Mini Wireless Focus System For Handheld Gimbals?

H

hopkins802

Well-known member
Hey all,

I currently am rocking the old Zhiyun Crane 1 with my A7s and rokinon prime lenses. I know there are a million handheld 3-axis stabilizers out there now, but they're coming out quicker than I can keep track of, so i'm sticking with what I got and going to master that for now. Anyway, I'm growing a bit tired of trying to refocus everything I encounter a new shot. I really would like to try to shoot between f/2 and f/3.5, and so far it's been alright in controlled situations. But once wedding season comes, I'll probably drop it back down to 5.6 or 6.3 so I don't have to worry about focus as much.

Anyone know of a decent, but lightweight wireless follow focus system? It may be worth the investment this year.

Thanks!
Dan
 
Yes, I have the Crane 1 though. I'm not sure mine has a spot for that rail that looks like I'd need. I'll look into it though, thanks!
 
I'm surprised that no one has yet come out with a follow focus system wherein you stick a little doo-hickey on a subject, the camera knows the distance to the doo-hickey, and maintains the focus for that distance. The Wedding videogs could put the doo-hickey on the bride, on the groom, or one on both and when commanded to do so the camera would lock focus onto "Doo-Hickey1" or "Doo-Hickey2" as dictated by the camera operator. When shooting with actors or with music artists the doo-hickey could be put on the subject and the gimballed camera would stay precision focus-locked on that subject regardless of what movements are made by the camera, regardless of any foreground that passes between camera and subject.
 
Haha, that's a good idea with a specific purpose. However, I like to be able to choose and change what's in focus. You should pitch that idea!
 
JPNola said:
I'm surprised that no one has yet come out with a follow focus system wherein you stick a little doo-hickey on a subject, the camera knows the distance to the doo-hickey, and maintains the focus for that distance. The Wedding videogs could put the doo-hickey on the bride, on the groom, or one on both and when commanded to do so the camera would lock focus onto "Doo-Hickey1" or "Doo-Hickey2" as dictated by the camera operator. When shooting with actors or with music artists the doo-hickey could be put on the subject and the gimballed camera would stay precision focus-locked on that subject regardless of what movements are made by the camera, regardless of any foreground that passes between camera and subject.
Click to expand...

https://www.andra.com/
https://shop.redrockmicro.com/product/halo-explorer-real-time-rangefinder-and-focus-tracking/
 
Okay, that's really cool. But what about lightweight wireless follow focus systems for stabilizers like the Crane 1?
 
On a side note, I've long wished that Panasonic made a 5 or 7 inch touch-sensitive monitor that worked with their GH5 touch-focus tech. ( I know you can do this with tablets, but the image resolution is low and latency is an issue )
 
hopkins802 said:
Okay, that's really cool. But what about lightweight wireless follow focus systems for stabilizers like the Crane 1?
Click to expand...

Simple, just get a Crane 2 plus their follow focus motor and hand controller. The idea that you'd run pretty much any camera with even a lightweight electronic follow focus attached as payload on a smaller gimbal than the crane 2 is pretty crazy to me. I'm sure there are downsides for their system but its hard to argue with the price. Or just use a canon camera and you don't need the motor component.
 
All of the solutions described above have been attempted over the past decade (some are listed) but the problem has largely been that the accuracy has not been there for a professional level, and the tech pricey. It will be interesting to see if any company can turn out a prosumer version of this at a pricepoint that would be considered acceptable for a market that considers virtually everything too expensive--at least they will put up with mediocre results if it is cheap enough!
 
The wireless followfocus market has certainly changed in the past 10 years. I mean when I started out the only budget option was bartech for $2-3k if I recall, which are still solid if a bit clunky for it's simplicity. There are lots of options now in the $1k range with various features and downsides. There still aren't really under about $1300 that don't introduce significant limitations compared to older more expensive products.

You may want to track the Tilta Nucleus-N which is a scaled down lightweight version of the Nucleus-M that seems to be designed for exactly this purpose.

I was fairly impressed with the ability of the crane 2 to remotely control canon cameras focus, and that may also work with their Bluetooth controller that has f+I+pt control over Bluetooth.

The idea that there would be a universal wireless mechanical follow focus system for very low payload gimbals seems pretty impossible. How would you power it? It has to have reasonably strong motors and wireless electronics after all. Where would the wireless electronics go?
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top