Follow Focus

[BrendanLeahy]

I've sifted through a lot of threads on the best FF for Canon EF lenses, and want to eventually grab the O'Connor O-Focus. For now, though, I'm looking for a less-expensive alternative and have narrowed it down to the following three options:

-RedRock Micro FF "Blue"
-Shoot35 r2 FF
-Zacuto zFocus

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I'm also hoping that these gearboxes can be changed around so the setups seem a bit more intuitive for me (pulling towards the operator = near focus, and throwing away from the camera = far focus).

Thanks in advance!

 

[jordan levy]

have you looked at the letus follow focus, that became my choice and my assistants have been very happy with it. i also like i can reverse the gear box for my nikon lenses. normally you need a reversing gear.

 

[Björn Benckert]

You will find that you have the focus nob in your eye/ear on left side of camera and on the right side you have the sidehandle in the way. That is pretty much applicable for all of those low cost FF's
The Oconnor CFF-1 is the only FF I that I think works. We been trough them all. So my advice is rent them, test them and then you pick one as they do not cost much to rent. Hand on experience is very good for these things. Ordering them on the web and realizing it will not go together with most of your lenses is quite rough....

Then pulling focus with the hand on the lens is better.

 

[Björn Benckert]

have you looked at the letus follow focus, that became my choice and my assistants have been very happy with it. i also like i can reverse the gear box for my nikon lenses. normally you need a reversing gear.

I find it to be like the other 3 mentioned, also very chucky and for small lenses it does not get between the mattbox and camera / side handle.

 

[Matthew Sonnenfeld]

Can't say I have experience with the Shoot35 or the Letus but I just bought the Arri MFF2 the other day at Abel. I went in looking at thew Arri and the O-Focus and I just liked the feel of the Arri a lot more. The resistance felt more reassuring. Having said that, those are your future options. As per the ones you listed, I looked at the Z-Focus and felt it also to be a fairly "light" focus wheel. Honestly for the price of the Z-Focus, I would get the double sided Redrock Micro FF "Blue." While I have not really had much experience with this one either, I feel that the studio configuration is something that you might find to be a nice addition. This is also one of the major appeals of the O-Focus and to be honest I was kind of hoping that the O-Focus would feel like the Arri so that I could have this studio configuration if I wanted it. But at the price, I feel that the FF "Blue" gives you a really nice feature set having hard stops (the Zacuto does not have hard stops), the option for an illuminated disc, and the studio configuration. This is also Redrock Micro's top of the line so you should be getting strong value for money. Hopefully whatever you get now will become an addition to your kit later on, rather than an in between step, and I think that of your options, the Redrock is the way to go to hopefully achieve that. Again, can't speak for certain on the feel between the two, but this is my impression.

 

[Dan Wang]

Brandon,

I have the Redrock "blue" model on one of my Scarlets at the moment and am looking to get the older V2 for my R1MX. It works great, especially for the price. I've rarely gotten any complaints with it from any of the assistant cameras I've worked with.

Best,
Dan

 

[jordan levy]

Bjorn, thats not true, i use the letus on my dslr rig with tiny nikons and a full size matte box no problem, it fits with plenty of room, way more so than a full arri model, its not clunky at all, very versatile infact, its the one that shane hurlbut fully endorses as the best low cost one on the market and ive tested it for a year on everything from alexas with optimo zooms, to epics with cooke zooms, to dslr with canon l series and nikon lenses and having about 30-40 different assistants on my cameras from all over the world i got nothing but surprised emotions about how much they loved it, after all, its for them, not really me. as well i tried the redrock one and quickly returned it, the build was just not professional in my opinion and had more play in it than the letus or zacuto models

 

[stu aull]

Edelkrone Focus One-
amazing price (under $300)
beautifully built

Great inexpensive sub if you want to save up for later O-Focus.

Stu Aull
SX 199
Alaska

 

[BrendanLeahy]

Hey guys,

Thanks for all the feedback. Looks like I'll just suck it up and get the O-Focus instead!

 

[ckarcher]

We've been shooting for about a month on the OptitTron. I think it's the best option for canon glass. Actually I've all but given up on my favorite zeiss primes and a manual arri FF because this system works so much better (optically) and is a little lighter weight.

We just wrapped a series of 4 tv spots yesterday (all lifestyle- verite) - the system was flawless and gave us a better range of focus on the FF ( about 270 degrees) than any other option. Feel free to ask me any questions.

http://reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?89431-Optitron-and-Canon-L-glass

 

[Jacek Zakowicz]

The one and only EFF-OptiTron

The one and only EFF-OptiTron

Thank you Chris,
This is the only proper FF for Canons- The Electronic FF.
New Video coming soon!!!:yesnod:
pics for now

 

[Ned Wilson]

I've worked with both the Zacuto and the Redrock. Zacuto is simple and easily switches to either side. Also, great product guarantee. It won't have the feel of an FF4, OC or Chrosziel, but gets the job done with little play. I also worked extensively with RRock. Found the dampening to be too much, constantly needed adjustment on the play, gear doesn't easily flip, overall poor QC.

Never tried Shoot 35. My all time favorite for small lightweights is the Chrosziel 210. But it may be out of your range. They do pop up on the used market though. Well worth it. Simple, best dampening and very minimal play. Build is superb and easy to use and configure.