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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!

I'm interested for this FF, after some times are you all still happy with it? And do you think the Express PLUS version is really interesting over the Express ?

Thanks,
 
Been using Redrock's Lemo to D Tap. Great cable. Far better than Cinegears and reasonably priced. It's ultralight weight, flexible, and just the right length. My Cinegear cable is strictly back up.
 
Malik Tigrine said:
I'm interested for this FF, after some times are you all still happy with it? And do you think the Express PLUS version is really interesting over the Express ?

Thanks,
Click to expand...

What's good.
Easy to set up. Small lightweight. Inexpensive. Reverse direction with one button. Hard stops are great for still lenses. Easy to set pre-set marks. Battery lasts forever. Can run on phone charger in a pinch. Good 15mm mounting hardware. For general use it works well and is lightweight, crucial for Gimbal use.

What's not so good
Lemo cable began to twist in the lemo housing causing misalignment of pins after two jobs after two jobs and it's bulky. Replaced it with R Rock cable. It has freaked out a couple times, losing communication or doing things on its own, requiring re-boot. The 19mm to 15mm adaptor sleeves are flimsy plastic and easily lost. They should've use metal sleeves and charge us 20.00 bucks more. My main issues are: the focus wheel rings on mine get permanent smearing from dry erase and the amount of lag in the response time is unacceptable for critical long lens work and even some medium focal length. It's really that bad. There's some rumbling about a firmware fix in the response but until I see the upgrade it's all talk. Cinegear said they incorporated a delay is to prevent busting lenses. I'm not buying this because response time has never destroyed a lens as anyone who uses a Preston can attest. The last criticism I have is the customer service response time is much worse than the motor's.

So that's my mini review. In all, for the money it's hard to beat as long as you know and accept its limitations. For a seven hundred more you can own a Redrock Micro with better response and much longer range. But as I'm using Paralinx range isn't an issue since the Paralinx range is shorter than Cinegear's. If Cinegear reduced the lag by half, this would be a killer unit and I could tolerate everything else. Until then, I use it exclusively on my gimbal because we use wider lenses so the delay isn't crucial.
 
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Redrock was horrible. Motor noise and reliability was ridiculous on the RR system which is why I was looking elsewhere. I'd much prefer a slight lag, I don't have the focus disc smearing issue, than a noisy and unreliable system.
 
Chris McKechnie said:
Redrock was horrible. Motor noise and reliability was ridiculous on the RR system which is why I was looking elsewhere. I'd much prefer a slight lag, I don't have the focus disc smearing issue, than a noisy and unreliable system.
Click to expand...

Good to know. When did you have one? I heard they got it together after the first generation but could be wrong. My CG is quite noisy. I got mine in September. Hopefully they made it better. And to be honest, the lag is far from "slight". It's bad and not ready for critical work such as precise racks on look overs or to background cues. In terms of reliability, you've better luck than me. I've had calibration freak outs and a failed lemo.
 
Got mine in December 2014.

Sent me the wrong controller. No support from Cinegears at all.

Signal drop out from me standing next to unit to several feet away. Not reliable and not up to claimed specs.

Steven was good to pick up on my complaint, but empty promises and replies when he wants to.

Still not resolved.

Unit has been sitting in the box ever since I got it.
 
These guys are on the cusp of screwing the pooch. Unless they get their shit together and address the issues they have they are going to fade away.

HEY STEVEN - send me the damn interface you program the drivers for your motors with and I'll fucking fix it for you. It's like you guys are trying real hard to fuck up a good thing.

Nick
 
I have just ordered it... and now I read your terrifying feedback. So why all these good reviews at the beginning? Is there any satisfied consummer about the Cinegears FF here ? Chris what is your final review?
 
I'm surprised by some of these reviews. My experiences have been quite good, especially for the money. Yes, there is a bit of lag at the end but it doesn't make the product useless for me. I have been using it on gimbal and normal work and it's done the job every time so far. Very happy with the purchase.

Re customer support - my last interaction with Redrock was a few years ago and it went like this: I asked whether a reverse gear was made out of metal or plastic and whether it was generally "sturdy" and well built. They said it was so I ordered it. A flimsy, misaligned piece of CRAP plastic arrives and all I can do is laugh at it. I tell Redrock I obviously need to send it back and they wanted to charge me half the cost for re-stocking. Even after asking one last time they did not want to make an exception and stiffed me on the $40 or whatever. I have never and will never use any of their products since.

In contrast, Steven has been responsive and good to me.
 
Malik Tigrine said:
I have just ordered it... and now I read your terrifying feedback. So why all these good reviews at the beginning? Is there any satisfied consummer about the Cinegears FF here ? Chris what is your final review?
Click to expand...

yea I love mine and Echo what Jonas said. The lag is not an issue. Give a good operator or AC a few mins with it and all good. Fe the price, you can't beat it. I hated my RR system. This has performed flawlessly for me. Obviously people only hear about the problems...there were a heck of a lot of people in the group buy, and I think most people are content with theirs and are happy with their purchase.
 
It's almost a stellar unit. The lag issue is a real issue when doing serious dramatic work, or serious corporate work, or anything where it really needs to be precise. Sure for lots of stuff it's fine. It has a lot of really smart stuff going on. It is well made. Which all makes it 3 times as frustrating that Steven hasn't addressed the issue. I bought a unit very early on, and had an issue with the lag. Steven said it would be fixed. Then after a really long time waiting to get an upgraded unit, it still wasn't fixed. So being told that it will be fixed soon, and no problem for almost a year, is rather off putting.

Here is the nature of the problem - Say you are shooting an ecu on a 135mm lens and the actor leans in a few inches. A good focus puller will be on that, and keep it sharp. But he/she stops turning the wheel the second they stop moving, but the focus motor does not - so you miss focus. Sure you can hunt and peck and find it again, but that is not ideal, and it doesn't happen with any professional system I have ever used.

I really want to use it as my go to unit but I can't because of an issue that I was told would be resolved and then never was. For gimbal stuff and anything that's not super precise, it's more than good enough. The frustrating thing is it should be so freaking simple to fix. It's a software issue, and I would bet dollars to donuts that the driver has tuning parameters that could be easily adjusted.

I am sure you will be happy with the unit for almost all of what you do. Hopefully they fix their issue and move on. I really want these guys to succeed as I do like their product.

Nick
 
Malik Tigrine said:
I have just ordered it... and now I read your terrifying feedback. So why all these good reviews at the beginning? Is there any satisfied consummer about the Cinegears FF here ? Chris what is your final review?
Click to expand...

Ive had mine from the first batch and love it :)
 
Nick, my unit does not have the issue you describe. When the wheel stops, the motor stops. I do see a problem with the presets -- when a preset is pressed the motor advances smoothly and then kind of clunks to a stop. Not a noisy clunk, just not a smooth stop. It's pretty minor but because the rest of the unit is so good it is disappointing that it is not perfect.
 
I know the feeling ;-) . It's not a lot, like a 3rd of a second. Just enough to drive focus pullers insane.

Nick
 
Hi Ned,
You can send us your focus rings and we will happily send you new ones. It can sent to 1927 Boblett Street, Blaine, WA 98230.

Steven

Ned Wilson said:
What's good.
Easy to set up. Small lightweight. Inexpensive. Reverse direction with one button. Hard stops are great for still lenses. Easy to set pre-set marks. Battery lasts forever. Can run on phone charger in a pinch. Good 15mm mounting hardware. For general use it works well and is lightweight, crucial for Gimbal use.

What's not so good
Lemo cable began to twist in the lemo housing causing misalignment of pins after two jobs after two jobs and it's bulky. Replaced it with R Rock cable. It has freaked out a couple times, losing communication or doing things on its own, requiring re-boot. The 19mm to 15mm adaptor sleeves are flimsy plastic and easily lost. They should've use metal sleeves and charge us 20.00 bucks more. My main issues are: the focus wheel rings on mine get permanent smearing from dry erase and the amount of lag in the response time is unacceptable for critical long lens work and even some medium focal length. It's really that bad. There's some rumbling about a firmware fix in the response but until I see the upgrade it's all talk. Cinegear said they incorporated a delay is to prevent busting lenses. I'm not buying this because response time has never destroyed a lens as anyone who uses a Preston can attest. The last criticism I have is the customer service response time is much worse than the motor's.

So that's my mini review. In all, for the money it's hard to beat as long as you know and accept its limitations. For a seven hundred more you can own a Redrock Micro with better response and much longer range. But as I'm using Paralinx range isn't an issue since the Paralinx range is shorter than Cinegear's. If Cinegear reduced the lag by half, this would be a killer unit and I could tolerate everything else. Until then, I use it exclusively on my gimbal because we use wider lenses so the delay isn't crucial.
Click to expand...
 
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