Customer Reviews

Hakuba Magnesium Macro Slider

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Was looking for a reasonably priced focusing rail with decent quality. After reading several reviews this appeared to be just what I was looking for. I did have to use the enclosed all in one tool to adjust the nuts on the side to side rails to eliminate some wobble, but after that the unit is darn near perfect. I also rotated the top assembly so as to have one knob on each side for easier adjustments. I am very happy with this unit. I have been testing a number of set ups with it, including a custom made dual flash bracket and the use of a 12mm extension tube on my 70-300 zoom with a 500D close up lens. I can reach 1:1.03 magnification and the focusing rail is great for critical focus and lateral alignment. Highly recommend.

Fuzzy Wuzzy's Summary:
***** Highly recommended with warm fuzzies!

What may be referred to as the "Velbon Macro Slider" is the exact same identical tripod head as the "Hakuba Magnesium Macro Slider"; Velbon is now distributed by Hakuba USA, Inc.

This macro slider focusing rail is built like a rock-solid tank! But it only weighs 16 ounces due to its lightweight magnesium alloy composition. There is only the very slightest bit of play when I wiggle the bottom left-right slider and the top forward-backward slider units, so the build quality and construction tolerances are good. Turning the focusing and traversing adjustment knobs has a very smooth and precise feel as the camera platform moves along the guide shafts and screw shafts.

Although you can use this macro slider with a variety of lenses, including macro lenses, extension tubes, and regular non-macro lenses, the one lens that really benefits from using a macro rail like this is the Canon MP-E 65mm f/2.8 1-5X Macro Lens for Canon SLR Cameras, which is Canon's unique "microscope on a camera" lens. When I use my Canon MP-E 65mm macro lens at 3X to 5X magnifications, I either shoot handheld where there is plenty of ambient light along with using Canon's Canon MR-14EX Macro Ring Lite for Canon Digital SLR Cameras, or I have the camera, with 65mm lens and macro ring lite, mounted onto this macro slider and tripod. I also have Canon's superbly razor-sharp Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L IS USM 1-to-1 Macro Lens for Canon Digital SLR Cameras, and I also sometimes use this focusing rail with that lens, but the lens that really benefits from this focusing rail is Canon's 65mm lens, both because of its extreme magnification and because of its very shallow depth of field, thus requiring precise positioning of the lens.

Before I purchased a macro focusing rail like this, I would often do the "tripod cha cha cha" when focusing at very close macro distances from a subject, e.g. nudge the tripod forward and diagonally to the right a bit, nudge the tripod slightly to the left, angle the lens slightly upward, nudge the tripod slightly to the rear, then wash, rinse, repeat :-)

The macro slider is shipped with both left-right and forward-backward adjustment knobs placed on the left side; the left-right traversing rail is on the bottom and the forward-backward focusing rail rides on top of it. If you just want to use the forward-backward focusing slider by itself, with no need for the left-right slider, you can separate both pieces and just mount the forward-backward focusing slider onto your tripod. Or to make it quicker to adjust both left-right and forward-backward sliders at the same time, you can loosen the top and bottom slider rails using the supplied Allen wrench, turn the top rail 180 degrees, and so now you have the left-right traversing knob on the right side and the forward-backward focusing knob on the left side, and you can use both hands to move the camera platform along both rails at the same time for quicker positioning.

I got this a few days ago and finally got around to mounting it on my tripod. Oops the tripod has a 3/8" screw. I looked at the included manual and sure enough to use a 3/8" mounting screw you just have to remove the adapters in the slider. No problem..... Well I haven't been able to get them out. If anyone has taken these out can you verify that they remove with a CCW motion like a regular screw or are they reverse threaded? I haven't used an impact wrench yet :) I can't figure out why they would be this tight. I mounted the unit on another tripod I had with a 1/4-20 thread and the unit has a smooth motion for adjustment. I would have given this 5 stars if the adapters would have come out. I wish they would have used a allen mount instead of a spanner.

Update 8/26/11
I sent an email to Velbon (who makes this) and they said to try a large screwdriver and told me they are threaded like a normal screw. So with a LOT of force and a large screwdriver I got them out. I am very happy that they replied to my question and offered to replace it if I couldn't get the adapters out. I think the slider is very well made for the money and works well for the purpose it was intended. I moved the rating up to 5 stars for support.

I did a ton of research to get to this; because of the confusion between the Velbon and Hakuba Brands I thought no one carried it... Perseverance paid though.

What is it for? I want to take macro shots, which with my setup (Canon EF 50mm f1.4 USM Standard & Medium Telephoto Lens for Canon SLR Cameras + Kenko DG Auto Extension Tube Set for the Canon EOS AF Mount.) involves being really close to the subject and an extremely shallow depth of field; focusing implies moving the entire camera on a tripod or moving the subject, which is very impractical.

The macro slider allows you to move the entire camera forward and backward, left or right with precision. The whole thing feels sturdy and movement is smooth.

Well, I haven't had much chance to use this as the macro season was over when I got the slider- and I was only able to use it on a few insects, but the little I did use it was a joy to use. Previously, I had been using the focus ring on my 85 mm 1.8 to get several focus shots of insects for stacking, and that process wasn't working out very well, and so I thought I'd give a macro slider a try- I'm glad I did! It's much easier now to get a series of focus lengths for stacking with htis slider-

The only negative, which isn't really a negative, as it can be corrected, is that the sliding action is stiff, which wobbles the cheap tripod I'm using. I don't know if there is an adjustment to loosen this a bit or not- perhaps there is- I haven't gotten around to checkign hte isntructions yet.

The movement of the slider rail seems to me to be quite precise with quite minute movements which is a good thing when taking a series of shiots for stacking. I will sometimes take as many as 60 or so shots all at slightly differtent focal lengths to use in a stacking program for some pretty incredible detail. I use a canon 7d with an 85mm 1.8, a set of step up rings, and a canon 18-135mm lens reversed on the end of the 85mm. Using htis combo requires a mechanism for focusing which allows very small adjustments, as the magnification is around 5x or so (may be more, may be less- I'm not sure what the actual magnification is), and any little movement side to side, or up and down, can throw you off your target, however, with hte macro sliuder, I'm able to stay right on target, with very minimal movement off the target.

I checked out a number of macro sliders, and most seemd complicated or flimsy- I finally settled on this macro slider, and I'm glad I did- it's a rugged unit, and works fairly stable and doesn';t cost an arm and a leg. If you don't mind close ups of insects and spiders and what-not, and you would like to see what can be accompkished with a macro slider and a stacking program, search fior 'nazareth' on 500px dot com- I think you'll be impressed with what I was able to accomplish in the field of macro photography as far as detailed photographs go. All in all, I'd recomend this slider to anyone- just get a sturdy tripod to use it on as the mechanism sliding action can be a bit stiff at first

Prompt shipment and arrived ahead of scheduled date.
I am pleased with the item.

The product is constructed very well & it performs perfectly. The only disappointment is that I found it of limited usefullness when doing macro photography. It helps making fine adjustments to where you want the object in your shot but focusing is no more helpfull than when you manually focus using the lens.