Follow Focus with stepdown?

Shawn Philip Nelson

Shawn Philip Nelson

Veteran
Forgive me if this has been answered before....

So I've got a zoom on reserve for my Red but like a lot of people, I will be using Nikon primes in the mean time. I read that a follow focus is a must and Jim mentioned that a gear-down will be necessary so you can turn the focus wheel a lot more within the 90 deg rotation of the focus barrel that the Nikon glass gives you. So...where can I find a follow focus that will mount on standard rods that will interface with the Nikon lens that has this crucial gear-down? Or, am I at the mercy of some 3rd party to make such a thing? How good would the IndiFocus be for this? It doesn't appear to have gear step-down.
 
What about the Redrock Micro follow focus? It's designed for still lenses. Does anyone have any experience with it?
 
Most of my shooting right now is with an hvx200 with redrock 35 adapter and nikon primes. i use a chroziel follow focus and inexpensive lens rings that i bought from redrock The setup works extremely well and I will use it on red to start.
Aloha
-A
 
The Redrock focus gears are set out from the Nikon lens by about a 1/2".
This adds distance and thus precision to the focus throw. It's quite an elegant design really.
LensGears.jpg
 
yes redrock did it right.. the rings they make share a constant diameter (to some degree) and allow you to interchange lenses without needing to adjust your follow focus angle that much between the changes.
 
So evinsky, Jarred, you both think the Redrock followfocus would be good with Nikon primes and Red? I could go ahead and order it and attach it to one of my cameras to start practicing (I've never used a follow focus before).
 
Sorry, but the Redrock follow focus is crap and their ring's diameter is to big.
I love Redrock, and think highly of their product but not their F.F.
Get a chrosziel F.F. and for the lens, I use the ring Zacuto makes, they work great.
 
I don't know about their FF but I totally disagree on the rings, they are excellent and a total bargain.
Aloha
-A
 
The Redrock FF does has some play in its gears that will make you eat your knees when trying to pull really narrow focus. I won't say it's unusable but it can be a pain sometimes. I'm trying to figure out a way to change the gears to remove this play once and for all.
 
What Fix??? They say it's not out yet...Which means they do admit there is a problem! A follow focus that has a lot of play and non repeatable focus is useless. The reason a good follow focus is expensive is because what's inside is expensive... That said, I just got their whip (18") and it rocks. Works great with the Chrosziel.
 
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