Best sub $500 follow focus?

Michael Solomon

Michael Solomon

Well-known member
I currently have the Gini Follow Focus. I actually love it insofar as how it operates and feels. However, it's weight and size is really starting to bother me. The way the unit is configured makes it a pain in the ass to mount on your rails in conjunction with a mattebox. It's also rather large and cumbersome and weighs a ton.

As it stands now, there's an overwhelmingly large selection of follow focus units in the sub $500 range. I was curious to hear from some of your personal experiences of what you've used and prefer.

I had a D|Focus for a while and hated it. Currently possibly looking at a trusmt FF but would love to explore other options.
 
A friend of mine has the Lanparte Pro with hard stops. Its the best cheap one I have seen in ages. I've been borrowing it for B-Camera stuff. If you ebay "Lanparte" you can't get it for under $500. But if you search for "adjustable follow focus hard stops" its one of only a few that come up. It is the one with the green coloured adjustment knobs. You can adjust the position across the axis of your rails, reverse the gear for nikon's etc, and it has zero play which is really rare for a cheapy. I suppose its possible that he just got lucky (think sigma lenses haha), but if the quality is consistent its pretty serious bang for buck!!!
 
I have a Trusmt Follow Focus NF2 that I like very much and for which I paid $330. Search eBay to buy direct from the manufacturer in China. Shipping takes less than a week.

FF-T2.jpg
 
I also have the Gini Follow focus and while the feel is very good there are no hard stops, it's heavy, and mine didn't even come with a pointer. I just ordered and received the Lanparte with the Hard Stops - I got it from Cool LCD - for $10 extra you get the focus whip included. I'm really impressed with this unit. Big improvement over the Gini. If you order one I would also get the larger gear drive. They don't tell you on their site but it comes with a "medium gear" that is still pretty small, I wouldn't bother ordering the smaller wheel (it's even smaller than the one that comes on it) but I would definitely get the larger one. Also, their lens gear ring is really nice, glad I ordered a 2nd one (the follow focus comes with one). I have no affiliation with Cool LCD and you can find them a little cheaper on Ebay but if you want the extra parts the only place I could find them was Cool LCD so I decided to order everything at once. Ordered on a Sunday received by Friday in Florida. They use DHL so pricing for shipping is a little high but at least you aren't waiting weeks. I went through everything on their site and ordered a bunch of smaller items and some carbon fiber 15mm rails and they are very nice. Keep in mind that if you do order even though they have free shipping on the follow focus they are gonna charge you on the other items you order (maybe not just the follow focus add-ons but not sure since I ordered multiple things).
 
Has anyone heard anything about the Movcam Followfocus? Looks like quite an interesting mid-tier proposition between units like the Tilta, Lanparte and Gini and the Arri, O'Connor and Chorizel.

Does anyone know how closely its performance matches its relative pricing?
 
I've got the Red Rock, which I bought used and it works fine. I don't love it, but then again I have not loved ANY of the sub $500 FF unit's I've bought.
 
Oh well, so much for money-mindedness :undecided I just ordered an Arri MFF-1 follow focus and MMB-2 Mattebox. Here's hoping I can't have any reservations at that price!
 
Grug said:
Oh well, so much for money-mindedness :undecided I just ordered an Arri MFF-1 follow focus and MMB-2 Mattebox. Here's hoping I can't have any reservations at that price!
Click to expand...

You know what, it's money well spent. I've had a few different FF units, likely spending the same $$ as the Arri. If I did that from the start I likely wouldn't have had to replace anything.
 
I have played with the movcam and while I found it to be slightly stronger build quality than the Trusmt FS4, is also slipped easily with it's articulating arm if you put pressure on it. It's gear system is higher build quality too. However, I don't think there was anything in it that was much better than the Trusmt FS4, which is half the price. Basically, both of these are Arri MFF-1 rip-off's, however the Arri has rosettes in it, therefore the articulating arm won't slip. Honestly all of them are going to do a good job. Quite surprising how good the Trusmt actually is in fact for $350. Easily as good as the Redrock stuff.
Acutally, I think that unless you are going to invest in $2K follow focus's for heavy production level usage, any of these choices is fine. What a change from even two years ago! Personally, I think something like the O'Connor O-Focus Photo set would have a much greater impact on people's work today. By having a lengthened transmission ratio, 360 degrees of turn for 270 degrees of throw, it definitely renders a pull more accessible for the photo lens folks. That is good stuff.
 
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