Follow focus on the Canon 50 1.8... anyone?

O

Oller Visuals

Well-known member
I tried making something on my 3D printer but almost managed to destroy the lens when attempting to superglue it... the focus ring is rounded so it's a challange... maybe making the ring bigger somehow?

Anyone used a follow focus solution on the Canon EF 50 1.8? (yes, the cheap one)
 
I haven't used it personally but I would think that if you could find a rubber band or two (maybe stacked on top of one another) of the proper width and diameter and install those first then perhaps a lens gear could be more easily attached. Just a thought.
 
R Hudson said:
I haven't used it personally but I would think that if you could find a rubber band or two (maybe stacked on top of one another)...
Click to expand...
Good suggestion. After 10 seconds of google search, here's what I found:

EDIT: as it's been posted in the APS-C subforum, what about Magic Lantern's Follow Focus option?
 
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Awful answer to the question, but I wouldn't want to rack focus on this lens anyway; it breathes like crazy. Better to get something like a Helios 44M and an adapter - it's even cheaper.
 
The rubber bands would always pop off. I finally drilled little flat spots on the focus ring so that I could just mount the DFocus ring and not worry about it popping off. Drilling those shallow little flat spots was a little scary, but it's just a $99 lens.
 
There's a guy on eBay taking Delrin flat gears and machining a large hole in them to create seamless focus rings. You heat them in hot water and press them in place, when they cool down they shrink enough to really grip. Something like that might work.

Getting a gear on a small prime is tough, and then trying to get the FF to align can add to the pain... a FF with removable gear that can go on either side of the gearbox is pretty handy (like the Fotga).

As for Magic Lantern's focus option - that's completely unrelated to a physical follow focus with gears and doesn't have any bearing on getting a suitable focus ring setup.
 
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