Loyal Site Supporter Registered: August, 2010 Location: Massachusetts Posts: 59,106 | | Review Date: February 13, 2021 | Recommended | Price: None indicated
| Rating: 7 |
| Pros: | smooth movement | | Cons: | loose, controls | |
I've had this unit for a long time. The rack & pinion moves a mounted camera very smoothly BUT, when the lock lever is released there is play in the mount, quite a bit. When mounted vertically on a copy stand, you dare not take your hand off the focusing knob otherwise the unit will crash down to the lowest point . Most annoying, the focus knob and lock lever on both on the same side of the unit, which makes it very awkward to hold the focus knob and unlock or lock the movement simultaneously, Far better had the lock knob been on the opposite side from the focusing knob. A flawed design.
| |
Site Supporter Registered: October, 2008 Location: Vancouver, Canada Posts: 8,090
4 users found this helpful
| | Review Date: June 30, 2010 | Recommended | Price: $105.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Well built and is small & light. | | Cons: | Takes a bit of fiddling to get the final focus. | |
The focus rail is another must have accessory for macro/close-up shooting. It fits between your tripod and your camera and features a fine focusing knob. The focus rail is very well built and is small/light enough to carry in your camera bag.
The focus rail takes seconds to mount on your tripod and has its own base with a nice rubber mount where you attach your camera body.
The recommended focusing procedure is to set the macro lens magnification ratio and to move the camera, using the focus rail, for final focusing adjustments. The focus rail also has a lock for when you have finished focusing. (Remember that when you move the focus ring on a macro lens you also change the magnification.)
The focus rail works very well, but does not have the ultra fine focusing adjustment that you get when you use a macro lens focusing ring. As a result I usually make the last very finest focusing adjustment on the lens itself.
I have two focusing rails, one that came with my copy stand and a separate one I use for outdoor macro work with my K100/4 Macro lens and 50mm auto extension tube. This gives me a 1:1 magnification ratio and around a six inch working distance from my subject. The focus rail really comes in handy, but does require a bit of time to get the tripod the right distance and leaving enough movement front & back with the rail for the final focusing adjustment.
Highly recommended as long as you don’t mind a bit of fiddling.
| |
