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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Follow Focus Discussion

Does anyone have hands on experience with the RR followfocus Blue? This is the FF I'm purchasing but if the jury is out and the Cinevate Durus is a better buy I can manage an extra $400 for it.
 
DFocus is a toy at best. Stay far away. Had one briefly to try it out and yeah...hated it. I've worked with lots of expensive "name brand" FF's that cost from $700 and up to $3,000. So far, for my needs (I pull my own focus/ run and gun and I wanted to go on the cheap) I'm OVERWHELMED with another FF gamble I took. It is the Chinese Trustmt NF4 Follow Focus for 15mm rods. It is "allegedly" made by the same people that make Letus stuff. Basically they are producing the same stuff under a different name for half the price. As far as I'm concerned I don't care if this is true. I didn't hear about this until after I bought it. It certainly seems like Letus/ Redrock build quality. If it is true, maybe you should start making your stuff at home!

Anyways, the build quality is insanely awesome, almost zero backlash or play. Overall very good for just under $400. My only complaint is that it is a little heavy as everything is made out of metal (don't remember what type?) but it is worth the build quality. Also, it has configurable hard stops which is crazy awesome for still lenses such as Canons that have none. And the FF is very adjustable for lens height/ distance from camera.

I'm sure some people will not agree with my review, but for the price it is a homerun!

Check them out on eBay, the sales person is very nice and she communicates well.

Adam
 
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Trusmt stole most of my designs (letus) and sell it under their own name, and then copied the Red Rock FF and tried to sell it to me to resell. I rejected because the quality is horrible with a lot of back lash. They then changed it to plastic gear inside and put a very heavy grease to make it looking like no play. The problem with plastic gear is that it give you good backlash for the first few pulls then when you go to a heavy lens like the Zeiss CP.2, the teeth will start to deform and the backlash will then be huge. Trusmt at one point did some parts for us but when I have personal problem in 2010 (2 tragic deaths in the family only 2 months apart) that caused the business to go way down, they decided to sell our stuff with their own brand. We had to babysit the quality constantly to get what we need. We no longer do that, so...
 
I sent Cinevate an email in regard to the compatibility of the durus ff with the scarlet. Once they respond I will update you all.
 
Doug Beatty said:
I bit on one of the gini rigs. For $400+ I got a ton of kit, including the I focus

http://www.ebay.com/itm/250932041259?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649

I can vouch for the ruggedness. The build quality is definitely better than Redrock and on par with much more expensive Zacuto rigs. Haven't tested the play on the follow focus yet, but it's built like a tank!
Click to expand...

Just got a 2nd one of these. LOVE IT! Fantastic FF for the money. You are better off buying one of his rigs and get all the other extra stuff for a few bucks more. As the monitor arms are also great and are what I use for the BOMB and the LCD. The best quality gear for the money I've found. And rock solid, no backlash. His FF gear rings are also very well made but I do not like to keep FF gears on my lenses and his take a few minutes to get perfect since you have so many points of contact with the little screws. If you plan on permanent installation they are great -- but too much trouble for me for quick on / off like the RR plastic ones. This FF should be $600.00 or more. No regrets and the 3rd rig I bought from him.
 
William Graydon said:
I sent Cinevate an email in regard to the compatibility of the durus ff with the scarlet. Once they respond I will update you all.
Click to expand...

Here is a link to a video when Still Motion showed their epic. You can see the durus setup. It is all on Cinevate gear, so it may alter with another setup but should be all the same. Biggest pitfall with the durus is if you have small, or short lenses. The gear box is too big and with the single arm design you cannot get it close to the body of any camera, including a 535 or SRII (we used old super speeds and the durus could not work with it). It is an awesome unit, just need the clearance. If you use modern day PL you should be fine.


http://vimeo.com/27877273
 
I have a cinevate durus and while it is a solidly built FF with really great mechanics, the design is quite awkward to work with. I find it gets in the way a lot even with the Zeiss CP.2's I have. Been meaning to get an MFF-1 or something else for a while now but lately I have been just using my Bartech powered off the battery plate for everything.
 
What FF do you recommend for an Epic with Nikon lenses? The current Redrock FF I own doesn't allow me to get close enough to the focus gears on the lens because the gear box hits the body of the camera. This especially happens on shorter length lenses, such as the 24mm. So, what FF are best to work with shorter prime Nikon glass?

Found this video review on 4 FF systems: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kHPuTYYDh0
 
I am surprised to hear someone had a bad experience with a RedRock Follow Focus. I used one for 4 week in extreme conditions and it was perfectly flawless! Just ordered a RedRock Micro Follow Focus Blue... though I am going to look into a couple of these other options.

I would love to try an OConnor.
 
Ryan Chapman said:
I'm having a tough time picking between the available follow focuses for the Scarlet, and I was wondering what other people's thoughts were on the various models.

These are what I've been looking at, from high price to low:

Arri FF4 - $2800 - high end industry standard, wouldn't have to buy another, EXCEPT I'm looking to eventually get the REDmote pro, which might make me pull focus almost exclusively wirelessly. It also seems like it might be a little overkill, considering the camera is only $10,000, unless you already have an amazing lens set and are just looking to perfect your package.

Chrosziel Studio Rig FF - $2500 - I see no reason to get this over the similarly priced Arri

Chrosziel HDSLR FF - $1800 - Still, too closely priced to Arri for an indie-level product

Cinevate Durus - $1250 - This is the one I'm really paying attention too. Read some really great reviews, seems versatile, great for price, seems to have tight mechanics. Any thoughts? Why isn't this more popular?

Redrock Blue FF - $800-$1100 (Studio version) - Great price, but have used them, and hate the play in the gears.

D-Focus v3 (just for fun) - $140 - Insane price, can anyone actually vouch for this? I've heard it actually has less play than the Redrock FFs. Seems like a feasible temporary solution, though it might not look good on set.
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We got the Cinevate Durus.
Positive things: it's very robust and well made.
Negative: it's so Chunky that it takes up a lot of space, for some of our lenses that means it is really hard to fit it in between the matte box (red clip on) and the rod holders, it's possible to flip, flop, top mount and so on but still there is no good way to apply it for some lenses when using red qucikplate and matte box. so I was actually thing to take it to the hardware shop and modify it to make the marker wheel smaller and maybe even remake the rod clamp.... so with that in mind it's maybe not such a good thing to buy. arri lightweight is the shit. All the others are not as good sadly.
 
daniel caruso said:
Here is a link to a video when Still Motion showed their epic. You can see the durus setup. It is all on Cinevate gear, so it may alter with another setup but should be all the same. Biggest pitfall with the durus is if you have small, or short lenses. The gear box is too big and with the single arm design you cannot get it close to the body of any camera, including a 535 or SRII (we used old super speeds and the durus could not work with it). It is an awesome unit, just need the clearance. If you use modern day PL you should be fine.


http://vimeo.com/27877273
Click to expand...

Thank you Daniel! For the time being I will be using the tokina 11-16 and the canon 24-70. I am assuming these are considered small? So I may run into problems?
 
We hear ya! Yes, the Durus, though robust, is a bit bulkier than some other FFs. I'll ask (and possibly recommend) if anyone who owns the Durus and has issues is using the standard drive gear or our larger drive gear? The Large Drive gear was designed specifically with the RED in mind for this very reason - the gear box would run into the camera body. The standard gear that ships has a 1 1/2" diameter while the Large Drive gear has a 2.26" diameter. Though I can't say we've tried it on Scarlet, we did have the Epic in not too long ago and everything seemed savvy. What you guys think - 2.26" big enough for clearance?

*edit - Jeremy beat me to it! :p
 
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