New Shoot35 Follow Focus....

hoarp001

Veteran
Hi Everyone,

Wayne has been working on his new follow focus (the CINEfocus) for a while now, and I was lucky enough to be the first person to use it on a shoot last week. I took the follow focus on a reasonable budget short film shoot in the UK, for a film called Chickenhawk. Set in Vietnam, but shot in a very muddy clay pit in Milton Keynes, it was a pretty trying shoot for all of us and our gear.

We were shooting with the REDone and Zeiss ZF SLR primes.

A full writeup will follow, but put simply, the Shoot35 CINEfocus is a fantastic unit, with all of the features of the more expensive follow focus devices. It features removable 3D marking rings, an adjustable pointer and a standard acessory port for whips and cranks. The rod mount is simple and clean, and the side to side adjustment is smooth and effective. The whole system locks to the rods with half a turn on one knob.

The new follow focus uses a compleatly new gearbox, designed from the ground up, and does not use a standard off the shelf plastic gearbox like the last one used. This gearbox has zero backlash, absolutly none, and is all of metal construction. The gearbox also has a simple and very effective backlash adjustment screw, which can be used to keep your follow focus smooth after years of use.

The first AC on the film was very impressed, and commented on the build quality of the follow focus, and seemed suprised when I told him the cost. The owner of the camera is so impressed, he would like to be among the first to purchase the unit.

I will be getting Andy (the camera owner) to do a full writeup, as he is much better with words than I am, but this is a very clean little unit, and well worth the money. Having used most of the current Arri focus systems, this follow focus really does not behave any differntly. It is as smooth and as solid as the FF5.

Anyway, until we get Andys full review in, here are some photos

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Here we can see the adjustable pointer. The small knurled knob at the top loostens half a turn and the pointer can rotate round the whole knob to any point. you could easily mount the unit upside down on top rails and use the pointer on the other side of the unit. (note all the mud and dust!)

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Here I am demonstrating the adjustable pointer. I used two Hocus Products 19mm adapters and two 4inch rods to mount the follow focus to the larger rods. A 19mm version of the CINEfocus is in the pipeline.

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The CINEfocus sitting on the Steadicam operators camera cart.

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Me making sure Andy tests the CINEfocus correctly, using something I found in the armourers car.


The CINEfocus will be available to order from the 1st of December, priced at £349 which includes 1x lens gear & mini flightcase.

Speed cranks (CINEcrank) will also be available from the 1st, priced at £29.



....any questions?
 
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Thanks for your write up, Pete. I am glad that the unit helped you out on the shoot.

Yes, the CINEfocus will be ready to order on the 1st December. More details to follow :)
 
Looks great.

Questions:
Can the gear be reversed to the other side? Will you offer a smaller gear (crucial for those lenses with the tiny focus draw)?


If this isn't the final model, the only strong recommendation I have is to use an open clamp mount, like that on the Arri. This saves you the hassle of having to take off the MB and whatever other accessories you've mounted in order to switch the FF to the other side. This is a procedure in the course of a heavy schedule you do all the time. Please consider it. I'm sure it's no easy revision and would raise the price, but I'm also confident that if it's priced lower than the Arri you'd get quite a few people buying it to make up the price difference.

Being a one sided FF, being able to switch sides quickly is a make or break it deal.

Good luck. As with my Blade, I'm sure the workmanship will be typically good SG pro stuff.
 
Hi,

Yes the gear swaps to the other side very easily.

The FF swings from one side to the other without removing it from the rods, you just loosen the red knob all the way and it swings over fine.

Changing the rod clamp to be open like the Arri one is a bit of hard work, its not as easy as just deleting something in the drawing. The follow focus is designed so the rod clamp is replaceable and upgradeable, so Wayne may have something like this planned as a future upgrade, but the first gen. ones will have thread on type rods and not the drop on type.

As I mentioned, switching the ff to the other side does not really require the rod clamp to be taken off, so atleast half your problem is solved.....


I should get commission or somethin.....


Pete.
 
Thanks Pete for the explaination :),

Tim:
We are planning a 19mm rods clamp which simply swaps over with the 15mm version. The same could be done with an upgradeable open 'drop on' type clamp in the future.

We could very easily produce a smaller drive gear if demand is high enough.
 
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Hi,

The unit is priced @ £349 which includes 1x Lens Gear & Flightcase

UPS express shipping to the US is £30

Total: £379 is approx. $637 USD shipped.
 
That's so cool. Didn't know it could swing over.

I have the little Chrosziel and find I use the small drive gear for my 24, 35 and 50 Nikon as the draw is quite small on those. Great for trying to delicate focus with little Nikons. With my other lenses, I stick with the large gear.

Also, perhaps consider a 15mm studio bracket. 15mm studio is quite prevalent on the West Coast as well as parts of NY market.

I'm a big fan of the small direct drive FF. Little to no backlash.

If you design a step up adaptor (15mm studio/19mm to 15mm mini), make sure the knob that locks the bracket onto the studio rods is shallow enough or side mounted so it doesn't interfere with sliding dovetail. I've a Zacuto Jeep, and it's a real pain because the tie down know prevents you from sliding onto a dovetail from the rear. It's about 3mm to tall. Sliding a camera on backwards from the front of the dovetail is no fun.

Pete what step up (19mm-15mm mini) are you using on the RED pictures?

Good luck and keep us posted.
 
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Hi Tim,

I am using two Hocus Products 19mm adpater widgets, and two 4inch zacuto rods.

19mm%20adapter%201.jpg


Looks pretty dodgy i know, but they lock so solidly, and the follow focus mount spaces the rods, so its very solid, and its pretty compact.


Pete.
 
Hi Pete,

Thanks for your personal write up. I am also looking at a followfocus and was considering the redrock, little bit more expensive, but now I'm looking at the shoot35 web site.

Steve.
 
Cinefocus looks very nice and definitely a improvement on the original follow focus that Wayne had.
 
Hey Pete,

This from someone who has never used a FollowFocus, but what the the MOD for on the disc with the distance markings.
 
MOD stands for Minimum object distance. Usually dont stick it on the ring, but since we were using nikons which go backwards, it helped me remember which way to turn it. I drew a nice diagram on my arm to remind me to turn te wheel the other way to usual :-D
 
Great. Appreciate your reply. I liked the way you setup your distance markings but for the life of me could not work out what that meant. You learn something new every day.

Steve.
 
Hi Tim,

They are available through www.hocusproducts.com/shop

The list price is £40 each, but I can do you a deal if you want two. Also if you dont need the bush (that the HoFo motor clamps to) we can do you a price without these.

Email me at pete.hoare@gmail.com and we can arrange something if you would like to order.

I have 97 units in stock.



Pete.
 
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