Stacking rail

davholla · Nov 3, 2016

I have a Canon MPE65 mm lens and a Canon 550 D and 7D MK II (I use it with both of them).
I would like to get some type of automatic focus rail. I know there is stackshot, any other ideas? Or any good manual ones.
I want to use for when I find still insects like moths, particularly macro moths etc. I doubt I will ever find a still enough springtail but you never know.

petrochemist · Nov 3, 2016

Have a look at Macro Sliders, stages, rails and other z axis movement equipment for extreme macro photography
where Johan reviews a range of options

kalgra · Nov 3, 2016

I can't advise on any others but I love my stackshot. It's built really well and easy to use.

davholla · Nov 4, 2016

kalgra said:
I can't advise on any others but I love my stackshot. It's built really well and easy to use.

Is it portable? What have you taken with it?

kalgra · Nov 4, 2016

davholla said:
kalgra said:

I can't advise on any others but I love my stackshot. It's built really well and easy to use.

Click to expand...

Is it portable? What have you taken with it?

I guess it depends on what you consider portable. I bought a Pelican type of case for mine to hold the rail the controller, cables, and all my mounting and tripod accessories. Id have to measure to be sure but I think the case I used was about 14"x 18" and was overkill. So yes it is somewhat portable. Obviously it requires power and is a precision machine so its not really intended for outdoor use. Although you probably would be fine to use it outside with an extension cord in fair weather conditions. I plan on taking mine to the lab of an entomologist this winter to do some cool stuff for a local children museum.

I haven't used it for a boatload of pictures yet maybe just a half dozen or so, but it is very easy to use and some of the stacking software thats out there like Zerene which I use has add ons that will communicate directly with the stackshot contoller making it even easier to use. I only just got mine 2 or 3 months ago and plan on using it much more this winter when I won't be hiking as much. Here are a few examples. Some if the issues in these images are the fault of the photographer

and should not reflect on the capabilities of this machine.

If you are looking to stack really really small stuff I just don't thinkI would go any other way. The high resolution mode lets you drop to increments so small you could never accomplish the same with a manual rail where the simple act of touching the adjustment knob would ruin the stack.

Wasp 14 stack black by Kristian Algra, on Flickr

20160823-Ant 11 Stack1-Edit by Kristian Algra, on Flickr

Jumper 12 stack by Kristian Algra, on Flickr

Overread · Nov 4, 2016

Novoflex make some very high end (or at least high price) rails (manual) that might be a cut above others. Myself I like the cheap ebay/Adorama focusing rails with my MPE - they might not be outstanding nor expensive; but they work well.

Velbon has a rail setup that might also be worth looking at.

For motorized I think there's one or two others but the Stackshot is probably the best you're going to get for features and control and certainly the most popular in general.

kalgra · Nov 4, 2016

On a side note i have one of the cheap $50 rails I got from Amazon. I think its branded as kiwi but I think its just a rebadged version similar to what Adorama and others supply. It works well. Some of my best stacks were done with this cheap manual rail. The main issue I run into with the manual rail mostly applies to steep angles where the camera and lens weight make fine adjustment difficult and require me to apply a lot of extra torque on the lock screw to keep the rail from sliding down due to the weight of the camera. Having to apply a lot of torque to the lock screw each time it is loosened and retightened between shots can result in a lot of extra movement and has resulted is some alignment issues. For small bugs and stuff this hasn't been a huge issue for me but if I'm not mistaken you are doing really small stuff right? In that case I think this could be an issue.

davholla · Nov 5, 2016

Overread said:
Velbon has a rail setup that might also be worth looking at.

It does look quite good
I was thinking about Velbon is the Adorama one that you meant?
Adorama Macro Focusing Rail Set, 4-Way Rail | eBay

Or maybe the Novoflex
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0002SW...TF8&colid=3NQ6PPBFIQ48Z&coliid=I39PA9QAJJ58PG

davholla · Nov 5, 2016

kalgra said:
On a side note i have one of the cheap $50 rails I got from Amazon. I think its branded as kiwi but I think its just a rebadged version similar to what Adorama and others supply. It works well. Some of my best stacks were done with this cheap manual rail. The main issue I run into with the manual rail mostly applies to steep angles where the camera and lens weight make fine adjustment difficult and require me to apply a lot of extra torque on the lock screw to keep the rail from sliding down due to the weight of the camera. Having to apply a lot of torque to the lock screw each time it is loosened and retightened between shots can result in a lot of extra movement and has resulted is some alignment issues. For small bugs and stuff this hasn't been a huge issue for me but if I'm not mistaken you are doing really small stuff right? In that case I think this could be an issue.

Your sure shot photos look amazing. However a) the price and b) the portablility (I would like to take it in on a plane with me, with lots of other things)
Is this the Kiwi one you have got?
KIWI 4 Way Macro Focusing Rail Slider Set For Photography Nikon Canon SLR Camera | eBay

I like taking photos of all arthropods from giant stick insects to miniscule mites, so I would like to take some small photos with it.

davholla · Nov 5, 2016

I should have said although I would love to take photos like kalgra, any solution must be portable enough to go on a plane and then a bus to a cloud forest in Colombia, I would love take a stack of this for example

IMG_8472grasshopper by davholla2002, on Flickr

kalgra · Nov 5, 2016

davholla said:
kalgra said:

On a side note i have one of the cheap $50 rails I got from Amazon. I think its branded as kiwi but I think its just a rebadged version similar to what Adorama and others supply. It works well. Some of my best stacks were done with this cheap manual rail. The main issue I run into with the manual rail mostly applies to steep angles where the camera and lens weight make fine adjustment difficult and require me to apply a lot of extra torque on the lock screw to keep the rail from sliding down due to the weight of the camera. Having to apply a lot of torque to the lock screw each time it is loosened and retightened between shots can result in a lot of extra movement and has resulted is some alignment issues. For small bugs and stuff this hasn't been a huge issue for me but if I'm not mistaken you are doing really small stuff right? In that case I think this could be an issue.

Click to expand...

Your sure shot photos look amazing. However a) the price and b) the portablility (I would like to take it in on a plane with me, with lots of other things)
Is this the Kiwi one you have got?
KIWI 4 Way Macro Focusing Rail Slider Set For Photography Nikon Canon SLR Camera | eBay

I like taking photos of all arthropods from giant stick insects to miniscule mites, so I would like to take some small photos with it.

Yep that's it!

davholla · Nov 5, 2016

kalgra said:
Yep that's it!

Interesting, what is the smallest that you have photographed?

Overread · Nov 5, 2016

Kiwi - Adorama etc.... those rails shown above are the kind I use (and call "cheap ebay" kind) and do work well.

Novoflex might be better and for the price I'd expect them to take a heavier setup; but in truth I've not used them. If I had budget I would probably get a set even just to try out.

kalgra · Nov 5, 2016

davholla said:
kalgra said:

Yep that's it!

Click to expand...

Interesting, what is the smallest that you have photographed?

Ummm I think this one is probably the smallest with the kiwi. I think this fly's head was about 2.5mm across. I dont recall how many shots made this one up. I want to say 8-12 but just dont recall.

20160719-flystack07192016.5 by Kristian Algra, on Flickr

Overread said:
Kiwi - Adorama etc.... those rails shown above are the kind I use (and call "cheap ebay" kind) and do work well.

Novoflex might be better and for the price I'd expect them to take a heavier setup; but in truth I've not used them. If I had budget I would probably get a set even just to try out.

I have read very good things about the Novoflex and do suspect it would handle the weight better as well. Another thing about the kiwi is the teeth on the gear system are exposed and and has a sticky lubricant on them that is easy to get on your hands and then the camera or lens so you need to be careful about that. I also suspect that those exposed teeth and gears would attract a lot of dirt using it outside allot and might eventually not be as easy to adjust. Like Overread I have not used the Novoflex but based on the pictures of it online it seems like it would avoid that problem a bit better.