FOCUS POCUS - Macro Rails in 2025

Links to many of the rails discussed in this week’s livestreams can be found at the end of this post.

An exciting new rail from astrahori

Greetings from the Bunker, deep below Peoria, Illinois. I have been told that the surface temperature today is close to that on the surface of the sun. I can believe that. I have been teaching a new student for the last couple of weeks and a few days ago we did get out to the Botanical Gardens for a little field work. It was distractingly hot, convincing me to stay mostly indoors for the rest of the weekend. I was planning on finishing my Field AK Diffuser review video this weekend, but it didn’t happen. I hope to get to it in the next week or two. What I do have this week, and it is something I am very excited about, is my conversation with Ms. Kelly Boesch. I spent several hours this weekend preparing my questions for this discussion, and I think we are going to find it most interesting. I find her work as intriguing, challenging, and exciting as I did after seeing her first video. This is our chance to learn how it is done!

Kelly Boesch and her fascination with insects

If the screen capture above captures your interest, check out her video here https://youtu.be/HE3N_huu2JI?si=D6OuVGOYGbKFpJdY

The best? Novoflex Castel Micro - a beautiful device, a joy to use

This week I will be looking at the current state of the focusing rail market, specifically, what is out there, how do the various devices compare and what can you expect to pay for them. Unlike in other focus rail discussions, I plan to include several less mainstream options, some of which may be quite promising. I plan to present this information in a way that will help you figure out the kind of rail that would suit your kind of macro work, and then show you which of the rails we look at would be the best fit. From Novoflex and THK, to Neewer and WeMacro, we will, look at them all. Here is the link to this stream - https://youtube.com/live/duIQmgy_7h0?feature=share

We are going to talk about almost every rail out there - so I won’t be reviewing the rails, just giving you my opinion on what is worth its price and what isn’t.

Links to each of the devices discussed in this post an be found at the bottom of this page. Some of these links are affiliate links (Amazon, B&H), the rest are not.

Thursday, for Macro Talk Too we are going to get into some of the more advanced features of these rails, particularly the Cognisys options. I will show you how to run your equipment from within Zerene Stacker, how to evaluate the accuracy your rail, and the rudiments of stacking and stitching. I am also going to take you into the settings and setup configuration  menus of several of these systems to help you understand some of the less obvious features and functions that these devices offer. Here is your link - https://youtube.com/live/duIQmgy_7h0?feature=share

On Saturday at 10AM, it is AfterStack 26 and, according to my calendar, it is just me (“No Bud” says my book). If that is in fact true, we are going to do something I have been asked to talk about for ages - preparing a photograph for printing. I think this is one of the most important steps in post-production, and one of the hardest ones to get right. So this week, bring your favorite, as yet unprinted picture and tell us how you make your photograph print-worthy. I am looking forward to this session! I will try to get my friend Mike Kanfer to join us - he is on the West Coast and 8AM is not considered quite civilized in LA, but he is a color management genius and really gets the whole printing thing. Cross your fingers!

Amazing crystals

Here is your invitation to the AfterStack:   

Allan Walls is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: AfterStack 26

Time: Jun 28, 2025 10:00 AM Central Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/6916802815?pwd=TS9tZi9ZL1NXeVUvOUF4eTg5YjdlZz09&omn=8599086623

Meeting ID: 691 680 2815

Passcode: 678122

You didn’t know arca swiss had a macro rail?

Time for a quick story?

So, I went to the local thrift shop yesterday (looking for shoes, which I found) and spent a relaxing 20 minutes limping (bad knee is getting worse) around the small shop, looking for something cool to take apart. But instead I found a small wooden box. Expecting either an empty box or some worthless trinket or other, the box surprised me by containing about 20 prepared microscope slides. They are of pretty decent quality and were a lot of fun to look at - but two in particular caught my eye and made me dream up this little challenge. …

The first mystery picture

The second mystery picture

A riddle

Above are two photomicrographs - both were photographed through a microscope with a 4X finite objective.

The two specimens are from completely different animals and the tissue samples are from different body parts/systems. However, when the specific tissues shown here are described (a two word description for each) using a working-class English vernacular, the two definitions have exactly the same meaning. Your challenge is to name the tissues/structures shown in these photographs and provide the two-word common name of each, along with a. third term or phrase that has the same meaning as the other two.

A moth and nothing to do with this riddle

The first person to provide the correct answer in a message to me, through the Walls-app.com messaging application will win a prize, to be determined.

I can’t wait to see if anyone gets this one right!

You want a clue?

All three expressions are slang terms used to express one’s satisfaction with a given situation, object, place, event, or person.

If you have to ask, you can’t afford it = velmex bi-slide

B&H and Amazon Links

1.  Haoge (MFR180)  - $69.99 - https://amzn.to/4lnURP

2. No name basic focusing rail - $25.99 - https://amzn.to/3G8Qhph

3.  FotoPro Macro rail - $79.99 - https://amzn.to/45UOChJ

4. Manfrotto 454 - $114.84 - https://bhpho.to/4nuuJ7s

5. Novoflex Castel M - $699.00 - https://bhpho.to/4ldSs9Q

6. Cognisys Stackshot - from $639 - https://cognisys-inc.com/focus-stacking/stackshot-pkgs/stackshot-macro-rail-package.html

7. Novoflex Castel Micro - $3,042.99 - https://bhpho.to/3ZIuXgV

8. WeMacro rail - $339.00 - https://www.wemacro.com/US/index.php/product/wemacro-rail-with-power-bank-cable-for-outside/

9. MJKZZ rails - Starting at $241 - https://www.mjkzz.com

and you thought the other ones were expensive - a zaber LSM