50mm prime, too short for FF.

[Brad Crawford]

Hey people,

I'm using a Nikon 50mm f1.4 with a Canon adapter. All the other lenses I have, have a long enough barrel so that the follow focus I have (shoot35.com's) has no trouble reaching with Wooden Camera's Easy Riser. But the 50mm is too short and the easy riser's rail mount extends out too far for my FF to work.

Lenses include:
Tokina 11-16 f2.8
Nikon 35 f1.4
Nikon 85 f1.4
Tokina 80-200 f2.8
Tamron 90 macro f2.5


Any suggestions on something other than the Nikon that might have a longer barrel and work better for the rig?

I was hoping Rokinon might have a solution but nothing in the 50mm size from them yet. Maybe the Sigma 50mm f1.4? I've heard it has a few issues like purple fringing etc...

 

[Kamilla Lusa]

Swith the sides of FF gear, will work then.

 

[James McLellan]

I'm having the same irritating problem with my FF. Switching the gear won't work with my Durus. Still too big. Let me know if you find a solution.

 

[steven moreno]

I've been dealing with this issue since I got my Scarlet in January. No real solution yet, so I use a Bartech remote FF that I have, which barely fits. I tried top mounting the FF, but still no luck because of the monitor plug that juts out on one side and the sidehandle on the other. I use an Obox with chrosziel flex-ring donut so it sits pretty far down the lens barrel toward the camera body...so switching the gear to the other side doesn't work for me, because the ff then interferes with the mattebox

I've tried other ff's, like Oconnor Ofocus and ARRI MFF-2 still no luck.

For my set up and lenses (Zeiss ZFs mainly) there are 3 solutions that I know of -

1 a bartech remote ff
2 a higher end ff that has a moveable arm - ARRI FF-4 or FF-5 or OConnor CFF-1
3 switch to 19mm or 15mm studio set-up, pull the 15mm lightweight bracket, and use adapters to reach from new rods to mattebox and ff

irritating indeed - someone needs to make an affordable FF that will cater to small lenses on a 15mm LW Scarelt set-up

 

[david_winters]

Installing the FF "backwards," with the gear on the right side of camera, doesn't work? I can reach up very close to the lens mount with my FF5, installed "backwards." I can mesh with a Canon 50MM 1.4 - Canon mount.

 

[Terry VerHaar]

You might try the Edelkrone FocusOnePro

http://www.edelkrone.com/e-store/61-focusone-8680177980408.html

It's extremely well made, smooth and, IMO, a darn good bargain. You can reverse focus with it if mounting it on the opposite side proves to be desirable. And, while I know it won't work on 19mm rods, I believe it is adaptable enough to work in a 15mm studio set up as well as the usual 15mm LW.

 

[Michael Su]

I have a Petroff Follow Focus which has a switchable gear, you can reposition the gearwheel to either the front side or the backside of the FF. I have a Zeiss ZF 50mm 1.4 Cinemod from Duclose Lens, and the FF system I have works perfectly.

 

[John Galeano]

Another way would be to set up top rails and mount you're follow focus upside-down.

 

[Mike Garrick]

The problem with using a Durus & Ginirig on these lense is they are over engineered, I believe . They're screw down clamps either side of the gearbox which takes up valuable real estate between the camera & the MB.

Having looked at my Ginirig I decided to fix it by.....shock horror cutting off 1 clamp flush with the lens cog. Then move the entire gearbox over to the other clamp & screwing down tight, this positions the gearbox over the "dead area" above the 15mm block next to the camera . My FF can now handle even smaller lens than the canon 50mm ( I think) like the Takumar 50 or Leica's. The single gear clamp holds tight no movement (like all of ginirig clamps btw).

Whilst I wouldn't advocate this procedure on Durus $1200 FF (?) I would on Ginirig's $200-300 FF. Face it at that price you can afford too....

P.S. To anyone having this problem it could also being compounded by your choice of MB if it is a Redrock you going to have problems. It's big & deep, maybe fine for 19mm rods but with 15mm @ 60mm spacing another matter entirely.