Have I figured out a minimalist solid table top platform for stationary macro?

[Manfred M]

In the context of what Brian is looking at I can not see why if he understands that if he wants to go from the head(Manfrotto)/focus rail(Oben)/camera situation to the head/camera situation he has to swop the plates that will take a minute to do.

Or am I missing something?

No, I was missing something; the design of the focusing rail was different than what I would have expected based on how my Arca-Swiss gear has been built. Oben has come up with a more flexible solution. See my comments on the design of the Oben gear above (#40).

[Loose Canon]

Hey Brian!

I use the 410 Jr. head and have nothing but good things to say about it. In fact I find it indispensible in the studio. To be able to make these types of micro adjustments make Life in the Studio a lot nicer. No worries about travel, it stays where you leave it (gears as opposed to a ball) and under a lot of weight. And I sometimes leave a set for days. There has already been testimony regarding travel with a ball.

I have all the happy L-plates and plates for my lens mounts for my longer lenses permanently mounted that play nice with the ball head QR (A/S). But all the plates have female threaded mounts that accept the Manfrotto proprietary QR plate. Screw the Manfrotto QR plate into the female threaded, use a quarter (US $0.25 coin) to tighten it up a bit, and good. Unless I’m outdoors, and packing for a hike, and I’m not taking the gear head, my camera/lens mostly wears the Manfrotto QR plate ready to deploy in the studio! A couple of seconds and its on/off! So essentially what I’m saying is that the Swiss/Arca platform is great, easy, but not always so essential. And certainly for the applications you are looking for. Confirm the head will shoot straight down at a vertical 90*.

I might also mention that my rail (I shoot macro studio- jewelry, etc., and do some stacking) fits right in with these mountings and no issues.

The XPro you are looking at looks pretty cool to me and if I were going to chose between that and a ball for a studio, I’d go geared, attach the Manfrotto QR, use it indoors as well as out in your Little Slice of Paradise, and never look back.

As for the tripod? I’ll toss something out here that may or may not have any appeal! Instead of a tabletop tripod Brian, which seems limited in its scope, why not use your existing tripod (and I’m just assuming you have one), and bring the tabletop to it?

Save a few bucks and get a cheaper tripod, better head, take the mounting plate of the "table pod" and mount that to a piece of board (I use a 12”x12”), mount that to the pod, and have an adjustable platform? Seeing as how you are shooting small stuff tight!

Advantages off the top of my bald head (And just a couple. You’ll find way more). Once you use this set-up the advantages bring it:
• Mobile. Move it anywhere in the room to chase window/provided light.
• Angle. You have every angle possible available. Tripod on a table is going to limit you. I guess you could always add some boxes or something to attain height, but you won’t be able to lower the tabletop to shoot straight down. Will this pod hold your rig at this angle?
• Can tape surfaces to the wood base. I use glass, plexi, stainless, whatever surfaces!
• Again? Many more angle adjustments (exponentially with both camera and table), and way easier/quicker to have when the surface as well as your camera are fully adjustable.
It won’t hold a ton of weight so if you’re going to put a huge flower pot on it to shoot one flower probably not the best solution! But? I have shot full bottles of whiskey, a whiskey glass, a “wet table top” (meaning it is filled with water) on one of these rigs. That’s a good bit of weight!

Just a Theory Brian! Might fit into your flow or not, but I didn’t see it mentioned previous!

[Mike Buckley]

I looked at getting an L bracket a while ago Mike and Manfrotto have ones with both the 200PL and 410 plates attached.

Thanks for that information, Grahame. Manfrotto actually has three L-frames, each with a different plate. I assume one of them fits my quick release bracket. Note to others also considering a Manfrotto L-bracket: I didn't see them because I conducted a search on "L frame." If I had conducted it based on either "L bracket," "L plate" or "L," I would have seen them.

[AlwaysOnAuto]

No, I was missing something; the design of the focusing rail was different than what I would have expected based on how my Arca-Swiss gear has been built. Oben has come up with a more flexible solution. See my comments on the design of the Oben gear above (#40).

Now you can see why I said what I did Manfred.

[Manfred M]

Now you can see why I said what I did Manfred.

I guess I didn't and re-reading your posts I still don't.

Must be the jet lag - my brain is still rather mushy.

[JBW]

Hey Brian!

I use the 410 Jr. head and have nothing but good things to say about it. In fact I find it indispensible in the studio. To be able to make these types of micro adjustments make Life in the Studio a lot nicer. No worries about travel, it stays where you leave it (gears as opposed to a ball) and under a lot of weight. And I sometimes leave a set for days. There has already been testimony regarding travel with a ball.

So your experience is that it will easily hold the weight I would put on it.

As for the tripod? I’ll toss something out here that may or may not have any appeal! Instead of a tabletop tripod Brian, which seems limited in its scope, why not use your existing tripod (and I’m just assuming you have one), and bring the tabletop to it? Just a Theory Brian! Might fit into your flow or not, but I didn’t see it mentioned previous!

If I understand your suggestion there would be 6 tripod legs for me to maneuver around with my chair. The studio has good light and counter tops to catch it plus the center table. I can chase away with the table top tripod to my hearts content

[Loose Canon]

So your experience is that it will easily hold the weight I would put on it.

The 410 will yes.

If I understand your suggestion there would be 6 tripod legs for me to maneuver around with my chair. The studio has good light and counter tops to catch it plus the center table. I can chase away with the table top tripod to my hearts content

Well, just a Theory Brian! Maybe not a good one necessarily!

[JBW]

The 410 will yes.



Well, just a Theory Brian! Maybe not a good one necessarily!

this discussion is certainly helping me to clarify what and how I want to shoot.

[JBW]

First things first: Thank you one and all. Your advice has allowed me to clarify what I need.

The wooden tripod because it gets down really low and dampens vibrations'

The single axis focus rail because the 410 jr is gear drive.

The 410 because it is gear driven and highly recommended.

Unless anyone can see something I'm missing when the tax return comes in this is it.

[AlwaysOnAuto]

Since no one else has commented, I guess I will.
I don't follow your reasoning on why you need the 410 Jr. but maybe that's just me.
I'd think a good, semi-heavy duty ball head would work just as well with the Desmond mounted on it.
This all could have to do with the fact you're getting a lot bigger tax return than I am these days too.

[JBW]

Since no one else has commented, I guess I will.
I don't follow your reasoning on why you need the 410 Jr. but maybe that's just me.
I'd think a good, semi-heavy duty ball head would work just as well with the Desmond mounted on it.
This all could have to do with the fact you're getting a lot bigger tax return than I am these days too.

With the 410 I get to get close with a quick adjustment and then use the geared fine tuning. With the ball it would be nudge nudge and fine tuning with a four way f.r.

For 3 years now I've been nudging nudging. But as my fine motor skills wander away I'm looking for mechanical advantages.

[AlwaysOnAuto]

In that case your solution looks good, in spite of the relatively high cost.

[rpcrowe]

I know that this is reviving an old thread but, I wonder what you finally purchased and if you are happy with what you have chosen....

If you haven't selected the wooden tripod, perhaps this Kirk low pod might be the ticket.

https://www.kirkphoto.com/supports-a...od.html/?id=43

I think that you could have a unit like this fabricated by a Filipino craftsman at a small fraction of the cost.

As far as a ball head, you might be able to find a very decent brand-name used ball head at a rather low price.

I needed a bit heavier duty head for macro work than the tiny F-1 head I use on my travel tripod...



The F-1 was fine when I was shooting with he camera relatively level but, couldn't support my 5DII and 100mm f/2.8 Canon Macro lens when at any sort of extreme angle. I needed a heavier duty head.

I got tired of switching my Giottos MH-1300 between tripods when I wanted a medium weight rig for macro work. So, I just purchased a used German Made Kaiser 6011 Ball head with a Kirk Arca Compatible clamp. The price was very competitive with the low end Chinese Ball Heads offered on eBay. I have seen this head on a friend's rig and it seems like it is very well made. I "think" that it was once sold by Kirk Enterprises along with their A/C Clamp... Anyway, I am sure of the quality of the Kirk Clamp. It should be here within a few days.

Then, if you have a ball head and an Arca Compatible Clamp, you could use a long A/C plate to slide the camera/lens back and forth within the Arca clamp.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/150MM-Lens-P...QAAOSwKtlWjfoU

The above setup would probably cost you well within a hunded U.S. Dollars plus whatever it would cost to have the low pod crafted.

AND.... you would use a series of wooden blocks to set the low pod upon to raise its height as well as a series of blocks to adjust the height of the subject.

[mknittle]

I too am interested in how things panned out.

[JBW]

I too am interested in how things panned out.

Sorry about deserting this thread... didn't intend to desert it. A strange thing happened on my way to the purchase of tripod and head. My computer became unstable. It became a question of priorities. I could work with the camera gear I had but not without a computer. Ended up having a computer built from the ground up. Darn thing cost more than my first new car a 1971 Austin Mini. But it sure make pp easier.

[rpcrowe]

Thanks for the update... I can certainly relate to prioritizing purchases and certainly think that you opted for the right choice...

[Cantab]

Darn thing cost more than my first new car a 1971 Austin Mini. But it sure make pp easier.

Completely off-topic:
My first car was also an Austin Mini, a used 1962 mini Countryman. I remember refinishing the oak trim on it more than once but still have fond memories of it.

[JBW]

Completely off-topic:
My first car was also an Austin Mini, a used 1962 mini Countryman. I remember refinishing the oak trim on it more than once but still have fond memories of it.

on the old two lane highway to Whistler the mini was a lot of fun

[odds]

You may want to consider a xy-table of some sort for positioning and fine adjusting your subjects. You probably know the workpiece moving table from milling machines and other machine tools. I know macro enthusiasts like the small Proxxon unit, but there are other brands. http://www.proxtools.com/store/pc/vi...&idcategory=20

The Swedish macro enthusiast John Hallmén has shared quite a few tips and tricks on his web site(s), and he has an impressive gallery of insect/bug images. Alas, I think much of his writing is in Swedish, but I managed to find a variant of his table top platform where annotation labels are in English: https://www.flickr.com/photos/johnhallmen/6689335483
Note the lens used for vertical positioning by turning the foces ring.

[Stagecoach]

Note the lens used for vertical positioning by turning the foces ring.

Excellent idea and a reason to keep those old lenses