Minolta Focusing Rail
Focus Rails
A focusing rail is what most beginning macro students think they
need when in fact they would be better off with a macro lens with a
longer focus throw. A focus rail sits on the top of your tripod and
your camera body and lens sits on the focus rail. By turning knobs
on the focus rail you can incrementally move the camera/ lens
forward and backward (some also move left and right) by small
movements. In other words you replace turning the barrel of your
lens with turning a knob on the focus rail. And while focusing with
the lens barrel is never totally precise, with the focus rail you can be
evenly precise in the increment the camera/lens is moved. There
are even powered focus rails that do it all automatically for you.
There are two main types of focusing rails, ones that move only
forward and backward and those that in addition move from side-to-
side, in other words two- way and four-way. I am not an expert with