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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 :)

GROUP BUY: Cinegears Wireless Follow Focus Christmas Special!

Mine isn't working right now trying to get a hold of Cinegears but no response :( Love it and need it repaired asap!!!!
 
Neil Dearman said:
Mine isn't working right now trying to get a hold of Cinegears but no response :( Love it and need it repaired asap!!!!
Click to expand...

If memory serves me correctly, you can reset the motor. With it on, locate the tiny pin-hole that has a little button on the inside. Take a paperclip or something small and reset it. That hopefully will get you working again.
 
Here are is the result from last big shoot:

After the fourth day it just started to no longer be as responsive. You would have to pull the Lemo out and plug it back every once in a while to get it to reset. It kept getting worse and worse, where you would have to reset it every 5 minutes. At that point I switched to the other follow focus.


Has anyone had same experience?
 
Eric Santiago said:
Here are is the result from last big shoot:

After the fourth day it just started to no longer be as responsive. You would have to pull the Lemo out and plug it back every once in a while to get it to reset. It kept getting worse and worse, where you would have to reset it every 5 minutes. At that point I switched to the other follow focus.


Has anyone had same experience?
Click to expand...

That definitely shouldn't be happening. On a rarity, the motor and controller would lose sync, but a simple turning on/off the controller (not the motor) would fix it. It would only happen to me once every 2-3 weeks .
 
Chris McKechnie said:
That definitely shouldn't be happening. On a rarity, the motor and controller would lose sync, but a simple turning on/off the controller (not the motor) would fix it. It would only happen to me once every 2-3 weeks .
Click to expand...


This unit was mounted on a Ronin and was always two to three feet away from controller.

Now the only think I can think of is that it was using the Ronins D-Tap.

In the past this unit has shared the RED BRICK on my Scarlet via multiple D-Taps along with SmallHD DP-6, Arrow Plus and Digital Tape.

Back then no issues maybe once in three days where the motor would take off on its own.
 
I used the d-tap from the ronin as well when my unit froze up. Could that be the culprit I wonder?
 
Curran Giddens said:
Could be. The early Ronins shipped with faulty D-Taps. I replaced the power distribution box on mine.
Click to expand...


was there a timestamp when these were found faulty?

Id have to hunt down the Ronin owner.

I didnt spend much time on set on this one mostly Post work.
 
We have one of the first Ronins that came to Scandinavia. How did you replace it?
Still haven't heard anything from cinegear and that's pretty bad I think
 
I have yet to hear back from anybody at Cinegears.
Extremely disappointed that I have a nearly $2,000 accessory collecting dust.
 
Kabir said:
I have yet to hear back from anybody at Cinegears.
Extremely disappointed that I have a nearly $2,000 accessory collecting dust.
Click to expand...

Have you emailed Steven directly? Try that as well as PMing him here. His email is steven at cinegears dot com
 
I tried adult even 10 days ago. No reply so far. It's very disappointing. I need it to work
 
Hi everyone.
I have a question about the motor
As many users noticed the Cinegears' old motors had an issue with lag of the motor's movement - after the wheel of main unit is fully stopped by focus puller, the wireless motor still keep moving and make small "slide" towards the main direction of movement, that causes the focus inaccurate.

The official representative Steven He in May 2015 said here that they released a new improved motor. So I'd like to ask owners of new version of Cinegear motor:
1. Is the problem with "sliding" lag disappeared?
And to all Cinegear users:
2. How do you estimate the fail-safety of their wireless follow focus? Is its reliability enough for rental - for everyday using?
Thanks a lot!
 
Oleksiy Kardash said:
Hi everyone.
I have a question about the motor
As many users noticed the Cinegears' old motors had an issue with lag of the motor's movement - after the wheel of main unit is fully stopped by focus puller, the wireless motor still keep moving and make small "slide" towards the main direction of movement, that causes the focus inaccurate.

The official representative Steven He in May 2015 said here that they released a new improved motor. So I'd like to ask owners of new version of Cinegear motor:
1. Is the problem with "sliding" lag disappeared?
And to all Cinegear users:
2. How do you estimate the fail-safety of their wireless follow focus? Is its reliability enough for rental - for everyday using?
Thanks a lot!
Click to expand...
I received the new motor a couple weeks back. It's a huge improvement in terms of response. You can do fast rack overs on que now. Great for 90 % of the work I do. For gimbals it's fine. But for ultra precise shallow DOF long lens work, the response has too much play. We had an actor hit a mark in MCU on a 135mm at a 2.8. The actor rocked back and forth ever so slightly requiring twitch movement back and forth on the controller. The motor couldn't keep up with these delicate adjustments. So we had to lose it and replace it with a mechanical focus.

The other issue I have which is big, is the communication between the controller and the motor will just quit with no warning. Happened to me three times within two hours. So at this point, until this is solved, I can't imagine using this on a gig where re-sets are expensive (which is almost every paid job). Too much at risk to lose a shot because the RF quit.

I was also promised a replacement disc for one that left permanent dry erase marks. They sent me a new motor, cable but forgot the replacement disc. Two and half weeks later after emailing them, no response. Steven@cinegear.com now bounces back. I paid way too much money for this to deal with disappearing customer service and seemingly untested gear.

Not pleased and feel ripped off.
 
Last edited:
I called DIY film took to get my motor replaced.
I received the replacement motor today and will test it soon.
It seems as if they are very small on the CS end, and I had the same issue with Stevens email which was sent to me by Lily from the info@diyfilmtool email.
It is difficult getting a hold of them but call the diyfilmtool number until you get someone. I always have to try multiple times but eventually my problems get resolved.
(And I originally had the same issue back in Feb when I needed my lemo, knob, that was supposed to come with Expresso bundle) It was sent to me after emailing and leaving a voicemail and I believe once I called, I was able to resolve the issue.)
 
Thank you, Ned. I intend to use it generally on gimbal - for rent with my DJI Ronin, so I hope for my purposes it would be enough.

today I received an answer from Cinegears Support:
"Thank you so much for sharing your concern with us.There is a common misunderstanding about the delay in our products.Our controller to motor only have maximum of 0.01s delay when it is used at extremely long distance.The reason why many people think and feel there is delay in the old motors is because the old motors have a powerful smoothing chip inside which allow a very smooth transition.However, this also makes customers feels like there is "lag" in the system.The new model use a more powerful motor with less powerful chip which makes the model very sensitive but the trade off is the transition is less smooth."

So now it's all clear. I will order today this FF and after all tests I will post a review here.
 
Is there anyone using their Cinegears FF with a DSLR lens such as the Panasonic 12-35 with continuous rotation?
If so, is there a setup video you can link me to?

So far I've only used the FF on cine lenses...
 
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