Follow focus for DBX100B and Extreme35

Deuceofspades

Deuceofspades

Veteran
Hello everyone!

I am new on this forum and fairly new to filmmaking as well. I have been reading posts about 35 mm adapters all day today. (where's the aspirin??)
I think I understand the basics but I know I am still too ignorant to place an order without making fatal mistakes.

Is there anyone in Los Angeles willing to show me their setup and walk me through how it works... I think I want to order the new Extreme35 system ($1,200) and will start with a 50mm Nikon basic lense. I am still blurry (pun intended) on how you focus the whole rig once you attach the 35mm adapter. I assume the DVX no longer is used to focus but rather the 35 mm lense is.

So that brings me to the question about FOLLOW FOCUS. Can you recommend something not too pricey (but it doesn't have to be the cheapest peace of crap on the market either - I do want something that is good) that would work well with my DVX100B and Xetreme35 set-up?

Also can one do without a follow focus system and if so how?

IF I CAN MEET WITH ONE OF YOU LOCAL LOS ANGELES GUYS it would answer all my questions. I would be forever in your debt (heck, I'll even take you for a ride in my hotrod in return! Fun stuff!)

THIS IS THE FULL FEATURE FILM I AM MAKING:

www.deuceofspadesmovie.com

email me deuceofspadesmv@aol.com

THANKS and I am sure glad I found this great forum! I look forward to learning the ropes from all of you !

FAITH

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Hiya Faith,

Wow, your production looks like its going to be very cool ! I'll keep looking back for more info!

There's loads to choose from for follow focus. We all get behind our favourites and have things like price against features.

You are right, the follow focus would only need to be used for the 35mm lens as the DVX's focus will be locked onto focusing on the ground glass of the letus extreme [the back of the Letus adaptor]

You could get away without using a follow focus but it isn't recommended. As the camera operator will be busy with framing the action and keep it smooth in terms of camera motion, the last thing they need to be doing as well is focusing. An AC [Assistant to Camera or Assistant Cameraman] should be doing that for them and its easier for both AC and the camera operator for the focus to be 'pulled' with a follow focus.

Regular focusing requires gripping the lens in a way that downward force maybe applied by mistake which means potentially bumping or pushing the camera. Also the AC would need to be closer to the camera to do this.

With a follow focus the movement is away from the lens and is driven forward /backwards at a decent distance from the camera enabling the cameraman to shift angle of position without bumping into the AC. Similarly if the cameraman pans away its easier for the AC to stay with them and pull focus compared to focusing on a regular lens focus.

Also when there is a distance issue say where the AC has to be even further away, a whip could be employed which plugs into the center of the Follow Focus and enables them to perform the same focus pull but up to about a foot away from the handle.

Going for a 35mm lens in front of the DVX has the potential to give you a fantastic film look on what is an already great looking camera !

Enjoy!

Richard M.
Majormorgan
 
How about the Redrock FF - I have both the DVX (original) and the Redrock M2. The Redrock FF seems to be wonderfully built at a very reasonable price. But i wonder if it's going to work with the Letus Extreme - did anyone try this combo?

BTW - wonderfully looking footage!!
 
I just don't understand why follow focusses are just so darn expensive!
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I'd love to say I agree but what its comes down to is the cost of making or sourcing all the components. They aren't just a gear, they have to be the precision drive that takes the forward backward movement and translate it precisely into the movement that turns gear to turn the lens.

Just on gearboxes alone, there are ones out there that are cheap, but they are sloppy and have a lot of play resulting in non precise focusing. These gearboxes are one of the critical components in a follow focus.

Then there's a suitable handle, 15mm locking unit, rock solid support arm and of course lens gears to put on lenses that just don't have cinegearing or any kind of gearing for that matter.

Couple that with the fact that independent units don't ship in their tens of thousands then it can't be made cheaper by bulk buying the components.

Then there is all the R&D time to recouperate that went into designing, making and sourcing components and how they fit together, produce the best drive etc...

But that's my penny's worth and I don't even make them, I buy equipment for my camera. I gotta say they are worth every penny.

:)

Thanks.
Richard M
The Major
 
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Yes, in another post I discussed the scrapping of our entire first production run of FF gear sets because they did not work smoothly under load. FreshDV's review came out a few weeks after, confirming that decision.

Making a high quality follow focus with silky movement under load is not a simple task. We could have used a standard bevel gear box from one of many resellers and had it done a long time ago. Our unit has been in production prototyping for nearly a year now...and our entire first run was delayed because I wasn't happy. Doing it right is not cheap, and volume/sales efficiency is the only way for us to sell them at $550 with a few gears without sustaining a loss.
 
Dennis, that's a perfect example for demonstrating why something like this can't be done as cheap. Your commitment to high quality is a light for us all.

A year in prototyping, that's hard. I hope people realise the sweat and tears thats going into your gear sets.

And I hope the next batch work out exactly the way you want them. Its this sheer hard work, time and money that makes great affordable products for us all to use.

:)

One thing I forgot to say in my original post about using follow focuses is a key feature that they have over just turning a lens. Its the outer ring. This is important for two reasons.

1. You can put dry wipe marks on the ring so you can mark focus points, making it easier to hit your mark or a series of marks.

2. You can attach 'Hard Stops' which are bolted on the white ring or rotated in other FFs so that you can stop bang on 1 or 2 focus points.

These you can't do with just a regular focus ring on a lens.

Thanks,
Richard M
The Major
 
Richard, it's been a very frustrating journey...but in the end, the one lesson we're learning here is that speeding something to market ends up costing more in the long run. In other words, if our only goal was making money, we'd have had one out a long time ago :-)

D, I checked out the pics from your site and was very impressed. I have a weakness for old rods so definitely count me in for a DVD when you're done. One of our guys did a retro gangster type piece in black and white and I liked it so much, it's now installed as a demo clip.
 
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The other factor here that is barely touched on are the simple economies of scale. A follow focus for a low end prosumer camcorder is a very specialized thing. How many people are going to buy one, worldwide? It's like anything, if you are only going to produce a few hundred, you are not going to get a huge break on manufacturing, materials, etc. Let's put it another way, if Microsoft made follow focuses and everyone needed one and bought one, they could make an incredible quality unit that would sell for $99.00 because they would be making millions of them and the resulting economy of scale would drive the material and manufacturing costs and retail price down.

Not very many users of prosumer camcorders even know what a follow focus is. It's primarily used for filmmaking, narrowing the audience even more. News guys don't need them, most people without a 35mm adapter on the front of their prosumer camcorders don't need them so do the math.

That said, if you have not been in the world of film, you don't know what expensive is. I once did a shoot with 7 S16 Arri SR-3 high speed packages in my camera truck. The insurance binder was for $2.5 million dollars. That's expensive. $500.00 or $600.00 for a precision piece of specialized, esoteric gear is actually pretty damned cheap if you look at it that way.

Dan
 
Just bought the Redrock Micro FF. After reading good reviews at http://www.freshdv.com/2007/10/freshdv-reviews-five-follow-focus-systems.html, I took the plunge. Will test it tomorrow and post a review in a few days. Hopefully, I can live with 1.5mm of play. Some say this is more than acceptable, I'll see. If you have the cash spring for the Chroziel. Eitherway, the RR has a solid build, doesn't seem cheap at all. I also love their focus rings. As crude as they look, they really work. Easy to remove and recalibrate with no tools. They also increase the diameter of your lens in a way that the smaller spacing between your higher distances effectively gets increased, making more delicate focus pulls possible. This is especially important for your smaller Nikons such as the 50, 35, 28 and 24.

Tim Naylor - DP
www.timnaylor.com
 
Tim Naylor said:
Just bought the Redrock Micro FF. After reading good reviews at http://www.freshdv.com/2007/10/freshdv-reviews-five-follow-focus-systems.html, I took the plunge. Will test it tomorrow and post a review in a few days. Hopefully, I can live with 1.5mm of play. Some say this is more than acceptable, I'll see. If you have the cash spring for the Chroziel. Eitherway, the RR has a solid build, doesn't seem cheap at all. I also love their focus rings. As crude as they look, they really work. Easy to remove and recalibrate with no tools. They also increase the diameter of your lens in a way that the smaller spacing between your higher distances effectively gets increased, making more delicate focus pulls possible. This is especially important for your smaller Nikons such as the 50, 35, 28 and 24.

Tim Naylor - DP
www.timnaylor.com
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Well right now I am leaning towards the Letux Extreme brand new adapter, mainly because it flips the image and only loses 1/2 stop. Both seem like a very good thing to have... but would love to read your review on RR...
 
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