D'Focus Follow Focus v3 cheaper alternative for gears.
- Thread starter jondoe
- Start date
i found plastic gear in linear delivery, so i removed a small strip of the rubber grip and glued them on the lens (tokina ). It is not particularly cheap, but it is great.If the guy building the FF is clever, he would use the standard 0.8,
so he can adapt to any gear on the market
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_trk...&_sticky=1&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_sop=15&_sc=1
so he can adapt to any gear on the market
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_trk...&_sticky=1&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_sop=15&_sc=1
i bought these ones
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Flexible-Fo...657?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3cba34b701
and had the other all black style with the screw down.
The blue ones are a bit harder to get to stay on tight, where as the black one is easier to pull tight. On the black one however you really need to use a screw driver to tighten it down. Both would be good candidates for what nosy70 did to cut and glue onto lenses.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Flexible-Fo...657?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3cba34b701
and had the other all black style with the screw down.
The blue ones are a bit harder to get to stay on tight, where as the black one is easier to pull tight. On the black one however you really need to use a screw driver to tighten it down. Both would be good candidates for what nosy70 did to cut and glue onto lenses.
Michael Carter
Veteran
Any cinema pitch gear will work; I've bought used RedRock gears on eBay, Indian gears, you name it. It's very hard to find a lens gear for under $30-$40 though. But I like the RedRocks over the swap-out-bolts solution from Jag.
Samuel H
Major Contributor
I use the indian ones from ebay:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Set-6-gear-...704?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2eac9d2a20
they make your lenses huge to store, and the long screw is a problem for vintage lenses with a very long throw focus, but they're cheap and work fine; I modded them to better fit my needs
if I had to buy today, I'd probably go for these zip tie gears:
http://philipbloom.net/2011/03/04/superb-budget-lens-gears/
with these, your lenses stay small to store, but getting the FF gear to the lens gear may be problematic in some cases (I hear nobod complain about this, probably because they just reverse-mount the FF if they encounter this problem)
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Set-6-gear-...704?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2eac9d2a20
they make your lenses huge to store, and the long screw is a problem for vintage lenses with a very long throw focus, but they're cheap and work fine; I modded them to better fit my needs
if I had to buy today, I'd probably go for these zip tie gears:
http://philipbloom.net/2011/03/04/superb-budget-lens-gears/
with these, your lenses stay small to store, but getting the FF gear to the lens gear may be problematic in some cases (I hear nobod complain about this, probably because they just reverse-mount the FF if they encounter this problem)
griplimited
Well-known member
sent you a pm nosy. unless you don't mind responding here. thanks!
you can see here how it looks after the mod.
i had to put some nail lacquer (red and white) to identify where the belt loops, because you want to avoid the FF gear going there.(the tooth spacing is not so accurate at this place).
since the focus ring is turning free when on auto, you just need to turn it in a way it does not pass on the FF before setting it to manual. For another lens you would need to carefully glue the belt to make sure it start at the right place.
for example i got a canon 55 @ f1.2 and a nikon 50 2 f1.4 to modify that are in that case.
this is on my tokina 28-70@f2.8, have done the same on my 17-55 , but not sure i will for the 11-16 since with such wide angle all is in focus, so the FF is not really needed.
i just used contact glue and used sand paper on the plastic gear to make it less shiny on the glued side.
then an elastic band to keep it all night. In the morning , tested, rock solid.
i had to put some nail lacquer (red and white) to identify where the belt loops, because you want to avoid the FF gear going there.(the tooth spacing is not so accurate at this place).
since the focus ring is turning free when on auto, you just need to turn it in a way it does not pass on the FF before setting it to manual. For another lens you would need to carefully glue the belt to make sure it start at the right place.
for example i got a canon 55 @ f1.2 and a nikon 50 2 f1.4 to modify that are in that case.
this is on my tokina 28-70@f2.8, have done the same on my 17-55 , but not sure i will for the 11-16 since with such wide angle all is in focus, so the FF is not really needed.
i just used contact glue and used sand paper on the plastic gear to make it less shiny on the glued side.
then an elastic band to keep it all night. In the morning , tested, rock solid.
Last edited:
griplimited
Well-known member
thanks for the response and photos nosys. those gears look more thinner on your lens. did you cut a portion of the rubber grip on your lens before you glued it on or you glued it directly to the rubber grip? Thanks
yes, first i wanted to keep the grip intact, but the plastic slip a bit, so i cut the exact width . It is finally better so the gear band is a bit recessed.
I should say that the gear i got are thinner that most of the ones we listed above, but it should not really change the way it works.
The FF i got is the RJ one (about 150$) .
http://www.ebay.com/itm/RJ-Follow-F..._Tripods_Heads_Stablisers&hash=item2a14b2e1a3
I made a special plate with two short 15mm tubes, so i can just screw the plate under the battery grip and slide the FF in place in few seconds.
The RJ FF is a great stuff (for the price) , but on my tokina lenses , the travel of the focus ring is so tiny that it would be great to have another (smaller)
gear.
Frankly, this is pure convenience and look, because the usual system (screw or any other system ) is ok most of the time and you keep your lens intact.
But i hate to have the lego style, when you want to shoot you need first to spend half an hour to assemble all the parts of your camera.
For example on the 2nd picture, you can see my loupe. It is a 30$ ebay loupe that i glued on a 10$ lcd protector (the kind that slide on the small viewfinder above the LCD).
So i can get it on and off in seconds.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-LCD-Vie...igital_Camera_Accessories&hash=item1c1f7ccd66
http://www.ebay.com/itm/UK-New-2-8x...raphy_Viewfinders_Eyecups&hash=item336cea1895
http://www.ebay.com/itm/GGS-Glass-L...igital_Camera_Accessories&hash=item1c1d83f0b9
and if you still have few dollars to spend , i recommend this
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Hand-Grip-S..._Camera_Straps_Hand_Grips&hash=item3357163495
(just make sure it has the 2 screw hole, some have only one, it is convenient if you want to add a handle,
http://www.ebay.com/itm/L-bracket-2...=Camera_Flash_Accessories&hash=item1c1e678b2c
so you can secure it with 2 screws) and this
lens cover (77mm for all my tokina, one reason why i choosed them, same filter size for all)
http://www.ebay.com/itm/58mm-Dia-Pl...114?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a6b69310a
I should say that the gear i got are thinner that most of the ones we listed above, but it should not really change the way it works.
The FF i got is the RJ one (about 150$) .
http://www.ebay.com/itm/RJ-Follow-F..._Tripods_Heads_Stablisers&hash=item2a14b2e1a3
I made a special plate with two short 15mm tubes, so i can just screw the plate under the battery grip and slide the FF in place in few seconds.
The RJ FF is a great stuff (for the price) , but on my tokina lenses , the travel of the focus ring is so tiny that it would be great to have another (smaller)
gear.
Frankly, this is pure convenience and look, because the usual system (screw or any other system ) is ok most of the time and you keep your lens intact.
But i hate to have the lego style, when you want to shoot you need first to spend half an hour to assemble all the parts of your camera.
For example on the 2nd picture, you can see my loupe. It is a 30$ ebay loupe that i glued on a 10$ lcd protector (the kind that slide on the small viewfinder above the LCD).
So i can get it on and off in seconds.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-LCD-Vie...igital_Camera_Accessories&hash=item1c1f7ccd66
http://www.ebay.com/itm/UK-New-2-8x...raphy_Viewfinders_Eyecups&hash=item336cea1895
http://www.ebay.com/itm/GGS-Glass-L...igital_Camera_Accessories&hash=item1c1d83f0b9
and if you still have few dollars to spend , i recommend this
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Hand-Grip-S..._Camera_Straps_Hand_Grips&hash=item3357163495
(just make sure it has the 2 screw hole, some have only one, it is convenient if you want to add a handle,
http://www.ebay.com/itm/L-bracket-2...=Camera_Flash_Accessories&hash=item1c1e678b2c
so you can secure it with 2 screws) and this
lens cover (77mm for all my tokina, one reason why i choosed them, same filter size for all)
http://www.ebay.com/itm/58mm-Dia-Pl...114?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a6b69310a
Last edited:
What about using pinch lens gears? Has anyone used them before?
http://www.filmtools.com/half-inch-rails-3-lens-gear-set-large.html
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-list...ect=true&qid=1318791779&sr=1-26&condition=all
http://www.filmtools.com/half-inch-rails-3-lens-gear-set-large.html
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-list...ect=true&qid=1318791779&sr=1-26&condition=all