3 questions: Follow Focus with Shoulder Rig, Marking Follow focus and Hard Stops?

G

Gene Sung

Veteran
I have 3 questions if I may.

=========
Question 1:

Do a lot of you guys who shoot with shoulder rigs use a follow focus with it? Or do you guys just adjust focus using the focus ring on the barrel? I'm thinking about getting a either the Gini iFocus or the TrusMT follow focus. I really like to shoot light, so not sure if a follow focus would fit into my work flow when shooting with a rig.

-----------

Question 2

I know for tripod type shots, follow focuses are great especially since you can mark you focus points. But it seems like when you use a shoulder rig or any similar type of rig, there is no point in marking off focus since the camera position is in a constant state of flux / movement. Am I correct in this assumption?

-----------

Question 3

Anyone have a follow focus with Hard Stops? TrustMT follow focus comes with hard stops, but once again, this only seems like it's useful if you're shooting on a tripod and by yourself with nobody to help on focus pulls. Which can be fairly often I suppose in the Indi / DIY world.

Thanks for any tips
 
id say if youre actually shooting mostly on shoulder, that a single center-set handle and one hand on the lens is definitely the way to go.

if you cant see your marking wheel or youre moving the camera. marks or stops are a moot point anyway.
 
I always have a follow focus attached no matter what. It's a small piece of gear that greatly facilitates focus. On a shoulder rig, it's also another point of contact to keep the rig steady. Not everyone uses them, but I find they are a must for me. The follow focus I own has hard stops, but I never use them - the lenses I shoot with do not have a free-spinning focus ring, and the AC or I will just use a wax pen to mark focus.
 
hard stops are not there to mark your focus marks, they are for if you are using lens like canon when you pull past infinity you loose all your focus marks so you set hard tops at your min focus and infinity to avoid that.

yes you should try to use a follow focus. id say especially handheld , you are in motion but thats why you (or your 2nd AC) set marks/dabs on the ground so you know your distance away from your subject ... and if your more of a run and gun type guy you can always try to pull off the monitor like some dslr shooters

hope this helps a little
 
6thirteen said:
hard stops are not there to mark your focus marks, they are for if you are using lens like canon when you pull past infinity you loose all your focus marks so you set hard tops at your min focus and infinity to avoid that.
Click to expand...

Yes. This is the reason to use hard stops on focus, and the only reason. You never want to put a hard stop in mid focus range thinking that you will pull focus to that stop when appropriate - what if someone overshoots their mark? Ruined shot is the result if there is a hard stop preventing you from pulling focus far enough.
 
I tend to use the hardtops on my follow focus as "soft stops" when using Zeiss lenses, and as hard stops for maximum and minimum on my Canon lenses. The soft stops are beneficial because I can set them much easier than pulling out a marker while on my shoulder. I know when I hit the mark, but I can also go past it. Also, on the microFollowFocus | Blue, the indicator arm is adjustable so I can rotate it to face me if I did in fact mark the disc.

As for stabilizing a rig, I hold my shoulder rig with my grip angled like this, that way the pressure of my rig is still on my handle as opposed to my follow focus.
 
i have tried both iFocus (from Gini) and also TrusmT. I like the gini more....especially for the price it offers. But you can also have the MICROfollowfocus from Redrock. They look pretty neaty for me.

Always use FF for pulling focus. Never really bother the hard stop use for my kind of shooting though.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top