Macro Panoramas

<p>I've recently gotten into shooting macro panoramas (blogged <a href="http://jwallphoto.blogspot.com/2009/01/macro-landscapes.html">here</a>) and have a rant/observation and question about the Kirk FR-1 focusing rail vs. the Adorama rail.<br>

The rant is that the Nikon D40 - D90 can all be triggered with a cheap wireless remote (ML-L3), but there is no such thing for any of their higher-priced cameras, including the D200 which is what I have. The reason I care is that when mounting my macro panorama rig on my Adorama rail, I cannot use the remote release cord. It gets in the way, preventing sidelong movement of the rail. The simple yet annoying workaround is to use the self-timer to release the shutter.<br>

My question is whether anyone has tried a set-up similar to mine (D200 w/ 200mm micro lens mounted to the rail at the lens's collar so the D200 can be rotated into a vertical position) with the Kirk FR-1 rail. I'd love to be able to use the quick-release mechanisms the Kirk rail offers, but I'm wondering if the remote cord will still get jammed against the knob and prevent full side-to-side movement.<br>

I know this is complicated to picture, but I don't have a picture of the set-up.</p>

<p>There are at least 2 wireless options:</p>

<p>There's the Nikon ML-3, which works, but is not cheap.</p>

<p>Then there's the Phottix Cleon, which you can get for under $100 on ebay. I've got one and it does work.</p>

<p>John, ditto to the Phottix 'Wireless Remote N1' from HK Supplies in Ebay. I've got one and it has worked reliably for over a year and a half now mostly on my D200. @ $26 and free shipping from Hong Kong, it's unbeatable. It's likely not as robust as Nikon's offering, but I don't do Tarzan swings with it.</p>

<p>It works with any Nikon that has the 10 pin socket. I even use it with my F4, N90s and F100.</p>

<p>Can't help you with the bracket. Take a peek at the ad and see if you can determine if it will interfere. The receiver dangles by a short cord, it may clear most anything as it is rather flexible in its positioning. Good luck</p>

<p>Jim M.</p>

<p>As far as I can tell, the Kirk rail is pretty much the same anonymous far eastern rail that Adorama puts their house brand on, just with a Kirk Arca clamp and foot bolted on. Any problems you have with the Adorama, you are going to have with the Kirk. You can outfit your existing rail with Kirk plate and clamp much cheaper. You can also outfit it with a more versatile Markins bidirectional plate and an a more convenient Acratech clamp for the same price and get something better than the Kirk. You can even buy a better slider than the one Kirk uses (suggest Velbon Magnesium) and still come out cheaper than Kirk.</p>

<blockquote>

<p>I know this is complicated to picture,</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Actually, I find it impossible to picture, and I have extensive panorama experience, two engineering and an art degree, and am nearly finished writing a book on advanced macro photography.</p>

<p>Sorry, but I have no idea what you're trying to describe. What sort of mechanism rotates camera and lens around the entrance pupil of the 200mm? I take it the rail is on top of the rotation mechanism? Have you separated the lateral and longitudinal rails on the Adorama? What is blocking the cord?</p>

<p>It's necessary, for what you're trying to do (especially with the Adorama "wobblemaster" rail) to use mirror lockup, self timer will not cut it (which probably has something to do with your belief that the 105mm is sharper than the 200mm) so you need either the wired remote or the wireless systems that Keith and Jim describe.</p>

<p>Here is my macro panorama setup. Starting from the top...</p>

<ol>

<li>An inverted tripod gets me close to the ground, with some semblance of solidity.</li>

<li>A head of come sort hangs upside down. As the head is used only for rotation, it's not critical, I alternate between the Acratech "Ultimate Ballhead" in the picture (for "general" missions), a Manfrotto panorama rotator (for heavy panorama missions) and a Manfrotto 410 gear head (for heavy macro missions). The gear head and ball head must be locked in a neutral position. First, the tripod is leveled (while rightside up) with a bubble level, then the head is adjusted so that a second bubble level in the clamp reads level. Then it's inverted.</li>

<li>A Manfrotto geared macro slider serves as a lateral adjustment. It has a Markins Arca plate to connect to the head, and a Manfrotto RC4 to connect to the camera. For panorama, the lateral is set to exactly center the entrance pupil and locked. For stereo macro (3D, baby! Yeah!) the lateral is adjusted to either side of neutral.</li>

<li>A manfrotto L bracket has had the God-aweful "hex plate" removed and an RC4 plate installed to mount it to the lateral slider. Between the RC4 and the L bracket, you can just see the edge of an aluminum plate I machined, drilled and tapped to accept screws for the RC4 and the arm.</li>

<li>For the tilt adjustment (either for perspective, composition, or multi-row panoramas) A Markins Arca clamp is attached to the upright arm of the L via a a knob with a 3/8 inch threaded shaft, going through a new 3/8 inch hole I drilled in the arm. A 2 inch washer, roughened, serves as a "clutch plate", making the tilt adjustment lock easily without having to go all ape on the knob.</li>

<li>A Novoflex Castel-L is clamped in the Markins Arca clamp on the vertical arm. It serves as the longitudinal adjustment for the entrance pupil on panoramas, or a focus rail for focus stacks. For focus stacked panoramas, there is some perspective error. The Novoflex is equipped with a Markins Arca clamp to which I have added anti-rotation pins.</li>

<li>The 200mm f4 attaches to the Arca clamp with a Kirk Arca foot.</li>

</ol>

<p>This versatile setup (capable of any combination of focus stacking, single or multiple row panoramic stitching, and stereo photography) is vibration prone and also requires mirror lockkup. I use an older Nikon 12 foot cable release with most of the length bound up with a Velcro cable tie and a velcro tie attaching cable to the inverted column of the tripod so my own vibrations aren't transmitted to the camera.</p>

<p>The 200mm f4 and Novoflex rail are frequently replaced by a set of Zeiss Luminars and a Nikon PB-4 bellows with a Markins Arca plate. This provides a variety of magnifications, and Rik over at photomacrography.net taught me how to use rear standard (aka "bellows draw") focusing to eliminate perspective shift in focus stacking, so now my stacked macro panoramas are free of perspective shift.</p><div></div>

<p>Thanks for the helpful replies!</p>

<p>Hey, this is an old post, and I deleted all my pre-2011 blog posts, including the one linked above (I've seen traffic at my blog coming from this post). FWIW, I got the Kirk rail and love it. It is much better than the Adorama rail. Also tried the RRS rail but found it worked poorly for focus-stacking purposes and had to return it. No issues with the remote cord jamming.</p>