EdelKrone Follow Focus One

petermullett

petermullett

Well-known member
Has anyone else bought the EdelKrone Focus One follow focus?
I was intrigued at the pricing and the feature that allows the camera operator see the witness marks on the disk without moving to the side of the camera. Great if you're working without an AC. So at $289 USD I thought it was worth a shot to try out. It arrived the other day and I used it on the camera this afternoon with the 18-252 Sony zoom up as well as a Zeiss CP and my RED 18-50.
I have to say that I was VERY impressed with this tool, it's very well machined / made and very well thought out indeed and I love being able to see the focus marks by just glancing up from the LCD or the mounted PIX 240.
Some minor quibbles, but I'll use the FF for a few more shoots before I post anything that I feel needs changing or improving. But for now I think this will be my "go to" FF rather than the larger Chrozsiel single and double sided FF's that I share between the film and F3 rigs. Here's some photo's taken after today's shoot.
I prefer my own tape witness marks rather than using the marks on the FF scale. I guess one can use dry erase markers too, but I'm going to check first with Edelkrone before I run the chance of permanently marking the white disk.
Oh yes, it's also great for those of us that use Nikon lenses, it has a reverse focus gear that easily swings into place making the Nikkors focus the "right way".....Nice!
More as I use it, but for now, I'm very impressed.
 

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Nice review on this unit and great it can reverese direction if needed. Is there any "play" or movement between the knob to gear on barrel?

Lately my FF unit has been sitting in the box, I got quite accustomed to manually pulling focus directly on the lens barrel, even on moving subjects.
 
Glad to hear that Peter!

Edelkrone product line looks fantastic and is very well made ​​and designed, with the Monitor / EVF Holder one of their best.
 
Thanks for the review, I've been interested in that one as well. Price and reversible gear make it very appealing. Please let us know how you get on with it with more use!
 
I got one a few weeks ago. I was charmed by the design and, as it turns out, very impressed by the build and finish. Just one draback - it doesn't work with primes and a matt box - I have a Redrock shown here. I don't know of a MB that will work with it. I'm looking for some kind of bellows to solve the problem and welcome suggestions. If you don't use a MB and primes I can't find another drawback.




Focus one MB 1.jpg Focus one MB 2.jpg
 
Hello again everyone, thanks for the responses and here is another posting on this EdelKrone FF by way of a follow-up.
Not shooting today so I took the F3 and the EdelKrone out and set up a couple of lenses.
As you see from the photo's the RED 18-50 works ok with the FF and my Chroziel matte box....BUT only just! The body of the FF does prevent the rear donut of the mattebox seating snugly against the lens.
The CP Primes are a problem though, again as you can see in the photo's. The mattebox will not seat against the lens, however it works just fine with a secondary donut, again the other photo. With the second donut and the 21mm CP there's some cut-off with this standard matte box, but with the WA front on the box it's all good.
If EdelKrone can address the mattebox issues with an updated model this would be great. I feel that they are a very responsive and innovative company and I hope that they will listen to us pro' users who work with their products in the field, I think they will.
The other things that I'd like added would be a centre witness mark engraved on the body of the FF, as per the photo' where I have the yellow tape/arrow. The engraved witness marks on the unit are in my opinion too small / fine and hard to use in real life, again for me the taped marks or dry marker marks are the best to use.
The white marker disk could be a little stiffer to adjust, I feel that it can too easily be nudged out of position as it is now.
The focus knob / wheel is heavy, could that be lighter? Also for winter use with gloves I feel that an indented edge to the knob would be easier to use rather than the knurled one as it is not...make it like the Chrosziel knob, and again, lighter.
Lastly for now the locking knob that secures the unit to the rods really could be a bit larger so one can get to it easier with gloves and to be able crank it tight more easily.
Otherwise I really do like this FF unit, if only for the rear facing focus disk, what a great idea. The cost, the size. the reverse focus and the build are four other good reasons to have one in the kit.....I hope EdelKrone "listens" to feedback and makes some improvements to this FF, that too would be a good thing.
There's little or no "slack" at all in the wheel / gear / lens gear when using the regular gear, there's more slack when using the "reversing gear" for the Nikkors. Otherwise it's as good as my larger Chroziel FF units.
Oh yes...there are no hard stops on this FF for when you use AF lenses. For me not an issue, for others sure maybe so. But remember the price and the quality of this FF, it really is great value so perhaps we can't expect "everything"!
I am going to send EdelKrone a link to this thread anyway.

 

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I emailed Edelkrone regarding the matt box some time ago but received no response. I don't know how they could improve the current design to make it work. I think its a complete redesign. However, as I said their may be a bellows out there that would ameliorate the problem for some if not all lenses. It would be great if Edelkrone addressed this or designed a bellows solution.

The marking disk on my unit adequate. I like the weight of focus knob. I absolutely agree with Peter that the locking knob on the rods could be bigger.

I'm using it with Canon L lenses with Edelkrone lens gears but I'm sure it is the same with all AF lenses. If you turn the focus knob around until you hit the top of the gears you have a stop. Now switch the lens to automatic and focus on infinity than back to manual. That's one lens stop.

I may be misreading your photo Peter but the way you are set-up you seem to run off the scale? If you adjust the reverse gear so that it is at the bottom of the unit - you will be on the scale.
 
Hi maccannondsl, that's a real pity that you didn't get any response to your email to Edelkrone, maybe I was wrong about them being a responsive company. I hope not.

As to the marking disk and the scale, I don't use the marks on the unit, too small for me. I prefer the use of tape marks and dry marker, I just ignore the engraved scale.

The problem with the using this FF with a matte box on primes such as the CPs' and others stems I think from the fact that this FF unit has primarily been designed for use with still camera lenses on still cameras that are shooting video, like the Canons and Nikons out there. This seems to have been the focus of Edelkrone's design and marketing to date, not so much for cameras like our F3's and others.

There is this though, I wonder if it could solve the bellows / matte box problems?
http://www.abelcine.com/store/Genus-Lens-Adaptor-Ring-with-Nuns-Knickers/


You're right, the FF needs quite a re-design if it is to work well with the the kind of cameras and lenses we use, but hopefully they will do this down the road.....and hopefully they will prove to listen to feedback and act on it, we'll see I guess.

But for now, for me I still think the rear facing marking disk is a huge plus, a really innovative piece of design, and for at least half of the lenses I have in the kit it works very nicely. For the others I still have my Chrosziel FF's to call on.
 
petermullett said:
The problem with the using this FF with a matte box on primes such as the CPs' and others stems I think from the fact that this FF unit has primarily been designed for use with still camera lenses on still cameras that are shooting video, like the Canons and Nikons out there. This seems to have been the focus of Edelkrone's design and marketing to date, not so much for cameras like our F3's and others.
Click to expand...

I think DSLRs are even harder to design to - so not really - this is my reference lens when considering FF design http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/28mm-pc.htm

S
 
mccannondsl@eircom.net said:
Thanks for the nuns knickers - Peter. It is what I was thinking and might work.
Click to expand...

Happy to oblige, the nun hasn't filed charges yet so maybe I'm in the clear.......

But before you spend money on yet another piece of gear try a simple neoprene donut. That works fine for me with my CP Primes. Here's a link:http://www.abelcine.com/store/Lindcraft-Lens-Donut-Small/

I should imagine there's a UK source too, I have just ordered some more of the same via a French company. Do a search for Lindcraft

Hope that helps
 
Hello starcentral,

Please kindly send us an email to info@edelkrone.com for any problems and/or questions you have with our poducts, we will respond as soon as possible.

Best Regards
edelkrone Customer Support
 
The edelkrone follow focuses require lens gears (Please see http://www.edelkrone.com/e-store/28-edelkrone-lens-gear-8680177980255.html) which are 0.8 pitch, to function smoothly; otherwise you will not be able to operate with our follow focuses. The edelkrone lens gears are specially designed to work simultaneously with our follow focuses in order to adapt and run smoothly with any lens, regardless of its size and brand. Furthermore, the edelkrone lens gears are a one size fits all, and you will not need various types of specialized lens gears for each of the different lenses you own.

Furthermore, the edelkrone lens gears do not have a hard stop, however, the joint part on the lens gear could easily be used as a hard stop when adjusted on the lens of your DSLR. For further information about the edelkrone lens gear, please refer to the following link: https://vimeo.com/49571247

As edelkrone, we accept the fact that the focus one, when used simultaneously with some matte boxes, especially ones with larger frames, may result in some incompatibilities for the user such as when they are used with matte box. We regret not being able to offer these doughnuts; however obtaining 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] party doughnut gears for your lens will solve this incompatibility. However, to sum it up, in relation to its reasonable price, whip/crank port, one of a kind focus marker and reverse gear option, we believe that we are offering the best solution to our customers.

For further information please kindly send us an email to info@edelkrone.com


Best Regards
edelkrone Customer Support
 
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edelkrone said:
The edelkrone follow focuses require lens gears (Please see http://www.edelkrone.com/e-store/28-edelkrone-lens-gear-8680177980255.html) which are 0.8 pitch, to function smoothly; otherwise you will not be able to operate with our follow focuses. The edelkrone lens gears are specially designed to work simultaneously with our follow focuses in order to adapt and run smoothly with any lens, regardless of its size and brand. Furthermore, the edelkrone lens gears are a one size fits all, and you will not need various types of specialized lens gears for each of the different lenses you own.

Furthermore, the edelkrone lens gears do not have a hard stop, however, the joint part on the lens gear could easily be used as a hard stop when adjusted on the lens of your DSLR. For further information about the edelkrone lens gear, please refer to the following link: https://vimeo.com/49571247

As edelkrone, we accept the fact that the focus one, when used simultaneously with some matte boxes, especially ones with larger frames, may result in some incompatibilities for the user such as when they are used with matte box. We regret not being able to offer these doughnuts; however obtaining 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] party doughnut gears for your lens will solve this incompatibility. However, to sum it up, in relation to its reasonable price, whip/crank port, one of a kind focus marker and reverse gear option, we believe that we are offering the best solution to our customers.

For further information please kindly send us an email to info@edelkrone.com


Best Regards
edelkrone Customer Support
Click to expand...

Hello Edelkrone, thanks for joining this thread!.....I went through the lens gears issues with one of your colleagues on ordering the FocusOne a couple of weeks back, and again I have to point out that many of the lenses that are used by the members of this forum and owners of the F3 camera are Cine PL mount lenses and therefore have both focus and iris gear rings of 0.8 pitch built into the lens body.....in fact it's impossible and redundant to try to fit extra gearing on any of the lenses I own for instance, ( RED, Zeiss, and Sony ).
Your FocusOne works well with all of the lenses I have tried it with, no issues and in my case no need for extra lens gears.
The main issue is the fact that many matteboxes cannot fit snugly against most prime lenses because the body of the FocusOne prevents the rear of the matte box from proper contact with front of the mounted lens.
In my case I have solved that by using neoprene lens do-nuts, there's other solutions out there too, i.e. "Nuns Knickers".
I do agree though that this is a great little FF, the rear facing witness wheel is a terrific idea and I'm hooked on it's use already after only a couple of shoots. There's a few things you could easily do to improve the FF, ( see mine and other's previous posting ), but as it is yes, good value, and very well conceived and manufactured.
Regards...PM
 
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