Is MIOPS the Best Macro Photography Slider?

[@MicaelWidell]

Thanks for watching! Also find me in these places: 💌 newsletter: micaelwidell.com 🌄 instagram: instagram.com/mwroll 🎖 patreon: patreon.com/micaelwidell 🐦 twitter: twitter.com/micaelwidell 💬 discord: bit.ly/widelldiscord macro lens buying guide: lensguide.micaelwidell.com

[@19Photographer76]

I've been doing this photography stuff for many decades now. At some point a photog learns that it becomes more about the gear than the hunt to capture images. It's a slippery slope, be careful.

[@Vee66638]

They REALLY need to make one that's only about 20-30cm and with a tripod mount for outdoor macro. I'd buy one tomorrow. That said, it wouldn't be too hard to cut that base to whatever length you want.

[@alastairlaidlaw2922]

Thanks this has made my mind up. After sitting on the fence for 12 year this is the one!

[@raju15559]

Excellent Micael, I will also think about buying it.

[@stephenstevenson1900]

Excellent review! Thanks Micael.

[@caffeinezx4490]

I recently bought one of these and I really like it. I haven’t encountered any app bugs as bad as you have, but I find the app to be very unintuitive and sometimes confusing. As other videos about it show, there’s a super easy way to start the stack when you just mean to confirm a setting, just as one example. I also like that it can be used for video and if I ever choose to experiment with time lapse it’s got me covered there too.

[@ChristineLanzilotti]

This focus rail looks amazing! I am so sad to see it looks like they discontinued it. What focus rail are you using now? And can you recommend a similar one to this, which is motorized and has an app? Thank you so much!

[@_thejager]

agreed

[@StewartWoodArt]

Good video my friend! I'm glad to hear your slider was stable, it's still a shame that the app is buggy.

[@bulletsie]

Lovely neat looking slider, I agree with your points on the stackshot! Cables are too short and get messey and to use it is fiddly and menu/controls could be better. The one major thing for me that is offputting with the MIOPS products is I dont like the trend where your hardware needs Phone App to be used. what happens when the app is no longer on the apple store or play store etc. We are relaying on our phones controlling everything in our lives these days. I much prefer the hardware being "self contained" where you could operate things from a menu system on the rail itself or a physical controller that is not a phone application.....that way as long as your hardware does not die you can keep and use it for years without having to worry about the app disappearing.

[@MicaelWidell]

I agree it would be ideal with a control panel on the slider itself. At least as a last resort. Someone else wrote that the paid version of Helicon Focus can also control this slider.

[@jakemurphy9536]

Agreed.self-contained is preferable.

[@caltari]

I love my Bluetooth Wemacro; I mount my Nikon D850 on top of it and attached to the camera is a Nikon bellows and I use a 50mm Nikon enlarging lens mounted reversed to get me a 5x magnification. The Wemacro can run on AC or battery for field use. It retails for $319.00 U.S. dollars. Cheers!!!

[@merlinbernese]

Hi should be very handy and useful a review in the field for macro photography of live insects in the field as you mentioned. All the best

[@MorningNapalm]

It looks quite good, but I would say that the video sequence across the book at the start of the video was not stable, there was clearly some wobbling. Do you think this is also due to the ballhead? Is there some way to tell the slider to pause for 1-2 seconds before making the photo? Did the app stabilise in the time since?

[@newtuber4freedom43]

Thank you for sharing!

[@ganjco8077]

GREAT video thank you again. I’m torn between this and the wemacro. Any chance they have updated the app? I know usually they don’t :(

[@angelosmouratidis7016]

If you have a Helicon licence (I think I saw it in the video), you can try Helicon remote, it communicates flawlessly with stackshot, and you never have to use the apparatus buttons again. But only Canon and Nikon cameras unfortunately communicate further

[@MicaelWidell]

Wow that's a great feature. Too bad if it isn't supported for Sony.

[@MorningNapalm]

@@MicaelWidell Or Fuji :(

[@jakemurphy9536]

Thanks for this review. Nice bit of kit.

[@meditationdaily1129]

cool video! thank you for being macro expert and sharing your knowledge

[@mauriciolee7349]

Thank you for pointing out the buggy & unstable phone app.

[@Amocles]

The video of the book seemed a little wobbly do you think the $600 one is more stable? I just don't see any reason to get an electronic one... I like the manual ones. maybe later...

[@MicaelWidell]

The wobbliness was not due to the slider, but 100% due to low quality ballhead and very long lens. If I had a more stable ballhead the footage would have looked stable.

[@Amocles]

Okay that makes sense yeah and I only do it manually for photography obviously it would be really wobbly if I used a manual one for videography

[@A_Fortunate_Traveler]

Hi Michael, I'm thinking about getting this slider, mainly for macrophotography. I do have a question that, at first glance, may be a stupid one, but does it works upside down? You see, the whole rig has a certain hight and in studio, that is not really a problem. I love to shoot fungi in their natural environment and as you know, one sometimes need to get very low. So I mount my camera upside down between the legs of my tripod. So I'm curious to know if the Miops still works having some weight, camera and lens, pulling down on the system.

[@MicaelWidell]

Hmm I haven’t tried that. I don’t know if it works. But I’m guessing it should work. What is not supported however is vertical sliding - likely because the motor is too weak. I’m abroad right now so I cannot try unfortunately. Maybe ask MIOPS support.

[@A_Fortunate_Traveler]

@@MicaelWidell Thank you Michael, I'll ask the company.

[@konkretnyfacet]

Hi. A very interesting movie. Thanks. I use iFootage Shark Slider Nano. I already had one like that. It's doing fine for me.

[@martinhermann]

Hi Micael, thank you for the convincing video about this great slider. One question: Is there also an app for Android? Greetings Martin

[@MicaelWidell]

yes there is

[@dougsmit1]

Interesting video but I was really disappointed in a couple points. You repeatedly mentioned that you use an iPhone app. Did you tell us if this device also works for Android? I might buy one of these but I will not be buying a phone just for it. I would not suggest using a ball head on top of this unit since advancing the camera and lens needs to be parallel to the base to avoid parallax errors that could make the images harder to stack. If a tilt is needed. the whole unit could be placed on a tripod head so the lens and base remain aligned. The obvious question to me is whether the unit could be set up to use in the field for moderate macro (even handheld) to take a sequence of rather widely spaced images with minimal time between and improve on hand held focus stacks with manual focus lenses. That might even allow a short series using flash as long as the subject remained still. Do you still have the unit? I am envisioning something like a gunstock mount camera rig set to take a sequence of no more than 5 images at a millimeter spacing for 'cooperative' insects.

[@alexburlakov_photography]

Has anyone noticed that the image shakes slightly when the video mode is used?

[@MicaelWidell]

The wobbliness was not due to the slider, but 100% due to low quality ballhead and very long lens. If I had a more stable ballhead the footage would have looked stable.

[@DEldar2011]

Is good for to photo shoot milky way?

[@MicaelWidell]

Actually I have no idea because I never do astro photography

[@Quanswiese]

Is the app stable by now?

[@MicaelWidell]

Not sure, haven't used it in a long time. I can see that there have been some updates to the app though, so chances are it works better now than earlier :)

[@skeeterarnold9189]

Couple questions: 1- is the app available on multiple phone brands and or computer? 2- can it be mounted vertically?

[@charleshill506]

Looks like that might be put together with a few 3D printer parts pretty easily. And for a lot less than $400.

[@MicaelWidell]

Well I would certainly not want to build one myself, even if someone paid me $1000 😄

[@macroeye1263]

I agree: the app is horrible, a shame... As for the slider, I have one con more; It supports little weight, if you have to shoot with the slide tilted, be careful!! Thanks for your videos from spain

[@AndreasMake]

I saw a video where you could use macro bellows. kzbin.info/www/bejne/gaayi5mVm79ko6ssi=--K3o0rdBvVJXda3 And in that particular case they had the lens at a fixed position and the camera moved backwards from it. Could you help me understand the benefits of your method in this video and potential drawbacks? In your case the whole systems moves in relation to the target.

[@michaelbuddy]

so you have to invest hundreds of dollars into an iphone in order for this to even work, so no UI to use it without an app? Thats' a problem.

[@MicaelWidell]

You don't own a smartphone?

[@drofnasw]

I'm guessing the app works on tablets such as Apple iPad, right?

[@onurcelik2941]

@@drofnasw It works on all iOS and Android devices.

[@bjnslc]

No. The answer is no. WeMacro has the precision and solidity necessary for precision motorized high magnification stacking...at a reasonable price.

[@MicaelWidell]

The price is exactly the same. So I assume you compared the precision of the miops and the wemacro. In what ways was the precision of the miops lacking?

[@jbslv]

​@@MicaelWidell I really want this comparison. The WeMacro seems to have better build quality and carry heavier loads (even in the vertical). But I would expect better precision from the MIOPS (1,141 micrometers steps). MIOPS is also lighter and with less parts... BTW, WeMacro is actually cheaper now.

[@conanruisi]

Why does every manufacturer expect me to download an app? I owe apple like $600 I’m not paying it, ever, and they won’t let me download any apps. You want me to buy your product? Put buttons on it, no app.

[@kristijanignjatovski4415]

It's not little issue. Stackshot is the medical for stability.