GH2 Zip Tie Lens Gears are awesome

L

L1N3ARX

Well-known member
So after ordering what I thought would be the ultimate set of lens gears, 60-116mm 6 ring set by cinematics. I made the unfortunate mistake of not measuring the exact circumference of all the focus rings on my small vintages... which most did not reach 60mm, including my minoltas, and most of my off-brand vintages. After that mistake, I decided to get a cheap zip tie lens gear on ebay for $7. This thing is awesome, and oddly enough is much more stable when pulling focus on a heavier lens with an adapter. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Flexible-Ad...?forcev4exp=true&forceRpt=true#ht_2025wt_1209

By design, I was thinking that the cinematics gear with its spokes applying equal pressure at every point around the focus ring and conforming tightly to the lens, would be the best solution. I'm surprised to say that the zip tie gear bound straight to the focus ring itself interfered much less and didn't "rock" the adapter every time I pulled focus. This really only applies to those who have adapters like the kipon, which don't "lock" in the lens perfectly in place like most other adapters. The kipon has a bit of give, when focusing inward / outward- becoming more noticeable with a follow focus.

Anyhow, if you have small lenses, or just a don't want to spend much on gears... these are perfect. Really wish I didn't spend $60 on the cinematics gears... but oh well. If anybody wants a brand new set 60-116mm hit me up!
 
I bought the Zacuto Zip Gear replacement kit (#Z-ZG-R16) and that was enough gear tape to permanently gear my 2 main prime lenses (28mm / 50mm). I just removed the rubber focus band and super glued the gears on. Now they're rock solid and can't come off. I hated the D|Focus gear. Too much effort when switching lenses and its huge.

I tried a gear like the one you pictured from Amazon made by ePhoto. It was about 2x what you paid on eBay. The big knob sticking out is a pain since you have to align it so you can hit your whole focus range. With the permanent approach I took I eliminated the alignment procedure.
 
Interesting, so just super-gluing the gear portion right onto the focus ring...? Not sure if I would make it permanent... but I guess for my cheaper vintages, it wouldn't be that big of a deal- I plan on keeping them for a while anyway. For me, if I keep the knob at about 90° on any lens, it can easily reach infinity before coming back around to the follow focus or hitting anything on my rig. It's worked really great so far. I'll probably pick a few more up now that I'm pretty comfortable with em.
 
L1N3ARX said:
Hmm, you might just be arguing semantics. It's essentially the same concept with a minor deviation in how the zip tie tape is fastened to the lens.
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Well you would not call a gini rig a zacuto rig without hearing from Steve. ZTFG are specific products, with registered IP and a QC reputation to maintain so maintaining a distance from random china stuff is important.
That IP is mine BTW :)

These, and only these, are Zip Tie Focus Gears..
http://wideopencamera.com/cheap-lens-gears/
http://halfinchrails.com/rigs-and-kits/zip-tie-focus-gears

S
 
^ Those are the ones I thought this thread was going to be about. I might have to get some, I like that they're wider and unless it's my imagination they seem to have come down in price.

I have some of the ones from the OP and they've been functional as long as you retighten them at the beginning of the day. I have another type that is similar to these except instead of a screw down catch they have a receptacle with cutouts to push the teeth into. They work great when new but after the rubber relaxes they end up loose and the minimum adjustment is a tooth wide. If you're going with this type get the less elegant screw down version, they're more functional in the long run.
 
morgan_moore said:
Well you would not call a gini rig a zacuto rig without hearing from Steve. ZTFG are specific products, with registered IP and a QC reputation to maintain so maintaining a distance from random china stuff is important.
That IP is mine BTW :)

These, and only these, are Zip Tie Focus Gears..
http://wideopencamera.com/cheap-lens-gears/
http://halfinchrails.com/rigs-and-kits/zip-tie-focus-gears

S
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I misunderstood what you were getting at. I actually took "zip tie" as a generic term applied to any product that exploits the same concept (within the camera world...), i.e., shoulder rig. I didn't realize you were the first one to do it or that you were claiming that as part of your ip. Good on you though, it's a great concept. By now there's so many producers of similar "zip tie" style gears, that you'd think it originally emerged as something people did DIY and then evolved into a product.

So I guess, whatever you want to call them... they're useful!
 
Fresno Bob said:
What follow focus to you use L1n3arx?
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I've never really used a full-out shoulder rig, because that's not really my style. But just recently I decided to jump on a gini rig... they're cheap and could come in handy once in a while. The one I got came with a follow focus that I wanted to try out, so I got the cinematics gears and then decided that the "zip tie" style ones worked much better for me.
 
L1N3ARX said:
I've never really used a full-out shoulder rig, because that's not really my style. But just recently I decided to jump on a gini rig... they're cheap and could come in handy once in a while. The one I got came with a follow focus that I wanted to try out, so I got the cinematics gears and then decided that the "zip tie" style ones worked much better for me.
Click to expand...

Is it the extreme 17 you have?
 
L1N3ARX said:
By now there's so many producers of similar "zip tie" style gears, that you'd think it originally emerged as something people did DIY and then evolved into a product.
Click to expand...
Zip Tie refers to the closure mechanism, not the toothed belt - tooth belt is 'generic' - I do the only ones that close the tooth belt using a zip tie - the american for 'cable tie'.
And yes it did come about from tinkering with 8 mod toothed belt from a model gear shop.. of course - many people have done that for years no doubt..

S
 
Fresno Bob said:
Is it the extreme 17 you have?
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It's from a few months back before he started releasing the new extreme body styles. I think it was called "puing a" or something like that. Overall I'm pretty impressed, thing feels solid as a rock.

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