Diy Follow Focus

[karmafilm]

Anybody have any success story about a DIY Follow-Focus (like the Redrock style.) Doesn't seem like it should be so hard. A few gears and rubber stoppers? Hmmm...

[Rodney V. Smith]

iI think Twocik had some success at some point with a fishing reel thing, but the pics of how it worked are gone now. If he's selling plans or the contraction it self I'd sure love to get my hands on it...In the meantime i;ve been trying to research the very same thing and when I get my Right Angle gear in and fool around with it for a bit, maybe we'll have some more answers... right now seems to be popular consensus that building a follow focus yourself is difficult and time consuming... and the results may not be the best....

[DavidD]

Fish reel does work. I have experimented with it. It just needs a better mount for use on the rails.

[Rodney V. Smith]

do you have any pictures od the setup? i've been trying to figure this part out and i'm still "fishing" around for mare information,but not too much seems to be available. I may have a good mount for the rods if I can get lucky in the Ikea As-Is section :-D

[Rodney V. Smith]

So I took a trip to Walmart yesterday and grabbed the cheapest fishing reel I could get ($4.95). Cracked it open when I got home and lo and behold! There sits the perfect 90 degree gear box. I managed to whittle it down to size to actually fit onto my rod set up. No wI gotta go bet a gear for the end of it to turn the lens, annd the lens gear itself. So far it looks entirely feasible and should work, so wish me luck.

Thanks to Twocick for the idea.

[twocik23]

"It just needs a better mount for use on the rails."

These work great, happy newyear!

http://www.jupiter-clamps.com/images/Home-Page-mod.gif

[twocik23]

"do you have any pictures od the setup? i've been trying to figure this part out and i'm still "fishing" around for mare information,but not too much seems to be available."


Yes, sorry about that guys. I'm switching everything to my official website ifocusfilms.net.

I'll have a complete instructional DIY book soon, available for purchase, covering the SD ifocus, HQ ifocus, Fisherman follow focus, and much much more.

[Rodney V. Smith]

Thanks dude. I got some of these connectors form Home Depot.
<img src=http://www.dvxuser6.com/uploaded/731/1161218905.jpg>
http://www.dvxuser6.com/uploaded/731/1161218905.jpg

they rock, but you gotta have 'em connected on both sides to hold up whatever you're putting on them. I'm hoping to take some photos of my setup some time today

[Rodney V. Smith]

Hewlett-Packard annoys me. I just very oh-so-carefully ripped apart an old printer that I had sitting around. I had noticed the printer belt in a couple of printers at the thrift store and i thought to myself: "self, those would be good for a gear around the lens..." hence the destruction of the printer I had knocking about.

I was right about the belt. fromthe EPSON printer. it has the perfect gear teeth that i could see. Hewlett-packard printers have much smaller teeth,somy experiment failed.... I DID get the gears out of the printer though, so it wasn't a total loss.. it's just the belt I need now...

Time for the Hobby Store for possible parts...

[chuck coburn]

Hewlett-Packard annoys me. I just very oh-so-carefully ripped apart an old printer that I had sitting around. I had noticed the printer belt in a couple of printers at the thrift store and i thought to myself: "self, those would be good for a gear around the lens..." hence the destruction of the printer I had knocking about.

I was right about the belt. fromthe EPSON printer. it has the perfect gear teeth that i could see. Hewlett-packard printers have much smaller teeth,somy experiment failed.... I DID get the gears out of the printer though, so it wasn't a total loss.. it's just the belt I need now...

Time for the Hobby Store for possible parts...

Good morning,

Here's a source of misc. nechanical hardware.

http://www.sdp-si.com/D790/D790cat.htm

Their CD they ship with the catalogs has lots of good info in it.

Chuck

[Rodney V. Smith]

Thanks Chuck. After waste an hour at the Hobby Store I'll be sure tocheckemout to get exactly what I want. The Hobby Store guys hate menowthat I referred to the cars as toys....

[chuck coburn]

Thanks Chuck. After waste an hour at the Hobby Store I'll be sure tocheckemout to get exactly what I want. The Hobby Store guys hate menowthat I referred to the cars as toys....

Your welcome Puckthemad,

Here's another one.

http://www.wmberg.com/

This one and the other are very handy to have in hard copy versions as it makes it easier to poke around and possibly come up with new ways to put pieces togeather.
I know what you mean about refering to something in a demeaning manner. I called a profesional HD camera a "camcorder thingy" on a site the other evening. Oh well I'll just write it off to early new years evening cocktails! By the way the Berg catalog is so large you can use it for beating bad guys without leaving tell tale marks!

Happy New Years to you and yours,

Chuck

[Rodney V. Smith]

Rod support is so very important for the follow focus. I finally got the gear belt attached to my lens,with a spring in the middle so it can fit onto several lenses (or at least that was the idea, but its a little tight on there). I attached the fishing reel focus (the FRF as i like to call it) with the appropriate gear. perfect match! it turns back and forth and i can move and change my focus without touching the lens...

finally success... until the spupport that i'd built to hold it onto the rods,slipped just a little bit forward.. and the gears disengaged.

so two options before i can report full success and post the pics: get a wider gear belt (and a couple extras for the other lenses, but just note that fastlens switching is a thing of the past with the FF in place) and option B would be to stablize the rod support so that my FRF doesnt go anywhere at all.

Success and pics to come next... i hope

[siniarch]

keep us informed. and good luck.

[Rodney V. Smith]

success eludes me for a while... must make money before i buy more parts... the downside of DIY is that while you're building there's editing to be done and deadlines to meet... so mor emore progress will follow as soon as i finish this job so I can get paid to buy more toys....

[Rodney V. Smith]

okay: success and for an obvious reason that didn't occur to me until it was actually done.

Rod Support was essential for getting my DIY follow focus to work. And using the PROPER sized rods makes the difference. I'm embarrased to admit that my previous rod support system was way too small. Now I got hold of some 15mm rods and rebuilt the whole thing, remounted the FF onto the new supports, and with one tiny adjustment... voila... the freaking thing worked.

http://flyinmonkey.com/RVS-35mm/FF-closeup.JPG

http://flyinmonkey.com/RVS-35mm/FF-side.JPG
The Epson Gear Belt worked beautifully with the Fishing Reel. It's smooth and efficient and when going from tripod to hand-held, the support system keeps it locked tight.


http://flyinmonkey.com/RVS-35mm/camera-with-rails-front.JPG

http://flyinmonkey.com/RVS-35mm/camera-with-rails.JPG
i got rid of the fishing reel too. Build a wheel out of some spare parts )gears and stuff) i had knocking about and now it's done.. for now at least...

[JasonFox]

Dang, that is slick! What did that end up costing you? I know you've sprinkled some part links on here, but could you give a list of your final hardware? Please?

[Rodney V. Smith]

Hmm.. parts list... well here goes:
Walmart Fishing Reel $4.99
Gear belt from Epson $2 (from thrift store), but you can get similar gear belts from the hobby store for around $9
The rest of my gears were all scavenged from the Epson printer, dunno actual cost

Rod System: 15mm rods from Ikea $0.50 each (AS-IS section as end of the store, good luck)
Rod support (got lucky and took the white parts in the picture off of a keyboard tray possibly from Target)

I gotta take more pictures of the separate components, but putting it all together was a challenge,. It's just patience and a lot of cutting and drilling.

The most this cost was about $20 in parts and then fitting the right pieces together. Time to whip out the old digicam again and take some more pictures of each component...

[karmafilm]

Wow, posting on this site really brings about some good threads! Been away for a while, and then checked the thread. And there it is! A DIY FF!!! That's AWESOME! Have to take it all in......

How much "drilling?" I don't have a workshop or anything. Also, I have an HVX. Can I do all this with a Makita? What was "Drilled?" Yatta yatta. Would REALLY love to know how you did this with as much specs as you can offer. Don't mean to make you do all the work, and then get the info, but....could I get the info? ;)

Really, very very cool!!!

[Rodney V. Smith]

okay, I'll do a photo journal once I get the camera out and the FF taken apart so you can see all of the parts i used. Some were cobbled together, so it may take some time.

[Rodney V. Smith]

oh yeah, I have a makita drill as well, so nothing major... yet... although I may have to invest in a powersaw soon...

[karmafilm]

You are a scholar and a gentleman. Thanks so much!

[JasonFox]

Hmm.. parts list... well here goes:
Walmart Fishing Reel $4.99
Gear belt from Epson $2 (from thrift store), but you can get similar gear belts from the hobby store for around $9
The rest of my gears were all scavenged from the Epson printer, dunno actual cost

Rod System: 15mm rods from Ikea $0.50 each (AS-IS section as end of the store, good luck)
Rod support (got lucky and took the white parts in the picture off of a keyboard tray possibly from Target)

I gotta take more pictures of the separate components, but putting it all together was a challenge,. It's just patience and a lot of cutting and drilling.

The most this cost was about $20 in parts and then fitting the right pieces together. Time to whip out the old digicam again and take some more pictures of each component...

Sweet. I see myself wasting much time on this instead of writing the script I should've had done last week. :) At least I already have rods.

[j]

>Rod System: 15mm rods from Ikea $0.50 each (AS-IS section as end of the store, good luck)

What was the product? a lamp or what?

[Rodney V. Smith]

i have no idea.. just found them lying there on the shelf, threaded at both ends.. so i grabbed them all

[chuck coburn]

Here's a couple of sources for little right angle drives.

http://www.torquetrans.com/right_angle_gear_boxes/mini_right_angle_helical.htm

http://www.globalspec.com/FeaturedProducts/Detail/TorqueTransmission/RIGHT_ANGLE_MITER_GEAR_DRIVES/27152/0

[Erik Olson]

One of the challenges with those gearboxes is the amount of backlash in the gears. There must be almost zero (certainly less than a degree) of backlash for the gearbox to be considered for a follow-focus.

I don't see the specification on those models.

e

[chuck coburn]

One of the challenges with those gearboxes is the amount of backlash in the gears. There must be almost zero (certainly less than a degree) of backlash for the gearbox to be considered for a follow-focus.

I don't see the specification on those models.

e

True enough. That's why most equipment using precision gears, (cameras etc.) have the gears lapped into each other.
Perhaps the use of an anti-backlash gear as the first gear outside the gearbox would help to aleviate some of this problem.

[chuck coburn]

One of the challenges with those gearboxes is the amount of backlash in the gears. There must be almost zero (certainly less than a degree) of backlash for the gearbox to be considered for a follow-focus.

I don't see the specification on those models.

e

Looked thru the SPI and Berg catalogs and the worst case I found was two degrees. The helical and bevel gear models were 10 to 30 min. max. If you can keep the rest of the gear train under two degrees your a better man than me Gunga Din! lol

[Rodney V. Smith]

My digital camera suck. No doubt about it at all. It just sucks for those closeups of the small parts. Gonna see if I can borrow my friend's camera. At least thats tgot a manual focus instead of astupid autofocus (my worse enemy)

[DavidD]

Those making DIY FF, save yourself the agro and just get the fishing reel - it works wonders with very little effort. You do have to take it apart and discard a few pieces, but for $5.00 it is worth getting two in case you screw up.
The white pieces are a nice touch and I am interested in your Gears from the printer - how did you manage to get them to fit different lenses? Aren't they just rubber gear belts?

[Rodney V. Smith]

actually, the printer gear belts aren't rubber. They're some form of Nylon that holds up remarkably well, just gotta make sure that the end-gear on the fishing reel assembly, fits snuglu y with te printer rgear belt and you're set.

I attached a spring between the ends of my gear belt to hld it together while I slip it onto the lens. This has been done for all 3 of my lenses, so I have less downtime between switching lenses...

[DavidD]

Ok, so you are wrapping around the lens, right? Do you have a pic?

[Jason Miller]

puckthemad will you post some more detailed photos of your setup, whhat is the camera mounted on?

Jason Miller