I don't know if it would be terribly bad form for my first post to be a deal tip, but I wanted to point out Speed Graphic in the UK (http://www.speedgraphic.co.uk/). They were able to ship me (in NY) a brand new Novoflex Castel-L Macro Rail for a total price that was about 33% LESS than any domestic source I saw; and they had good customer service to boot. (FYI, the prices on their site include a VAT which they cancel when shipping to non-VAT countries).
There was one hiccup which was Customs in NY decided to sit on the package for a while. The perils of importing... Nothing anyone can do about that, but I still got the rail in reasonable time.
Since then I think I might have seen this rail at B&H's retail store in NYC for a comparable price, but my eyes may be playing tricks on me because the price on their website is the much higher ~$330 that I see everywhere else. Still, another possibility to check if you are in the city.
Well, that's all I wanted to say commercially. If I have broken the law or spirit of this forum in any way then by all means please delete this post asap. Again, I am not in any way affiliated with Speed Graphic (or B&H), I'm just a happy customer who was surprised by and wanted to share what I consider to be a very good deal (and possibly a similar deal elsewhere) on this piece of macro equipment.
My review of the rail itself so far is "great"; feels solid, no backlash I can see, not too bulky or heavy (though that is relative). I only am going to 1:1 right now myself but for that it seems sufficient. And since rails can double as nodal point shifters for panoramas and sliding bars for stereophotography, I considered the expense worth it for that kind of versatility. Plus, the thing just looks nice, with those blue knobs. ;-)
Only thing is, I wish the top platform has some way of absolutely orienting my QR clamp in 90 degree increments. And it would be nice if the 0 mm mark extended down the side of the rail so that it could line up with references on a ball head's clamp. But those are quibbling issues that I could probably solve myself with the right tools. Oh, and for some reason it shipped with a thin layer of grease in mechanism even though the manual says not to grease it.
I just gave it a light wipe-down and it still works perfectly.For anyone who is interested, I mounted the Kirk 2" QR clamp on mine for no better reason than it was one of the cheapest Arca-Swiss clamps available and had the 1/4" thread size necessary. But Novoflex sells (for ~$30... ugh) 3/8" QR "quickconnect" studs if you already have a clamp with that more common thread diameter and don't want to use a bushing.
Regards,
-G
