Camera on rail?

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UncleChip
Posts: 59
Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2023 1:56 pm
Location: Uk

Camera on rail?

Post by UncleChip »

I am relatively new to this, when I first played at it I got a motorized macro rail,

When setting up I found that the camera was unbalanced with the front heavy lens, especially when I added tubes or a diopter, I seamed to get lots of vibration, another issue I had was when I had a background that was in focus I got lots of stitching artifacts,
I swapped the motorized rail to the middle and mounted the specimen here, this allowed me to support the front of the lens, this seamed to resolve both of the issues, all of my lighting was broad enough to not be affected by the travel of the subject,

Have I got something fundamental wrong? I see lots of setups and I only see them set up with the camera on the rail?
I will be re-doing my setup, adding linear rails etc and just wanted to check if I was missing something before I start

chris_ma
Posts: 570
Joined: Fri Mar 22, 2019 2:23 pm
Location: Germany

Re: Camera on rail?

Post by chris_ma »

hi,

can you maybe provide some pictures of your setup?
also, what magnifications are you working with?

most people who use larger extensions try to mount it in the middle at the tubes rather then at the camera tripod mount, which reduces vibration problems a lot.
chris

UncleChip
Posts: 59
Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2023 1:56 pm
Location: Uk

Re: Camera on rail?

Post by UncleChip »

I am away for a week so unfortunately I can’t post pictures,

I am doing 1:1 at the moment a bit more with tubes or a diopter, I have just got the 2.5-5x and intend to get a 5x and 10x objectives,
The camera seams to be the weak point for a sturdy setup, the plate on the motorized rail should be much longer, even if I add a long plate and lens support it is still balanced on a small plate, has anybody extended this plate using something like a short linear slide?

I suppose with greater magnification the background will always be way out of focus so the stitching artifacts wouldn’t be a problem as you will use plain backgrounds, something I need to test,

UncleChip
Posts: 59
Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2023 1:56 pm
Location: Uk

Re: Camera on rail?

Post by UncleChip »

I have just read the post “bellows on a wemacro”
Ray describes an idler rail, showing great detail images, this resolves all the issues I was having, providing a sturdy base for any camera/lens setup, he uses a small linier rail just as I was thinking, so I will implement this Idea,

Thanks
Steve

ray_parkhurst
Posts: 3416
Joined: Sat Nov 20, 2010 10:40 am
Location: Santa Clara, CA, USA
Contact:

Re: Camera on rail?

Post by ray_parkhurst »

UncleChip wrote:
Sat Jan 28, 2023 2:15 pm
I have just read the post “bellows on a wemacro”
Ray describes an idler rail, showing great detail images, this resolves all the issues I was having, providing a sturdy base for any camera/lens setup, he uses a small linier rail just as I was thinking, so I will implement this Idea,

Thanks
Steve
Steve...glad the idler rail drawings and images were useful to you. Looking forward to seeing your implementation...Ray

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