is a follow focus (w/out dof adapter) on the hmc150 a waste of money?

blake2404

blake2404

Well-known member
Was thinking of getting of a "dfocus" or "proaim ff" for the hmc150 that i am soon buying.

I am not crazy about dof adapters......my t2i will fill that need.

What do you think?
 
I tried it out for a little while, but it didn't work for me. It did help out a bit when holding the camera. But the problem for me is that the HMC focus ring simply turns to much in order to get to the focuspoint (compared to lets say nikon lenses). So that means that I had to turn the focus knob fast as hell, that created some shaky shots many times... This could also have been because of the FF, I don't know, neither do I remember what brand or model it was.
 
yeah i was curious about varizoom.......i know they make a non-rocker version, just wondering if it works as well...for 150 bucks
 
You know, if you really need shallow DOF and are going to use lens adapters on the HMC150, you might wanna look into buying a AF100.
 
Yeah, i am happy with the combo t2i/hmc.......using the t2i for any depth of field shots. I guess what i am really saying, is just for those moments when using the hmc to adjust focus, not so much for racking focus.

I mean even though camcorders give you really deep focus, there are moments where you have to adjust the focus wheel. So i know i need my ff for my t2i but if it is really that necessary for a camcorder.....in other words, in general do people feel like its useful. I feel like it would be if for no other reason but just to have a marker for your focus point.
 
The feet in the viewfinder is failry accurate and the varizoom focus's mentioned earlier are very repeatable.
 
Speaking of the Varizoom. I recently nocited that they came out with a pro model of the PZFI. Found it on BH. It was about 80 bucks more than the standard model but looks much more durable and robust. I especially like the type of zoom control they went with as it is similar to what I haves used on studio cams in the past. I will be picking up a few of these for my 150's this summer. Go take a look.
 
Give the manfrotto focus controller a try. Big markable knob, and you can set in and out points. After years of the DVX, and then a year+ of mainly DSLR shooting, I find I rarely use it on the 150; you get used to all that focus cranking on an SLR and then back to video and the focus moves seem way simpler. But it's handy for dolly shots, things like that.
 
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