Indian-made follow focus...any opinions?

They are a rip off from REDROCK.

If you want paint coming off that cheap parts, go with them...

Go with the original and support your local company. OH... you are from the E.U.... anyway, the redrock are the originals....
 
Did anyone have any experience with products they sell, not only FF ? I am aware they are cheap knockoffs, but all these Indian sellers seem to offer a wide range of products, like mounts, rods, matteboxes. Any risks buying from them rods and matteboxes, for example?
 
I bought my 18" rods (2 pieces), my 10" rods (2 pieces), and my Jumbo Matte Boxes (2 pieces) from them. Their products look solidly built. But I do have an issue with the height adjustments of their 18-inchers. Very rudimentary. But I can't complain much. I was also able to get good volume discount.

Then I started to read here about their not being so original ... so to say that they're "stealing" designs from other people. Well, I'm not going to embark in that moral crusade. No one knows who steals what from whom. Once somebody makes it big, we always tend to think that they are the original designers, but we have no clue whom they ripped off to make it where they are.

At this point, as long as the product is good and the price is right, I'm buying. Nobody ever sends me a check for "loyalty" in this business.
 
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I bought a mattebox from them. Not bad for the money, but some parts loosens easily. Apart from that, they're pretty fast and customer service is good. And apart from those, yes, they clone everything. Frankly, I wouldn't buy a follow focus from them
 
I'd buy a mattebox, but not a follow focus from them - The way i see it, a mattebox is merely a hood, but a follow focus is more complicated, and the chance of screwing up is higher.
 
I bought their matte box. It works but the quality is not good and I did have to repair the flag attachment as the set screw broke almost immediately. Also the inner eyebrows did not work well. The screws that lock and unlock the trays also do not work well. But for the price it's a good starter box. Redrock is about to release their new matte box...at a very reasonable price. Definitely the way to go. I would absolutely stay away from their follow focus considering the state of the matte box. If there is any play in the FF, it's basically useless.
 
Look 1st said:
did this personally happen to you?
Click to expand...

Yes it did, Anyway, ask Tim Naylor and he will tell you about his experience with the mattebox. Some of the things are even more costly then the original. take for example the rail, you pay for non carbon rails for about the same price if you pay for original carbon rails.
 
A friend of mine has the Indian Follow focus system, along with plate and rails. It works excellent and its a very good price...

Now Im hungry for Chicken tikka marsala with some vegetable korma on the side over basmati rice................ :)
 
I've had similar problems with mattebox. I can tolerate this quality level on a hood, but definitely not on a follow focus.
Regards
 
Based on those posts, I'll stay away from complex parts from them (FF, Monitors etc ... which I've already gotten from otehr vendors). Rods and Matte boxes (which is only what I got from them) are fine and I haven't experienced any problem so far. And the price too was competitive.

Thanks for the info, guys.
 
Their products are counterfeits. poorly made, and you have little recourse should they fail on you.


Brian
 
bvalente said:
Their products are counterfeits. poorly made, and you have little recourse should they fail on you.


Brian
Click to expand...

Brian's very right about little recourse - try none, however this is what's funny - they'll sell you the product - there is NO Warranty, however (and I have this documented in email with them) they'll offer a refund if you have problems with the unit but won't take the unit back if it's broken or there are problems with it - meaning you could theoreticallly order, say you don't like it, they'll refund and you keep the unit - now, I'd imagine that getting your money back is not going to be that easy - seems too good to be true and we all know what to expect in those situations.

There are still less expensive options around that I'd look into before working with Cinecity / Camerashop - even though there seemed to be a win/win situation, I wasn't about to test it out and stayed with the guys who can back their products up.

cheno
 
Chenopup, you're right about the "too good to be true" part. Here's my experience. When my 2 Matte boxes got delivered, they forgot to add just the brackets for the rod support. I told them that and the following week they send me the brackets with the full rod supports.

I guess they try to create an over-positive image of them dealing with customer (in)satisfaction. Which may be an indication of something not right. But I have no bad experience (yet) with their products other than the fact that they sent me the wrong rod brackets for my Matte boxes.
 
considering their dollar is worth about .25 cents USD, you can see how inexpensively they can market and sell at US Dollars - they're making a killing, so sending replacement parts even with more than what you need probably costs them very little.
 
If your going to buy that stabilizer, then buy from cinecity. They sell the same thing for only $1100 plus $140 shipping. I noticed that they strangely vary their pricing for the same parts. For example they have a jumbo matte box listed for $489, 499, and 500+. Of course, ive seen that from other vendors as well.

Anyone know the estimated price for the Redrock matte box? Considering the indian version costs only $489, I wonder how it will stack up.

Only issue with that steady cam is that the sled cant be extended. The key attaching the arm to the vest also doesn't have adjustments for fore/aft and side to side. The vest also has a limited amount of personal adjustments. The mechanics of a back mounted vest are also completely different from a standard front mounted steadicam. I prefer to have a DIY type of system that mimics a steadicam. It allows you to use your own rig for shooting and then in the event of a real steadicam being on set, you can adapt to that system very easily. Otherwise youll form habits pertaining to your own system rather than the industry standard steadicam. Just my .02. Of course all of this is irrelevant if you just shoot your own independent films all the time.
 
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