DIY Gearless Follow Focus

Rayzrsharp said:
This is GREAT! But I think someone stole your idea, remixed it and is selling it WAY-WAY overpriced.

http://www.idcphotography.com/kart/index.php?p=product&id=122&parent=1

I like yours better because it was created for those who don't have very much money. Great inspiration. Thanks for posting this.
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Nah, I believe that guy had the idea first. And teadybear never claimed to have come up with the principle. I also do not think that it is WAY overpriced though. Though it is pretty overpriced. I think 200 bucks would be a better price. So maybe it is way overpriced. All I remember is that the guy came on to cinema 5d and justified it or whatever and made some pretty good points.
 
Oh and this thread in general is seriously freaking amazing. I ENVY YOU FOR SAVING THOUSANDS! It actually looks semi professional too.
 
Traction strip

Traction strip

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This is awesome!! Thanks for sharing.

You know, I'm 44, and when I was in my mid 20's I used to race Electric RC Cars. In those days, they had the dirt, and "Carpet Racers" Basically, for the Carpet cars they used low profile, very soft foam rubber wheels. Some of the factory sponsored guys would actually bring pit crews and they used to use special grinders to take the foam tire almost down to the rim. Some also thinned the tires using the same process. I had often thought about using those thinner tires in a very similar setup for a friction FF setup. The foam could be shaved thin enough so it would only be around 3.8ths wide and maybe the same, Tall.

I also remember applying some sort of special chemical liquid to them by a company named "Paragon" to them, setting a match to it so it would burn for 5 or 8 seconds, making the foam VERY sticky, but not to the point it would fall apart. The cars would stick to the carpet like glue!! This whole process would work wonderfully for friction FF, using Ted's basic angled design, on just about any kind of camera.
 
looking great it's the first DIY i can make and i want too make:)

what is the angel you put the wheel to the lens?

do you think i need the bealt for my new tamron 17-50 zoom?
 
ramdop said:
looking great it's the first DIY i can make and i want too make:)

what is the angel you put the wheel to the lens?

do you think i need the bealt for my new tamron 17-50 zoom?
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ram,

do you mean the angle of the wheel? Heres a pic i quickly did to answer that.

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As for your lens, its a case to case basis if you need the "belt" or not. If its old or slippery without traction or if its "humpy" and doesnt give a smooth traction/surface then the traction strip "belt" is a possible solution.
 
MagicCat said:
This is awesome!! Thanks for sharing.
they used to use special grinders to take the foam tire almost down to the rim. Some also thinned the tires using the same process. The foam could be shaved thin enough so it would only be around 3.8ths wide and maybe the same, Tall.

I also remember applying some sort of special chemical liquid to them by a company named "Paragon" to them, setting a match to it so it would burn for 5 or 8 seconds, making the foam VERY sticky, but not to the point it would fall apart. The cars would stick to the carpet like glue!! This whole process would work wonderfully for friction FF, using Ted's basic angled design, on just about any kind of camera.
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Hi magicCat,
Is there a chemical you think that can bring back the traction to old rubber? Especially to those old nikon lenses with their focus barrel rubber shiny and brittle with age.
I experimented with thinner to wipe on the old rubber. Seems to bring back the rubbery quality of rubber. :-)
 
Ok this is brilliant! Now, has anyone developed a method of fixing it to a DSLR without rails? Any suggestions?
 
Modification

Modification

For better focus pulling with the DIY Gearless Follow Focus, let me share the modification Ive made.

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teddybear said:
This is not ideal as lenses have different lengths.
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Understood, however iDC and DFocus in particular both have mounting solutions other than rails. I asked Dave at DFocus if he could offer a skateboard/friction option and he wasn't at all interested. I thought with your DIY brainpower you might have an idea.

dslr_v2_thumb.jpg
dslr_v2-grip2_thumb.jpg
 
Thanks for posting that boulder,

In my case, I have several accessories that necessitates a rod rail mount approach, such as the mattebox, not only for shade but also for filters.

Another thing i noted in my tests when making a gearless approach to a ff is,
since using a curved shaped wheel to twist different types of focus ring surfaces and diameter, the rotating surfaces is subjected to strong torque, I wanted a stable support with moving contact points that are perpendicular or at least a different angle in order to be able to counter torque.
 
I did something similar, with a wheel from my 1/10 scale Tamiya electric car !!!

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Its only a whell from my 1/10 Tamiya electic car, a cap of my old pentax lens, the white circular thing is from a cd cover.
 
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