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Cinevate Durus follow focus review

M

Maz Mawlawi

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Let me start by saying that this follow focus is simply amazing. It is really well built and designed professionally. The precision of the gear box is amazing and I can honestly say there is no noticeable backlash. Quality wise, this is in par with other ff that cost twice as much! This is simply the best indie follow focus there is out there….heck, I don’t even consider it an Indie item, for me, this is professional grade!!!!….I have no problem (or shame) using this FF on high end shoots (along with an Arri one on our second cam)…that’s how good it is. How does it compare to an Arri FF you may ask?..... well it’s little hard to compare as they are designed differently….but as far as the precision of the focusing and gear box quality, I say it’s pretty dam close. (arri still being top of the line…no doubt…but it comes at a premium cost! ;-) )
This FF can be mounted left or right (switchable), mountable on bottom or top rail (very handy!), comes in 15mm or 19mm, can fit a variety of lenses, has an adjustable angling of the knob (but not of the gear)…and to a certain extend, is high adjustable……now it’s not height adjustable in the true meaning of it…the gear and gear box do not change height …but instead you change height by angling the unit…it’s limited but it works for most situations.. While not an Arri replacement, (and I don’t believe they intended to be), this is a very worthy investment…especially for those of you budget conscious… I would seriously recommend anyone to take a hard look at the Cinevate Durus before purchasing your next FF. More details are available at www.cinevate.com
Let me know if you have any questions….
 
I'm glad to see that it works on the Red. I took a loot at it durring NAB and I was impressed with it's quality. The maker, Dennis Wood, is also a great guy and was fun to meet. I was skeptical that it would work with the Red, since the gear box is rather large, but it appears that as long as the lens is long enough, that should not be an issue. Thanks for posting!
 
I was worried about it too....but I used it successfully on the shortest lenses I had which are the 28mm and 50mm nikon lenses and it still worked perfectly! :-)
 
well you can easily unbolt and flip the gearbox the other way...which I believe should reverse the direction (I will have to test it)...or you can very easily mount it on top (upside down) and that should also reverse the direction...ah crap...I don't know if what I am saying is logical..I will have to test it and make sure I am not talking out of my arse.... I will let you know!
 
I think the gearbox will hit the RED's PL mount if you work with smaller cine lenses, which will severely limit your choice of lenses. I made a comment on that on the cinevate forum and never got an answer about it.
 
sander kamp said:
I think the gearbox will hit the RED's PL mount if you work with smaller cine lenses, which will severely limit your choice of lenses. I made a comment on that on the cinevate forum and never got an answer about it.
Click to expand...

Yep, good point. So any lens that has the focus ring near the PL mount will be out of the question for this follow focus. (Which means that some of the small super speeds will not work...)
 
you are right...on short PL mount lenses it may not work...
It works fine with short nikon lenses due to the lens gear around the lens....
 
Ok I have verified that by mounting the FF on the top rail then it will reverse the focus direction (for use with nikon lenses). Keep in mind that when you mount the FF on the top, the knob is still at almost the same height as if it was mounted on the bottom rail....so for the most part you won't even notice the difference or even care whether it's mounted on top or bottom...... which is great! :thumbsup:
 
does this work on 18mm, 25mm, 35mm, 50mm, 85mm Zeiss Super Speed T1.3 lens ? It doesnt seem so
 
I have not tried it on the super zeiss yet... I will hopefully get the chance next week and report back...though I do believe that it may have some issues with the very short lenses with small diameters....as the gear box may hit the side of the RED.
 
Maz, would this unit work on a Nikon lens that has the FF gear pressed on the lens instead of the Cinevate gear? My current FF won't work with some of my Nikons because the way it is made you can move the FF gear from front to back and that makes the unit too wide.
 
Just a quick note on the Durus FF, RED and short primes. I can confirm that 19mm DURUS purchasers will get two .8 gears in the kit starting in about 2 weeks. We're just finishing a second (larger) gear to swap in if required. It addresses the short lens issue by adding about 18mm of clearance. If you have purchased our FF already in 19mm flavours, we'll overnight the gear for the cost of shipping. We also have a slick new design for our focus rings in case you're not using geared lenses on your rig.

Btw, Maz I was completely unaware of your review here...thanks for posting it! The Durus project took nearly two years to complete and we're thrilled that folks like you are liking it as much as we do. Every unit is hand assembled here, by the same machinists who make the parts. The price will go up but we have continued to keep it reduced until we can guarantee next day delivery. Right now we're down from four weeks to two in terms of lead times.

Ryan, I just remembered I owe you about 5 emails on the RED...I've become a slave to my inbox :-(

Cheers,
Dennis Wood
www.cinevate.com
 
Dennis Wood said:
Ryan, I just remembered I owe you about 5 emails on the RED...I've become a slave to my inbox :-(
Click to expand...

No problem. I'm looking forward to hearing back. I know you were swamped after NAB. Keep up the great work- you've got some interesting products in the works. :)
 
The larger OD gear moves our FF body well out of the way of the RED body on the compact primes so I can't foresee a problem. Btw, swapping the DURUS transmission direction solves any of these challenges 100% but may interfere with a mattebox if you're using short lenses. That's why we made the larger gear..for folks wanting to use matteboxes and our FF without any reconfiguring.

That said, I could give you a definitive answer knowing the 18-35 focus gear OD and the lens length.

Ryan, I will dig up those emails :-)

Cheers,
Dennis.
 
Jason Wingrove said:
Hey Dennis, has anyone tried the 19mm version with the RED 18-85 zoom ?
J

–
Click to expand...

Heh Jason,

I just ordered one a week ago to use with my 18-85mm on 19mm rails and should have it another week or so. I have some shoots straight up to use it on so will let you know as soon i know if you wish. I'll give a quick review of my impressions with it as well. Looks like solid lightweight unit though.
 
Just to note, the crew at Cinevate have just fedexed my FF with the new gearing to fit with compact primes etc and it is due to arrive start of next week. I'll post a review here as soon as i have it and tried it out.
 
I too am in love with the Cinevate. They really nailed the majority of design issues with other FF systems, and blow away everything in its price range, and the majority if not all of the more expensive ones.

If only Cinevate did a dual-rail system instead of their single clamp design... I know it's strength tested to an ungodly amount of torque and weight capabilities, but coming from the world of ARRI or other professional units, it would be nice, and having a dumb side is necessary at times.
 
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