Best Sub-500 Dollar Follow Focus Choice

swanny said:
What lens gears are you using with this?
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At the moment, i have some gears that live on a couple of my lenses that I made using zacuto zip gear refills but attached seamlessly to itself with glue rather than the standard zip gear housing. It's not a bad $11 solution, but I'm a little afraid for their durability when attached that way. It is nice to have gears that are seamless all the way around and it works great so far. I scored the backs of the gears a bit to increase friction and prevent movement. I also have a removable RR-type gear that came with my old indian followfocus, that I use occasionally for other lenses. None of those solutions are that elegant, so I'm hoping to upgrade to something better eventually. The new halfinchrails zip tie focus gears look like another, similar good inexpensive solution that would be easy to get a set for all your lenses and never have to worry about switching around. They aren't seamless all the way around though.
 
nyvz said:
At the moment, i have some gears that live on a couple of my lenses that I made using zacuto zip gear refills but attached seamlessly to itself with glue rather than the standard zip gear housing. It's not a bad $11 solution, but I'm a little afraid for their durability when attached that way. It is nice to have gears that are seamless all the way around and it works great so far. I scored the backs of the gears a bit to increase friction and prevent movement. I also have a removable RR-type gear that came with my old indian followfocus, that I use occasionally for other lenses. None of those solutions are that elegant, so I'm hoping to upgrade to something better eventually. The new halfinchrails zip tie focus gears look like another, similar good inexpensive solution that would be easy to get a set for all your lenses and never have to worry about switching around. They aren't seamless all the way around though.
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I edited my post while you were writing this. Which caivision FF do you have? I notice they have a few for canon lenses, fujinon, cine lenses, etc Is it a different gear pitch?
 
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swanny said:
I edited my post while you were writing this. Which caivision FF do you have? I notice they have a few for canon lenses, fujinon, cine lenses, etc Is it a different gear pitch?
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Oh, cine lens definitely, the others are for the gear pitch on fujinon/canon broadcast lenses.
 
nyvz said:
Oh, cine lens definitely, the others are for the gear pitch on fujinon/canon broadcast lenses.
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ah, that explains what i was wondering about those different types as well! so the only diff is the gear pitch to match the focus rings of the diff manufactureres? cool beans. i've been looking for a reason to buy that FF!
 
Mike@AF said:
I went ahead and ordered a D|Focus from Jag35 the other day. I ordered on Tuesday night at 9:30pm and it just arrived in the mail today. For $140 (about $165 with tax and shipping) I'm impressed.

My other follow focus is a Cinevate Durus. I also have a Redrock Micro v2 on the way and might sell the Durus to use that with the AF100 if I like it. I prefer the two rod mounting than the one rod mounting that the Durus uses. I think it will be easier and quicker when changing lenses and readjusting the follow focus. We'll see though.

Anyways, I got the D|Focus so I'd have a second follow focus for my GH1 (soon to be GH2). I didn't want to spend much on it since I'll primarily be using the AF100. First thing I did was take it apart and flipped the gear box upside down to reverse the gear for use with my Zeiss ZF's. Now I get the focus wheel spinning for focus like with cinema lenses. No reversing gear necessary. That was nice.

The gears are exposed and they are plastic, which I don't like, but I guess that's partly how they got the price this low.

There's no play. None. As I just typed that I checked it again. I'm amazed, no play.

It's very, very lightweight. Seriously, it weighs almost nothing.

The marking disk is a kind of plastic that I can imagine won't clean up very easily, but we'll see. The focus marker is an allen wrench which I used to take it apart and reverse it. You need to remove the focus wheel to change the marking disk, which is annoying, but how often do you need to do that. It's also probably another way they got the price so low. I wish the wheel was larger for more fine focusing.

It's pretty tight, but I don't think too tight.

That's about it. It's a simple follow focus and works and cost only about $165 shipped, and I got it in only 4 days even with the holiday (so really only 3 days).

Oh, and nothing against the Cinevate Durus. It's an awesome follow focus and very well-built. I just think I prefer the 2 rod mounting style, which is probably why most are like that. I'll post my thoughts on the Redrock Micro when I get it probably in a week or so.
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Mike, did you get the Redrock Micro FF and what do think of it?

Thanks much!
 
It's a good follow focus for the money. I returned it though because I want to get the Redrock V3 when it comes out, even though it will be considerably more money. So right now I'm still using my Cinevate Durus, but will sell that to get the V3.
 
Yes, I use the D|Focus for my GH2 setup. The Cinevate Durus (and eventually Redrock V3) is for the AF100 setup.
 
Mike, I looked at their website and it doesn't look like it's possible to add a reverse gear to get Nikon lenses to rotate in the traditional direction. Is that correct?

Thanks again for all the help! ;)
 
I was narrowing it down between the Redrock V2 and the Shoot35, however I need a FF asap. I ultimately want the Redrock V3, but for not I just ordered the DFocus. Got the FF and 3 gears for under $250 shipped. I can't beat that at the moment. I heard good things about it anyway so I figured why not. I can always sell it when the V3 is released or just keep it for the GH2 when I get it.
 
BobbyMurcerFan said:
Mike, I looked at their website and it doesn't look like it's possible to add a reverse gear to get Nikon lenses to rotate in the traditional direction. Is that correct?

Thanks again for all the help! ;)
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You can just unscrew the gearbox, flip it over, and screw it back on. That's what I did. Works great.
 
From my experience, Chinese know how to make exact look-alike but always (an i mean ALWAYS) get the materials wrong so something that's crucial and should be made out of XYZ material gets done from totally wrong material and thus longevity suffers. For instance Arri knockoffs have lenses made out of regular glass - it does what it's suppose to untl it breaks (In my case after a few uses).
 
can you be more specific about what you didn't like about the CAVISION? also which model did you test. there are quite a few user reviews on BH that disagree with you.
 
I don't know if anybody mentioned it before but there is also an electronic follow focus that you connect to your AF100 and works with MFT lenses and is cheaper than $500.

I use a DFocus and am happy with it, works fine.
 
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