Lens support

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dhmiller
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Lens support

Post by dhmiller »

I'm using a Nikon 200mm f/4 lens as a tube lens on my system and would like to have some type of lens support to lessen the weight on the camera mount. Does anyone know of a product that would work in the attached configuration? Thanks for any suggestions.
CAMERA ON RAIL IN CLAMPS sml.jpg

Macro_Cosmos
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Re: Lens support

Post by Macro_Cosmos »

https://www.hejnarphotostore.com/catego ... =10&page=1
Rotate the AS clamping to the camera by 90 degrees and use the above.
There's cheaper ones from China available at more than half the price.

ray_parkhurst
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Re: Lens support

Post by ray_parkhurst »

Problem is that there is just a single attachment point for your whole camera + lens system. What would you support against? If you went with the hejnar supports, you could support the lens relative to the camera mount, but the whole thing would need to mount to the rail carriage, so any droop due to the carriage would still be present.

My suggestion is to add an idler rail, and attach the lens support to it. Or, you could add the idler, then install a long Arca plate, and add the support to the plate. In either case something like the hejnar support would work, but so would a block of wood, so it just depends on how "professional" you want the system to look.

dhmiller
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Re: Lens support

Post by dhmiller »

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm seeing expensive, industrial -looking idler rails with a Google search - is there a product you know of that would be the right fit for this setup? Not sure exactly how to mount it. but then again, not sure exactly what it is. I also use shorter lenses (Laowa 2.5 - 5x, for example) with this same rail, so would prefer something that would allow that flexibility. Thanks for the tips.

ray_parkhurst
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Re: Lens support

Post by ray_parkhurst »

dhmiller wrote:
Wed Oct 06, 2021 7:18 pm
Thanks for the suggestions. I'm seeing expensive, industrial -looking idler rails with a Google search - is there a product you know of that would be the right fit for this setup? Not sure exactly how to mount it. but then again, not sure exactly what it is. I also use shorter lenses (Laowa 2.5 - 5x, for example) with this same rail, so would prefer something that would allow that flexibility. Thanks for the tips.
Here is a US seller with 150mm rail, single carriage:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/174939601005?h ... SwLh1hQKyC

You can look at some of the other idler rail posts I've made, several of which have concept drawings and/or photos of systems with the idlers.

edited to add: for example, I show concept drawings and photos of a system remarkably similar to yours, but with the idler rail, here:

viewtopic.php?f=25&t=43984&p=276418#p276418

lothman
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Joined: Sat Feb 14, 2009 7:00 am
Location: Stuttgart/Germany

Re: Lens support

Post by lothman »

dhmiller wrote:
Wed Oct 06, 2021 7:18 pm
Thanks for the suggestions. I'm seeing expensive, industrial -looking idler rails with a Google search - is there a product you know of that would be the right fit for this setup? Not sure exactly how to mount it. but then again, not sure exactly what it is. I also use shorter lenses (Laowa 2.5 - 5x, for example) with this same rail, so would prefer something that would allow that flexibility. Thanks for the tips.
I made an idler rail out of two rails, took out the carriage and its nut of one rail and mounted it into the other rail. I got the rails very cheap ;-)
Image

on each carriage I have an arca clamp so I can use only the driven carrigage or couple both with a longer arca plate, still more than 200mm stroke.

You can have a search for THK rails with the ending of "b", they have an idler rail already installed (for example KR2602b), and there are long versions available with allow enough stroke.
On the other hand the THK KR rails have low friction + high precision ball spindles. This is good for micro movements but they are no longer self locking like "normal" threads, so this might be a problem in vertical application. But on the other hand there are stepper motors available with integrated break to overcome this problem.
THK KR2602B on ebay

iconoclastica
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Re: Lens support

Post by iconoclastica »

The easiest solution is made from a few pieces of wood. A lying piece to which the camera is attached and a few standing pieces with appropriate bores sawn into them to support the rest. Finally a female 3/4 thread to receive the screw from the focusing rail. Not slick, but quickly made.
I wrecked my motherboard and/or cpu yesterday, so I can't add a picture yet...

---- EDIT: ----
The camera is of course not to be attached to the support, for the elegance of the collar approach is that the camera can be turned from landscape into portrait orientation, vv.
--- felix filicis ---

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