NiSi NM-200s Macro Focusing Rail review: get on track for extreme close-ups

I’m a fan of NiSi photographic filters and accessories. Founded in 2005 and with 20 patents under its belt (and counting), the Chinese company has made a name for itself by producing high-quality products and selling them at very competitive prices around the world, via local e-commerce channels. 

The NM-200s Macro Focusing Rail picks up the baton from the now-discontinued NM-180, which is highly acclaimed in all quarters. The new edition gives a longer overall range of movement and is ideally suited to the best macro lenses and even the best telephoto lenses, enabling ultra-precise positional movements and pinpoint manual focusing, even when you’re contending with a paper-thin depth of field. 

It’s also a godsend for the art (or science?) of ‘focus stacking’. For the uninitiated, this is a process where you incrementally shift the point of focus by small amounts, through a sequence of images, subsequently merging them into a single composite image that has a much larger depth of field.

NiSi NM-200s Macro Focusing Rail: Specifications

NiSi NM-200s Macro Focusing Rail: Price

You can buy cheaper macro focusing rails, mostly from brands you’ve probably never heard of, but they often feel a bit wobbly and imprecise in operation. I think that the $199/£159 price tag hanging from the NiSi NM-200s Macro Focusing Rail actually makes it great value for money, considering the quality of its design and manufacture, and how well it works. That said, it’s unsurprisingly more expensive than the outgoing NiSi NM-180, which was 20mm shorter in length and is still available from some retailers for around $129/£105.

NiSi NM-200s Macro Focusing Rail: Design & Handling

To use a yesteryear catchphrase, I love it when a plan comes together. It’s clear to me that a lot of thought has gone into the design of the NiSi NM-200s Macro Focusing Rail. Equally importantly, there’s been no skimping in the CNC (Computer Numerical Control) high-precision engineering of the aluminum parts, which have a reassuringly high-quality anodized finish. Suffice it to say, that the NM-200s is designed and built to satisfy the most demanding photographers, and it really looks the part as well.

Let’s start at the bottom and work our way upwards. I like that I can mount the NM-200s on pretty much any tripod or tripod head. The underside of the main rail has a 3/8-inch threaded socket, complete with a ¼-inch adapter, which covers most bases.

Better still, the entire length of the rail has an Arca-Swiss compatible profile, which enables me to mount it on my like-minded tripod heads in whatever I consider to be the ideal position. In fact, I find the NM-200s works really well even without a tripod.

 The lower section has four removable feet, which are knurled and simply screw on or off, enabling me to use it as a standalone, table-top focusing rail. Usefully, the aluminum feet have non-slip rubber pads, to keep the rail solidly planted and avoid any unwanted movement.

Next up is the threaded rod that runs the entire length of the rail. There’s a knurled adjustment knob at each end, the more purposeful one of which has a calibrated scale marked in increments of 1/100th of a millimeter. A complete 360-degree rotation of the knob results in a longitudinal movement of just 1mm. Now that’s what I call fine adjustment. 

I find the main control knob very easy and intuitive to use but, if you prefer, it has a fold-out handle for an alternative control method. In addition to the calibrated markings on the control knob, the main rail has a marker pin on each side and a measurement scale in 1mm increments.

Up top, the moving section (or head) that holds the camera has an Arca-Swiss compatible mount, again with calibrated markings that stretch to +/-20mm on either side of the central position, in 1mm increments. As well as traveling back and forth along the rail, I like that I can rotate the upper section laterally through a complete 360 degrees. This is done by loosening the knurled locking knob, rotating the plate, and locking it off again. 

Interestingly, because the bottom of the rail and the upper moving section are both Arca-Swiss compatible, you can mount one NM-200s on top of another, the joined pair enabling 2-axis movement and ultra-precise 4-way movement.

With a complete 360-degree turn of the control knob only giving 1mm of movement, it can take a while to get the optimum focusing distance into the right ball park. NiSi’s answer to this is to add a pushbutton that disengages the head from the rail’s threaded rod. This enables you to simply push and pull the head along the track, returning to the control knob when you’re in approximately the right position.

NiSi NM-200s Macro Focusing Rail: Performance

I tested the NiSi NM-200s Macro Focusing Rail with my heavy-duty 3 Legged Thing Winston 2.0 tripod and trusty Sigma 105mm f/2.8 EX DG OS HSM Macro lens. As I’d hoped, the NM-200s gave me all the versatility of movement coupled with ultra-fine and precise adjustments that I needed for the most demanding macro shots. Pinpointing the focus distance proved quick and easy, while focus stacking was an absolute breeze.

It's vital in macro photography that the camera remains absolutely still, as even the slightest movement can degrade the sharpness of the resulting image. There was no hint of unwanted flexing or wobble from the NM-200s, giving me a 100 per cent hit rate.

For quick and simple shooting of highly reflective and shiny macro subjects, like coins and the faces of wristwatches, I like to point the camera downwards, bouncing a hotshoe-mounted flash off the ceiling directly above. This gives an even illumination with the camera casting a shadow from the central area of the bounced flash, thus avoiding any glare. 

I found that in this configuration, the NM-200s kept its position perfectly, without any unwanted creeping on the threaded rod, with the full weight of the camera and lens tugging on it under gravity. All in all, performance is flawless.

NiSi NM-200s Macro Focusing Rail: Verdict

The NiSi NM-200s Macro Focusing Rail is simply the best of its breed that I’ve ever used. With ultra-fine, high-precision adjustments on tap, it takes all the hard work out of macro shooting. It’s also a really useful tool for ‘focus stacking’, so you can extend the tiny depth of field in macro photography to cover everything from the front to the back of 3-dimensional subjects. Build quality is hugely impressive, the finish is fabulous and it’s a top performer. And all of this comes at a very competitive price, making it a real bargain.

Alternatives

The Oben Macro Focusing Rail (Long) is similar to the NiSi NM-200s and has virtually the same 7.1 inches of travel. It’s a popular option and has a list price of $156 in the USA.

The Novoflex Castel-M Focusing Rack/Rail is a really up-market, German-engineered alternative with 4 inches of travel over selectable click steps, but it’s horrifically expensive at around $699/£557.