to my limited talent with macro photography so far. I am also new to it.

I did get a focus rail but truthfully, if I take the time to dig EVERYTHING out - lens, ring flash, tripod, focus rail etc. and get it all set up - I'm worn out before I even start.

It is fun, though.

Yeah, it is a project unto itself, especially since I operate in limited space

Art Scott

kenglade wrote: »

I'm a beginner in macro and am considering buying a focusing rail but those little buggers can get expensive. I'm not shooting professionally but just because I like it. I'm also retired so i don't have a lot of extra cash floating around. So i decided to come to the experts.

How many actually use focusing rings? What recommendations can you make without forcing me to bust my meager budget. I understand there are both plastic and metal rails. i don't want something that's going to break the third time I use it, but neither do i want to spend several hundred dollars.

Appreciate your help.

I had one a few years ago (around 20yrs when I bought it) made my ADORAMA the original cost of mine was 189.99 it was supper heaving but worked like a dream and then I got bored with it and sold all my macro stuff about 5 yrs ago..........then I got the bug again and started shooting off hand but was finding that for a lot of subjects I needed a tripod and the rail as I was getting way to pissed of from moving to and fro to focus and leaning left or right to get correct angle, and to quantify a little more i shoot most portraits and weddings off a tripod, so trippod shooting is not a hindrance to me.... .... so i went shopping on ebay and found one for around $40-50...it works just as well as my 189.99 one from adorama and is waaaay lighter.....when I recieved it I did not know it had a crack in a part of it....after i had it over a month i borrowed a heavy macro lens and it would not move to and fro properly and I was the crack....they company sent a replacement without any question and aI even told them it was far beyond my return time...they said all we want are satisfied clients...WOW............. HERE IS A LINK TO IT ON EBAY - http://tinyurl.com/d68ytlw

Good Luck in your Macro shooting ...

kenglade

Art Scott wrote: »

I had one a few years ago (around 20yrs when I bought it) made my ADORAMA the original cost of mine was 189.99 it was supper heaving but worked like a dream and then I got bored with it and sold all my macro stuff about 5 yrs ago..........then I got the bug again and started shooting off hand but was finding that for a lot of subjects I needed a tripod and the rail as I was getting way to pissed of from moving to and fro to focus and leaning left or right to get correct angle, and to quantify a little more i shoot most portraits and weddings off a tripod, so trippod shooting is not a hindrance to me.... .... so i went shopping on ebay and found one for around $40-50...it works just as well as my 189.99 one from adorama and is waaaay lighter.....when I recieved it I did not know it had a crack in a part of it....after i had it over a month i borrowed a heavy macro lens and it would not move to and fro properly and I was the crack....they company sent a replacement without any question and aI even told them it was far beyond my return time...they said all we want are satisfied clients...WOW............. HERE IS A LINK TO IT ON EBAY - http://tinyurl.com/d68ytlw

Good Luck in your Macro shooting ...

Many thanks, Art. I've bookmarked the site. Notice it's also metal, which is good.