Zeiss OTUS + ZEISS Lens Gear

[Morgan Ryan]

Hi guys,

I'm looking into lens gear for my OTUS. I originally wanted to go with the DUCLOS scaled lens gear mod, but it's not ready until the end of the year. So I want to pick up something solid in the meantime.
Can someone share their experience using the Zeiss lens gear (one manufactured and sold by Zeiss) on the OTUS?

Here's a link to the lens gear https://www.zeiss.com/camera-lenses/us/cinematography/products/lens-gears.html

Thanks in advanced for the inputs.

Morgan

 

[Phil Holland]

Works well and goes on easy, same for the Milvus ones. If you are looking for a solution that is:

A. Higher quality than a strap style gear
B. Non intrusive and no "lump" from where you would attach a gear (gets in the way of your follow focus sometimes)
C. Is easily removable if you want to go back to "photo mode"

the Zeiss gear is a good option. Delrin would be my next recommendation there, just not easy to remove.


However, I would dare say if shooting motion pictures is your primary function and you don't mind having the gear on the Otus even when you use it for stills, the Duclos gear is wonderful and perhaps the best solution yet.

Here's one of the prototypes on one of my cams:

Since then Matthew has been able to match the anodizing much, much more closely. I imagine the final mod will essentially look close to factory.

I do wonder if he'll offer laser engraving of the witness mark. In the photo above, my mark is tapped. But we since have laser engraved it on the lens barrel. I have no issues with that as I don't ever plan on selling these lenses while I'm alive.

 

[Morgan Ryan]

Thanks for the insights, Phil, very generous of you as usual. I think I'm gonna just wait for DUCLOS to finalize it, then install the gear. You're right, it's the best solution. Cheers.

 

[Ben Scott]

I sold my Zeiss lens gear because the torque of a wireless FF kept unscrewing it. Genuinely found a half-inch rails ziptie gear to be more reliable. Something like the Duclos one would be perfect.

 

[Morgan Ryan]

Thanks for the cautionary tale, Ben.