Photo Stacking in Nature: Macro Rail in Practical Test

Nature and landscape photographer Florian Kunde collaborated with us to explore why the macro focusing rail offers many advantages for precise shots and how it can be used to capture breathtaking moments that are not often seen with the naked eye. For the launch of our macro rail, he had the opportunity to put it through its paces.

You can find out what experiences he had and why he uses the rail for macro photography outdoors in this blog post.

The interplay of sharpness and blur

Florian Kunde discovered his passion for photography early on and therefore focused his studies on photography. Personally, he likes to work with a good mix of sharpness and blur in his pictures. His goal: The viewer of his pictures should feel like a hidden observer of his scene. "As if you could look through the grass or the leaves yourself," says Kunde.

In addition to large and wide landscapes, he enjoys capturing moments where a detailed look is worthwhile – the moss carpet in the forest, the flowers at the roadside, small crawling creatures in the garden, and much more. However, this also presents even an experienced photographer with a certain challenge. The closer you bring your lens to the desired subject, the smaller the depth of field becomes. If you want more sharpness in your image, you need significantly more light and lose the beautiful bokeh of a wide-open aperture.

Focus stacking or macro stacking can help here. Multiple shots of the image are taken and combined to create a final result. To enable the millimeter-precise shifts required for this, the macro rail is ideal for this work. The photographer himself has been using Rollei products for a long time and was therefore pleased to be able to test the tool directly in practice.

Macro photography with millimeter-precise precision

To simulate before-and-after pictures with and without the macro rail, the photographer set up his equipment at home again. Without the macro rail, macro stacking was not possible, or there were partially blurry areas. With the built-in crank thread, which precisely moves the macro rail and the camera mounted on it at individual distances, it was possible to create these meticulously clean shots. In digital post-processing, he was able to combine the images into a typical macro stack and achieve the desired result.

Practical test: photo stacking with the macro rail

To examine the macro rail in combination with the LUMIS Solo 2 more closely in practice, Florian Kunde drove to the Kummerfelder Forest. Due to its large moss landscape, it is ideal for macro stacking. For the shots, he used his Fujifilm X-T3 and the Viltrox 56mm f/1.4 lens. To optimally position the macro rail, he also used the Compact Traveler Mini M-1. The mini tripod allowed him to take shots close to the ground.

For the photo-stacking setup, the photographer positioned the camera, mounted on the macro rail, in front of a moss-covered tree trunk. Due to the changeable weather during his shoot, he resorted to the LED Cube LUMIS Solo 2. For targeted lighting in this setup, he used one device prepared with an orange color filter and another LUMIS Solo 2 with an attached spot attachment in the right area of the image. These served to simulate the sun's rays. With another device, Kunde illuminated the moss layers from the left side. Here, he used a blue color filter to create a contrast in the cooler ambiance.

Effortless camera movements

During his test, Florian Kunde was particularly fascinated by the possibility of simple camera movements in addition to the classic use of the macro rail for photo stacking. He immediately tested this with a camera movement in the forest and once again chose a moss-covered tree trunk as his subject. He wanted to capture the dewdrops still visible on the moss as a special highlight. To make them stand out even more, he again used a LUMIS Solo 2. For a directed beam of light, he again used the included spot attachment.

To create "nearly shake-free" shots, Florian Kunde recommends adjusting the crank's resistance. When taking the shots, he noticed that focusing via the crank on the macro rail was more precise and easier to operate than via the lens itself.

Furthermore, the photographer advises to also create these shots in slow-motion mode if your camera supports this mode. This not only makes it easier for him to compensate for the macro rail with each focus without shaking the subject, but also simplifies the digital post-processing of the camera movement.

Macro shots in the garden – staging motifs purposefully

To test the macro rail with another setup, the photographer also built a second setup in his home garden. He chose to use the blooming crocuses and the grass in between as his subject.

To achieve a beautiful image composition close to the ground, he also used the macro rail in combination with the Compact Traveler Mini M-1 for this setup. To enable portrait format, he tilted the tripod's ball head by 90 degrees.

This setup particularly made him aware of the challenges of macro photography. As soon as he shot with a wide-open aperture, he lacked the sharpness of the image or the focus in the subject. In the photographer's eyes, the context of his image was thus lost. To gain more sharpness, he tried to stop down. However, this led to the loss of the great bokeh that specifically characterizes the Viltrox lens.

Therefore, from Florian Kunde's perspective, the macro rail offers the optimal solution. With the interval timer of his camera, he was able to easily create the shots in an interval of 20 pictures with a two-second pause in between each. During the two-second pause, he turned the crank of the rail by a few millimeters, thereby changing the focus area of his image.

You can see what the images look like in the quick view in the following example. In addition to the final result, where the individual shots were "stacked," it is clearly visible how the focus shifted with each shot.

The photographer's conclusion on the macro rail

Florian Kunde was already impressed by the design of the macro rail. In addition, the thread along with the crank is very robust. "I can throw the macro rail into my camera bag without worrying about it getting damaged," says the photographer.

He pointed out that the crank and, depending on the camera's position, individual wheels are somewhat more difficult to reach, but this did not hinder his work with the macro rail overall. We are happy to take this feedback on board and will consider it when revising the product.

In addition to his camera, which, in combination with the right lens, offers an integrated stacking mode from the outset, he sees the macro rail as an optimal addition. Together with the rail, he can create stop-motion images and even more precise stacking shots. The photographer can also highly recommend the macro rail for (dolly) camera movements.

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