focus for gh-1?

[matt9b]

Hi guys,

I'd like to get better at rack focussing on my GH-1. I was out in London the other day and saw a young lady with her (I think it was a canon 7d or 5d) camera on a small rail, with 2 vertical handles beneath it. The whole contraption looked like it was free-hold. She had the camera strap around her neck, and just lifted the whole contraption up when she wanted to use the camera. I'm wondering what this is - it almost looked like a kind of focus assist piece of kit.. she didn't seem to be touching the focus on the lens at all. Perhaps it was a steadicam (but I don't thinks so)..

Does anyone know what this might be?

Is there something economical available to help make rack focussing smoother, without jogging the image/camera?

Thanks,

Matt

 

[Martti Ekstrand]

Here's a discussion of various rod rigs for using a follow focus.

http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?t=191420

However there's no way of remote controlling the GH1 kit lens with the camera electronics that I'm aware of. A manual lens will naturally not work in such a way at all. You can add a remote control follow focus unit but they are rather costly, one of the less expensive ones is also made in UK, the Hocus Focus.

http://www.hocusproducts.com/

Or use what's called a focus whip down to the handle unless you place a handle next to the follow focus like I do. Read more in the thread I link to above.