UltraMacro/WeMacro Auto-Rail Kit - incl. power pack connection & specimen holder

UltraMacro/WeMacro Auto-Rail Kit - incl. power pack connection & specimen holder

Name: UltraMacro/WeMacro Auto-Rail Kit - incl. power pack connection & specimen holder - None- I already have one
Brand: Ultramacro
SKU: UM1000C
Price: 346.80 GBP
Availability: InStock
Rating: 5 (4 reviews)

(4)

Product code: UM1000C-1153

Description

Motorised 100mm Rail with 1 micron precision for the automated capture of sequences of partially focussed images. Supplied with a cable to connect to most popular rechargeable battery packs for field work. Includes motorised rail, blue-tooth enabled controller, 12v2A power supply, USB cable, motor cable, shutter extension cable, shutter release cable, 1/4 camera bolt, tripod mounted specimen holder with crocodile clip, power pack connection cables, motor and camera control software for PC and Mac. This product is also fully supported by the Helicon Remote software (not included).

ACCURACY
We have occasionally been asked to better explain the accuracy of our focus rail. Every focus rail of all makes (that is available to most users) uses an electrical stepper motor whose spindle is connected to a lead screw (a threaded pole) and on that threaded sits a bearing that moves up and down the lead screw as it rotates. There are three factors that determine the accuracy of movement:
1) The lead screw pitch (the angle of the thread)
2) The rotational accuracy of the stepper motor and the controller
3) The build quality of the components

The lead screw pitch on the current focus rails is 1mm. This means that the bearing (which holds the camera or specimen) will move 1mm if the lead screw is rotated one full turn by the stepper motor. 1mm is unusually fine, cheaper lead screws (commonly used on advanced motorised microscopes by leading microscope manufacturers) are 2mm or even 4mm.
The stepper motor used is a high quality make. There are two types of motor rotation:
a) The fundamental steps, these are highly accurate, discrete points of movement, on the current motor that is 200 per full revolution.
b) However it is normal to use microstepping where this is further divided into 6400 microsteps by the stepper motor controller. These are not as accurate as full steps but perfectly good enough for most purposes and completely normal to use for these applications, indeed they are overkill for most uses. It means in practice that a movement resolution of 1mm/200 = 5microns can easily be achieved - absolutely plenty for all circumstances using lenses and good enough for most microscope objectives except the extremely high magnification ones. But actually 0.16 microns movement intervals could be selected which is way more than is needed for any optical microscopy experiment (the resolving power of an optical microscope, based on the highest numerical aperture and the wavelength of light is considered to be 0.8 microns).

QUALITY
The system components are very high quality, more than adequate to maintain repeatable performance. Only careless damage, dirt or overloading will create issues over time (keep the lead screw, bearings and side bearing poles clean!). As is true of all such systems.

Could it all be even better - absolutely yes but it is rather unlikely that it is either needed and certainly extremely unlikely that potential users would be prepared to pay for the upgrades required such as gearing and linear encoder systems with the associated upgraded controllers.

Ultramacro's sister companies have been involved in the design and manufacture of motorised microscopy components for over 35 years, indeed we were the original inventors of motorised focussing and XY motion systems, we know this area inside out and will be happy to advise further if you wish.

The motorised rail is based on the WeMacro rail system, it has a number of unique features:

High quality, aviation grade plugs:

Easy Vertical or Horizontal Installation
There are two 1/4-Inch-20 female threaded holes and two 3/8-Inch-16 female threaded holes in the front of the rail which allows the rail be installed vertically.

Multiple points to support your lenses
On some lenses, especially tube lenses with Infinity Corrected Objectives mounted, the body of lens will be heavy and the centre of gravity will amplify the vibration from camera’s mirror. We provide two M5 threaded holes which will support the lens and reduce a lot of vibration time.

If you require additional support please see our Lens Supports

Some notes about using Helicon Remote using a MacOS with the AutoRail:

The Wemacro rail can work with Helicon Remote extremely well. However in the MacOS version of Helicon Remote when you connect the rail ,the Helicon Remote software pops up an erroneous message in a window to remind you to install "D2XX helper" from FTDI, please DO NOT INSTALL IT, this is a mistake in Helicon's software! Just leave this message alone. A clean MacOS 10.14 or 10.15 will directly run with the wemacro rail in Helicon Remote perfectly well but if users install the D2XX helper driver it will stop the Wemacro program and Helicon Remote (The Wemacro rail will not show in the device list). The way to fix it is remove D2XX helper in library/extension folder and reboot.

Shutter release cable type

1C For Canon EOS R6, 1100D(Rebel T3), 700D(T5i), 650D(T4i), 600D(T3i),60Da, 60D,70D,80D,90D, 550D(T2i), 500D (Digital Rebel T1i), 1000D (Digital Rebel XS),77D, 450D (Digital Rebel XSi ), 400D (Digital Rebel XTi ), 350D (Digital Rebel XT), 300D (Digital Rebel), Canon EOS 30, 33, 50, 50E, 300V, 300, 3000,EOS R,RP,R6…etc;
PowershotG15,G12,G11,G10,G1X;PENTAX K-1/K500/K-3II/K100D Super/645D/K-50/645Z/K5II/K-5IIs/K3/K100D/K110D/K10D/ist DS2/K20D/K7/ist Ds/ist/ist DL/MZ-6/ZX-L/MZ-L/ist DL2/K5/K30/KX；Olympus Em-1 Mark II ,EM1 Mark III,E-M1X，E-M5 Mark III，Fujifilm X-T3，X-T4，XH1 X-T10,X-T20

3C For Canon:EOS R5,6D,6D II, 7D, 50D, 40D, 30D, 5D, 20D, 10D, 5D Mark II, 5D Mark III,5D IV, 1D X, 1D Mark IV,1Ds Mark III, 1D Mark III, 1D Mark II N, 1Ds Mark II, 1D Mark II.

1N For Nikon D850,D4, D3X, D3, D700, D800, D800E, D700, D300S, D300, D200;D810;D500

N2 For Nikon D70s,D80

3N For Nikon:Z6,Z7,D600, D3200,D3300, D3100, D5100,D5200, D7000, D7100,D7200, D5000, D90,D750,D90,D5300,D610,D5500,D7500,D5600

J for Olympus:EM10 MarkII,EM1,E-620,E-600,E-550,E-520,E-450,E-420,E410,E-100,E-30,E-PM1,E-M5,E-M5 II,E-PL2,E-PL3,E-P3,EP-2,EP-1,SP-590UZ,570UZ,565UZ,560UZ,550UZ,510UZ,810UZ,SZ-30MR,SZ-20,SZ-11，PEN-F

S2 for Sony :A7R3,A7R4,A58 NEX-3NL A7 A7MII A7MIII A7R A7R2 A7S A3000 A5000 A6000 HX300 HX50V RX100II RX100III,A9

E3 for Fuji X-Pro2,X-E2S,X70,X-T10,X30，X100T，X-T1，X-T2，X-E2，FinePixS1,X-M1,X-A1,XQ1,X-A2,XQ2，XH1,X-T10,X-T20

S1 for Sony：A900 A700 A850 A550 A500 A450 A400 A350 A300 a200,a100,a99、a77、a65、a57、a55、a35、a33

L1 for Panasonic：DMC-FZ50, DMC-FZ50K, DMC-FZ50S, DMC-FZ30, DMC-
FZ30K, DMC-FZ30S, DMC-FZ20, DMC-FZ20K, DMC-FZ20S,LC-1,L1.G1 GH1 GF1 GH2 G3 GH3 GH4 GX7,S1R,G9

Please ask for K70 if your camera is Pentax K70,KP or Fuji X-T200

If you need other types of shutter release cable or more types of cables, please view our accessories page.

Nikon D3000 and D3400 can only be controlled by Nikon’s IR-remote in our shop.

If your camera is none of these types please contact us. We will try to find suitable cable for your camera.

The body of rail weighs 1.3 kg

Reviews

Customer reviews

(4 Customer reviews)

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WeMacro rail

I purchased this unit in May 2020, I have used it regularly throughout lockdown with a Nikon D800 and a variety of lenses, extension tubes and bellows, in numerous combinations. Some of which were close to maximum weight load. Through out it has behaved faultlessly ( except one occasion when the transformer failed ) one e-mail on a bank holiday and it was replaced in 24hrs. I have only used it horizontally so can offer no opinion on vertical use.

I will admit to some problems when first setting everything up, ( see ref to Mac Os in product description) Bob and William were splendid, and got everything sorted. In short a superb product with first class backup if needed.

John Kilby | Northampton | January 2021

Eccellent package

Delivered with everything needed and clear instructions and all necessary download links.

Up and running in a very short time, I am well impressed.

Thank you

Ruairi Prendiville | London | February 2021

Nothing compares for accuracy and value

Absolute value for money and expandable system potential. Bought some time ago and only tried it out, see results on flickr, but re-visited recently and found it so easy to get back into. I use Helicon Focus 7 the lite use stacking software and am getting excellent results.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/minolta4me-kevin/albums/72157715125653873 Most importantly for me I have the opportunity to do stacked images that "tell a story" and have spread the news about this system to local camera clubs. I use Sony A7R iii and this is the only way I can consistently achieve these results. Sony do not appear to have the in-built focus stacking that Olympus and Nikon have...

The quality of WeMacro is impressive at this price point, or indeed till you spend 3x the amount. AND it has a fine screw thread, not a rubber drive belt like recent competitors.

Kevin Burton | Cheadle Staffordshire | January 2022

Value for money and helpful

Easily set up, I replaced my old one and see there have been a few refinements. The motor now coupled directly , not on a short cable that was not as robust as the new method. Within 1/2 hour of unpacking I took this image. I plan to learn more and get even closer with my existing equipment. But for now this does the trick, without breaking the bank !

Kevin Burton | Cheadle Staffordshire | February 2022

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