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

[JBW]

Stagecoach started this line of thought.

If I mount the Manfrotto MHXPRO-BHQ2 XPRO Ball Head with 200PL Quick-Release System



on my wooden table or possibly a 2x4 mounted to the table and then connect the Oben MFR4-5 Macro Focusing Rail



to it and finally put my camera on the top I'm going to have a very solid set up?

[Mike Buckley]

I don't know much about this kind of equipment but I do know that the method of mounting the ball head to your tabletop will be critical. You might want to explain that method you plan to use.

[Manfred M]

Brian - I use a somewhat similar approach when I use along rail for shooting panoramas.

The only word of caution I will throw your way is that the ball head is extremely heavy duty so that it can hold the setup without sagging. Offsetting the camera puts a fairly substantial bending moment on the rig that the ball head needs to support.






My current setup is slightly different as I have also added an indexing head to where the long rail gets mounted on the tripod to make the setup faster and easier.

[rpcrowe]

Brian. I would suggest standardizing on heads and clamps with Arca Swiss (A/C) Compatibility. I used Manfrottto RC2 camps early in my career and frankly think that they generally suck in stability in comparison to most A/C clamps. Additionally, if you ever desire to shoot a vertical, the Arca Compatible L Bracket is (for me and many other photographers) the best way to go. If you look at Manfred's images above, his camera is wearing an Arca Compatible L Bracket which allows him to switch from horizontal to vertical while keeping the camera/lens center of gravity over the tripod head. Using the L bracket, you do not need to hang your camera cantilevered over on its side. This cantilevering is IMO a stupid way to shoot but, unfortunately, the only way that non A/C L Bracket equipped photographers have in order to shoot in the vertical configuration.

There are multiple makers of A/C type tripod gear from the very expensive (some heads can range over a thousand dollars or more) to Chinese knock offs which are cheap as dirt (and probably as useful). You can find a vast number of heads with A/C compatibility in the $100-$200 U.S. Dollar range which are just what the doctor ordered! Really Right Stuff and Kirk are some of the top producers.

The A/C compatible L brackets used to be available only from Kirk and RRS at prices which ranged in the area of $100 USD but, the Chinese knockoffs have come onto the market and have cut the American made prices by up to 80-90%. I ordered a Chinese branded L bracket for my Canon 7D Mark II camera and it seems every bit as well made as my RRS models. After all, except for the tripod screw, there are no moving parts on an L bracket!

I find it difficult to peruse the B&H website to isolate heads with Arca Compatibility. However A/C is the way that I would definitely go. Good bye, Manfrotto RC2 clamps

[Mike Buckley]

I bought my Manfrotto head with quick release clamp decades ago and I wish I had understood at the time the limitation Richard explains. If I had, I would have bought a clamp with Arca-Swiss compatibility for the reasons he explains.

[rpcrowe]

You can find after-market A/C clamps which can convert most Manfrotto heads into A/C compatible units. Kirk supplies one of these and Amazon and eBay are teaming with others.

When you are working with A/C compatible heads, you can do very well with a lighter weight unit because the canter of gravity is always over the head. Here are two of my heads, the large one is a Giottos MH-1300 (which ran about one hundred dollars or so) while the smaller is the no-longer available Adorama Flashpoint F-1 (which was a cheapie but, works quite well) I use the F-1 on my modified SLIK travel tripod...



The Giotos head is a massive (and fairly heavy unit which is a very solid and secure unit. However note, I needed to remove the safety stud from the Giottos Clamp because it interfered with mounting some other brand plates and L brackets. That stud moves over to the side when you press the safety release. Giottos plates have a channel for this stud but, other plates do not. The safety stud on the F-1 clamp (and on most other clamps) recesses when the safety catch is pressed so doesn't cause any problems with mounting all A/C type plates.

[Manfred M]

Just to add to Richard's and Mike's comments - the Kirk and RRS (and Sunway Foto indexing head that are not shown in this image) are all Arca-Swiss compatible.

Just adding to Mike's comment in #2 - the RRS BH-55 in #3 is rated at 50lb / 22kg. The manufacturer's published specs see are likely "dead weight" ratings, that assume very little torsion applied;. i.e. if a ball head is rated at 5kg / 11lb, that means that the setup needs to be pretty well perfectly balanced to hold the specified weight.

[Geoff F]

I use the Manfrotto 468MGRC4 fluid ball head which is strong and locks securely with a larger diameter knob, not the cheapest option though.

For 'real life' outdoors shooting of insects or birds this works well. I often adjust the friction to a loose tension which makes the rig as flexible as hand held shooting but with reasonable stability and it takes away the weight of the equipment. Just a tiny bit more on the tension makes a rigid lock with no creep even with my 7D and 150-600 lens fully extended. Some cheaper ball heads which I tried would creep under those conditions.

However, for studio work it is necessary to allow for a little bit of initial tripod sag when first lining up a scene. Maybe a geared head would be better for this use?

One other potential problem which I encounter too often. When set loosely and I pick up the rig by the tripod top, the camera and lens can 'bite my fingers' by rotating downwards where my fingers get trapped against a sharp edge on the ball head. Much blood has been lost by my careless usage!

[xpatUSA]

My kit is a cheap rack and pinion thingy (used rarely these days) on top of my Giottos stuff:

'Silk Road' YTL 8383 carbon fiber tripod.

MH 7001 medium ballhead.

MH 621 quick-release with a long slider.

.

Works well enough for my occasional purposes.

[Loose Canon]

I may have missed something previously discussed elsewhere Brian, but are you looking to purchase the two pieces of gear in your OP and are unsure if they will work together with your camera/lens? Do you already have this gear and are looking for opinions on if they will work mounted directly to a tabletop?

If they will work for you together on a tripod, they will work mounted on a table!

[Stagecoach]

Brian

From what I recall the main purpose of putting together this rig is to assist with 'stacking'.

The macro focusing rail you show does not appear to have any indexing markings for the fore and aft movement from what I can see looking at the detailed images on the link? I may be wrong, but !

Whilst I will agree it is not essential to use a focus rail for 'stacking' we have already discussed in detail their advantages in previous threads.

Are you aware of this?

[rpcrowe]

Using a focus rail for stacking would mean moving the camera and leaving the focus of the lens at where it is. I have not done any focus stacking but, I was under the impression that in focus stacking you left the camera where it is and changed the focus using the lens.

If the first is the way to do it, I could definitely see a use for a focusing rail. However, if the second is the way to do it, the rail might not be necessary for stacking.

I use my focusing rail



both to focus and to frame my image when precise framing is necessary. I will often set my lens to a specific ratio (the 90mm Tamron macro has a ratio scale on the focusing ring) and then achieve focus by moving the camera back and forth.

Since I don't stack with this rail, the lack of an indexing scale poses no problems for me...

What I like about this triple rail unit is that it is exceptionally smooth and solid...

[JBW]

Hi one and all. We are in the middle of a storm which delivered 6 or so inches of rain in about 3 hours. I was cleaning drainage canals. I'll just give a general answer now.

(1) haven't bought anything yet.
(2) I'm going to look at Arca quick release.
(3) I can manually focus one shot but rarely can I focus more than 2 shots without moving the camera.
(4) I use peaking to show me how the focus changes but a calibrated focus rail would be more precise.
(5) I am leaning towards a wooden table top tripod.

Please continue with your suggestions.

[Stagecoach]

Hi one and all. We are in the middle of a storm which delivered 6 or so inches of rain in about 3 hours. I was cleaning drainage canals. I'll just give a general answer now.

We had a mega one for a few days before Christmas Brian, a lot of clearing up after.

(3) I can manually focus one shot but rarely can I focus more than 2 shots without moving the camera.

This is the main reason I believe a focus rail will help you in that you will be making an adjustment to a knob that is both lower and closer to the CoG of the rig than the lens focus ring. A slight knock there is going to have less affect on rig movement than the same knock at the end of the lens I suspect. I have certainly found it 'easier' and less risky adjusting the rail rather than the lens ring.

There is considerable discussion on the web regarding the 'technical' pros and cons of stacking alignment of using rail or focus ring and the general consensus seems to be rail for small things, focus ring for large things (flowers the size of roses often used as an example of large things). But in all these discussions, lens type, subject and stacking software used are variable factors affecting results.

Another thing to consider as I have mentioned previously is that if you intend to get tubes the ability to support the additional weight and play between camera/tube faces onto the moving part of the rail is a real bonus for stability and alignment.

(4) I use peaking to show me how the focus changes but a calibrated focus rail would be more precise.

Having a scale/ruler divisions helps in two ways.

Firstly, lets assume you are using 1:1 at f/14 you will learn through experience or possibly calculation that you need 2mm (example only) slices to get the best result from your stacking. All you do is move 2mm each time.

Secondly, it's easy to measure and record the depth start position, once aligned and focused, and then the finish position you want. Wind back to just before the start point and then continue increments through to just past the endpoint with no need to check or look at focus at all so less chance of movement.

For the rail you show in post 1 it would be an option to put markings on the adjusting knob possibly?

This can be done using the focus ring but requires tape markers on the focus ring or watching focus through viewfinder or LCD.

One question for you Brian, how do you intend to focus the camera at the first slice of your stack? Are you wanting to align a focus point accurately to use AF OR are you relying on manual visual focusing using Live View or viewfinder?

[JBW]

One question for you Brian, how do you intend to focus the camera at the first slice of your stack? Are you wanting to align a focus point accurately to use AF OR are you relying on manual visual focusing using Live View or viewfinder?

I was planning on manual focusing using the LCD screen with magnification. There is no tethered Live View that I'm aware of for my camera.

[chauncey]

have you looked here...https://www.bhphotovideo.com/explora...hered-shooting

[JBW]

have you looked here...https://www.bhphotovideo.com/explora...hered-shooting

I have now. I use C 1 Sony Pro but live view isn't available for my camera.

[JohnRostron]

I have been following this thread with interest because I have a similar interest in macro. One problem with tabletop macro (or macro at ground level) is that it all the supporting stuff, plus a focussing rail, the lens is some way off the surface, maybe 20 to 30cm or more. At present, for tabletop work, I use my (ancient) tripod at the edge of the table, and this works OK. I am thinking that if I get a ball-and-socket head, I should be able to fasten this to a squarish piece of wood which would sit flat on the tabletop or on the ground (for photograping plants or fungi). The lens would then be less than 20cm off the ground, even with a focussing rail.

The alternative is to focus the lens. I find that there is not a great deal of angular rotation when changing focus from front to back and, as Brian observed, this can disturb the camera position. My thought is to attach a disc of card to the focussing barrel of the lens with a lever with which I can gently rotate the barrel. I will let you know how I get on.

Like Brian, my Sony A55 does not support any tethering soft/hardware.

John

[rpcrowe]

When you change focus by moving the camera rather than moving the lens, do you not change the framing of the shot. Does your stacking software compensate for this?

Have you looked at whether you an use a smartphone for viewing...

[kazuyar]

i wouldn't use a ball a ball head for macro, they are just not good at moving tiny amounts, well the ones ive used arn't anyway.
i love the fluid head by manfrotto, its for video really but i have so much more control when using it.
as for moving the camera not the focus ring, as you move forward everything will get bigger or smaller as you move away.
have you thought of using a ring flash? this can help a lot as you can set your camera to F22 and get a much greater DOF , so theres not such a need for focus stacking.
as long as the subject isn't too shiny they work really well