Which focus rail to buy

[Aristotle Georgiou]

Hi to all.

I'm new to macro and would like some advice on what macro focus rail to buy.
I own a Arca Swiss ball head and have just placed an order for Sigma 150mm macro lens. I've had a look at three brands, Kirk Enterprises, Novoflex and Really Right Stuff and don't know of any more. I would like a single focus rail that can adjust forward, back and the quick release to rotate 360-180 degrees if possible. Does anyone own any of these or another brand that they would recommend to buy.

All help is much appreciated.

[Ed Vatza]

Hi to all.

I'm new to macro and would like some advice on what macro focus rail to buy.
I own a Arca Swiss ball head and have just placed an order for Sigma 150mm macro lens. I've had a look at three brands, Kirk Enterprises, Novoflex and Really Right Stuff and don't know of any more. I would like a single focus rail that can adjust forward, back and the quick release to rotate 360-180 degrees if possible. Does anyone own any of these or another brand that they would recommend to buy.

All help is much appreciated.

Good Morning Aristotle,

First off, I think you'll really like the Sigma 150 macro. It's an excellent lens. I have one and love it.

As far as focusing rails are concerned, I went with the Novoflex and find it fine for my purposes. But I believe all three are fine focusing rails. I selected the Novoflex based on its perceived price/value. In other words, it had what I wanted and cost less than the other two. It is also a little smaller I believe and therefore easier to carry about.

The biggest drawback is that it doesn't have a quick release plate option to the camera. But I can attach a quick release plate to the tripod. This means that, when shooting macro, I usually leave the rail attached to camera even when carrying it around my neck using the added Manfrotto quick release to attach and detach to my tripod. Personally, I don't find it to be much of a problem since I also have a flash bracket with flash and softbox attached to the camera and hanging around my neck.

I'm not quite sure what you mean by "the quick release to rotate 360-180 degrees". I use the tripod mounting ring on the Sigma 150 to rotate the camera from horizontal to vertical and any angle in between. But I'm not sure that is what you mean.

Hope this helps a little.

[Aristotle Georgiou]

Thanks for your reply and info Ed

What I tried to say, is to be able to rotate the rail like you would with a ball head, so you can have to pivoting points

I'm sorry I'm finding it hard to explain it properly.

[Ed Vatza]

Sorry if I am having problems understanding. The focusing rail attaches to the ballhead so you maintain all that flexibility. The Novoflex rail I have is attached to the camera by a screw. But then I attach it to the ballhead on the tripod with a quick release plate.

Does that help?

[Aristotle Georgiou]

Thanks again for your time Ed,
I've decided to go with the Novoflex and should be enough for what I want to do.

cheers
Ari