DIY Gearless Follow Focus

[Ted Ramasola]

When I made several Plywood skaters, which use 3 skater wheels, I ended up with several extra wheels since the wheels and bearings come in a set of 4.
So one day I was intimately touching and caressing one of the wheels and felt a slight spongey and sticky characteristic that really "grips" so I got one of my lenses lyin around and tried putting em together and found out I can actually use the skater wheel to turn the focusing ring without gears.

Now this wont work on some lenses.
AND this is NOT a Replacement for the real Geared follow focus.

-But so far it works on my old 50mm nikon, 105mm nikon, 20-40mm sigma and the 80-200mm nikon.

Give me a few minutes to prepare and label the construction pics. In the meantime heres the FF on my DSLR rig with other DIY stuffs.



I hope this will save money for some of you guys.

Ted

[SlightlyHuman]

think you would be able to post pics of the rest of your rig seperate as well? i am interested in seeing your rails and mount on their own

[Ted Ramasola]

Heres the construction pics of the DIY gearless follow focus.



This is a guide to making a DIY rail block/clamp.



For those interested in the DIY mattebox, the thread is here.

http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?t=140312

Hope this helps out for those who like making stuff.

Ted

[Ted Ramasola]

A video during my quick tests a few hours ago.

Also shows different lens types being mounted near the end.



DIY Gearless Follow Focus Test

[HHL]

Geez Teddy Bear! You are the FREAKING MAN! This is EXACTLY the type of inspiration that has me coming to this forum everyday. I'm so inspired by the creative solutions that you have put together. ....and ESPECIALLY....thank you for sharing with the rest of us!!! YOU ROCK!!!

[Postmaster]

Fantastic job Ted, very inspiring.

Frank

[Ted Ramasola]

Thanks guys. Glad you liked it.

Ted

[Sheldon Charron]

Hi Ted.

Can you please tell me how you set it up to adjust in and out for different diameter focus rings?

Thanks!

[Ted Ramasola]

Hi Sheldon,

Check out the last picture on the DIY Rail Block clamp I posted above.
You'll see the FF holder(the part i am holding), which also acts as the rail clamp, goes through a hole which i "elongated", for lack of a better term, so it can slide/adjust to maintain contact with the focus ring of different lenses.

Ted

[Sheldon Charron]

Cool. That makes sense. Thanks!