[jfsavage]

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I ordered a set of 4 way macro focusing rails from ebay. I chose the user ‘jiakgong’ who is based in Hong Kong, who has a very good feedback rating. The order went reasonably smoothly, though I had to ask for a new invoice as I wanted to pay the extra $2 for insurance and tracking and that was not an option in the ebay check out process. I got very fast email response from jiakgong with the invoice, and after payment, another email with the tracking number. The rails arrived directly from Hong Kong in a week.

The focusing rails appear to be identical to those sold in the US for around 3-4x the price, but I have no way of knowing if the quality is comparable or not. The rails from jiakgong are solidly made, with a knob to slide the rails and another knob to apply extra friction. Using my K20D with FA 100mm lens, I found that the rails moved very smoothly.

I am very pleased with the new rails. They do exactly what they are supposed to do and feel quality made. Macro photography is much easier with four way adjustment, especially extended depth of field stacking. I will probably get an extra quick release plate and adapter so I don’t have to play around moving the plate from the camera to the rails. The rails are useful enough I will use them frequently enough to justify the extra tripod parts.

Overall, highly recommended.

[knochelbiter]

I've made 7 different purchases from jiakgong via eBay over the last year or so - mostly small stuff like LCD screen protectors, lens caps, generic "Rocket" blower, a remote trigger, lens hoods, etc.

Always found the shipping to be fast, and the products of good quality.

[GerryL]

I also ordered from this site. Very reliable.
Haven't ordered any big stuff though but usually Hong Kong sellers try to please their buyers, so this is a good thing!

[geauxpez]

Please send a photo of or a link to this wonderful-sounding device.

[jfsavage]

You can find this by searching for 'macro rails' on ebay - here is an example

4 way Macro Shot Focusing Rail Slider for SLR DSLR DC - eBay (item 250310898211 end time Jun-15-09 06:05:48 PDT)

Here is an example image taken with the rails used for focus stacking and combining:

I'll have to be geeting some of them.

[GerryL]

They are actually a lot cheaper than the Velbon Macro rails but these are a lot heavier and bulkier than the Velbon too.

[Russell-Evans]

I bought the focusing rail a while back and I did do some modifications.

The first was to fill the holes on the plastic guide behind the metal plates. I taking apart the unit, I noticed I had already bent the metal of the center plate in trying to keep the camera and lens from extending the rail when fully vertical.





I used hot glue and a hot glue gun to fill the holes. I mounted the plate before the glue cooled and hardened. It was a little messy, but I removed the majority of the excess.

I didn't always want to use the unit as a four way head as it is a little bit to carry, and I didn't want to remove the QR plate on the camera, so I added a QR mount to the lower arm.




The QR mount could not keep from twisting, so I added two set screws to the base. The set screws are positioned to allow for a 90 degree rotation of the QR mount.



I wanted a way to mount a QR plate to the base of the rail. In this case, a home made acra style QR plate made from 1.5x1/8 inch aluminum flat stock filed to shape and epoxied together. I figured drilling and tapping another hole in the base to keep the plate from twisting was needed. The mount already had the metal, just not the second hole.




A photo of the lower base taken apart.


The focusing rail cost $50 on ebay with shipping and the Kirk 1.75 inch QR mount was another $50. With another $10 for the misc screw and the four inches of flat stock, I figure around $110 for the complete set of mods. This is still a lot less than the Kirk focusing rail at $270.

The QR mount is simple to remove and the lateral arm can be mounted in its place. The QR mount can then be mounted to the lateral arm's stand for use there.

Thank you
Russell

[GerryL]

That's a lot of mods!
Did you really have to do all of those?

[Russell-Evans]

That's a lot of mods!
Did you really have to do all of those?

It depends on how you mean "have to". The unit is certainly usable without them, but for me, more useful with them. Maybe more "want to", than "have to".

Thank you
Russell