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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 :)

ZF Lenses Moded by Duclos

Press fitting Delrin gears is pretty touchy to get a good tight fight and Duclos does a great job. I can make and fit my own gears, but have chosen to pay Duclos to do it because the money is worth the pain in the ass factor.

I boil the gears then fit them piping hot so they are nice and snug ;-)

Cheers,

Nick
 
Evolve said:
To suggest that you don't make a standard gear for each one of the eight zf lenses that currently exist is a little out there. I'm sure you don't carve a gear from scratch every time you get the same 50mm lens in. But I get the point.
Click to expand...

Actually.. Yes.
Ask any of the satisfied customers who have come here to visit us and seen our shop. EVERY SINGLE GEAR is cut from ONE solid piece of delrin.

I would love to meet a machinist who can also tell you if your flange focal distance is accurate, or anything about optical quality for that matter. ;)

We do sell the lenses completed.
The cine-mod includes:
80mm front adaptor rings.
Standard 32 pitch focus gears.
De-clicked and lubricated iris.
 
Evolve,

We started with Nikon AiS lenses that had a rubber grip around the focus.
That rubber came in so many different sizes, we were forced to cut each one individually.
We did try cutting a standard ID with the ZF lenses assuming that the tolerances used by Zeiss were tight enough.
This resulted in several mis-matched gears and even MORE money to have them shipped back and re-cut, then shipped again.
 
Nils J. Nesse said:
Matthew,

I have a Pelican case with 80mm holes for the lenses.

Are your modded lenses, with gears, more than 80mm diameter?

Also, can you make wider gears for the ZF 100mm? Something like this picture of David W. Jones' 60mm: http://www.reduser.net/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=5556&d=1213184338
Click to expand...

Our 100mm comes with a longer gear, similar to the one in that picture, due to its longer travel. The 18mm will require a larger hole.
The 80mm front diameter is the largest part of each lens, add the thickness of the cap and you would need about an 85mm overall diameter.
 
I don't mean to drag it out any more.. But here is an example of how the gears start for those of you who are interested..
3216878100_88a4641501_m.jpg


As for the 100mm ZF Nils was asking about, here is photo of our 100mm with the cine-mod. AS you can see, the gear is considerably longer than the rest of the lenses.
3216879970_45efbc776c.jpg
 
Best money I ever spent.

These lenses perform really well.

I have used after market focus gears. Don't come anywhere close. And having Duclos tech check, declick and put a new front on them makes them a no-brainer.

I don't miss the extra money. I do love having these lenses in their Duclosized state! :biggrin:

Jim

Andrew Walker said:
Its $250 per lens not $350.
Click to expand...
 
I can't believe this Duclos... I was driving to my Blockbuster just down the street and I saw a sign: "Duclos". I was driving past but I am pretty certain that you were a mere 10-15 blocks from me and you you moved almost all the way to Malibu.. come on man! What the heck is that! :)
 
USlatin said:
I can't believe this Duclos... I was driving to my Blockbuster just down the street and I saw a sign: "Duclos". I was driving past but I am pretty certain that you were a mere 10-15 blocks from me and you you moved almost all the way to Malibu.. come on man! What the heck is that! :)
Click to expand...

Hahah. Where did you see a sign? N. Hollywood?
We aren't quite at Malibu (I wish) We're only about 30 minutes from our old location.
 
Yea, right by my blockbuster about 15 blocks from my house... lol

Now it would take me about 20 with no traffic... not cool man, just cause you want to hit the waves after work? not cool :)
 
hdcrew said:
Just some pics of the reversing gear I made for my Duclos adapted ZF's

http://web.me.com/nickbennett/Site/Photos.html

Nick Bennett
Click to expand...

I saw your other post about this and maybe I'm just not getting it. So this extra gear reverses the direction in which someone has to pull focus. If this is the only point to this extra gear, it seems very unnecessary. Why not just remember to turn the FF knob the other way? People can adapt.
 
Things like pitching a baseball or kicking a ball are stored in the cortex, together with walking, jumping, running, etc... a much faster part of the brain that doesn't work in the rational/logical ways of the frontal lobes and probably other parts of the brain.. lol... I know but very true... bottom line ACs pull using their cortex and hate having to either mess with that program they wrote for it or have to write an other along side it... meaning it is a PITA and it messes with your experience that you've accumulated... there are Arri FFs that can do this and I've heard of gear boxex that can be modified in some FFs by simply flipping a gear inside.

lol... sorry about the somewhat unnecessary answer :turned:
 
Andrew Walker said:
I saw your other post about this and maybe I'm just not getting it. So this extra gear reverses the direction in which someone has to pull focus. If this is the only point to this extra gear, it seems very unnecessary. Why not just remember to turn the FF knob the other way? People can adapt.
Click to expand...
Imaging driving a car that turns right when you turn the wheel left and vice versa. I am sure you wouldn't get far, without an accident. Especially when you have to react quick in a dangerous situation. This is the main reason why I don't like nikon lenses. A focus puller who is used to shoot with cine class won't like the idea of shooting with nikon lenses.
 
Michael Althaus said:
Imaging driving a car that turns right when you turn the wheel left and vice versa. I am sure you wouldn't get far, without an accident. Especially when you have to react quick in a dangerous situation. This is the main reason why I don't like nikon lenses. A focus puller who is used to shoot with cine class won't like the idea of shooting with nikon lenses.
Click to expand...

hehehe... wasup Michael, I was thinking about your FFs when typing my post :)
 
USlatin said:
Things like pitching a baseball or kicking a ball are stored in the cortex, together with walking, jumping, running, etc... a much faster part of the brain that doesn't work in the rational/logical ways of the frontal lobes and probably other parts of the brain.. lol... I know but very true... bottom line ACs pull using their cortex and hate having to either mess with that program they wrote for it or have to write an other along side it... meaning it is a PITA and it messes with your experience that you've accumulated... there are Arri FFs that can do this and I've heard of gear boxex that can be modified in some FFs by simply flipping a gear inside.

lol... sorry about the somewhat unnecessary answer :turned:
Click to expand...

I'm sorry man but I think its all about personal preference. Most people that I meet in this industry want it their way or its the wrong way. Even if that other way means just a simple change in direction on which way a knob is turned. I've worked with some AC's that I wanted to kick in the face because of their bitching about this and about that and about how the Red camera isn't film and blah, blah ,blah. Most difficult focus pulls are rehearsed or at least they should be and if someone can't remember to go the other way...well then maybe they shouldn't be doing that job. The ability to adapt to different situation in life and at your job make you more valuable.

I also thought about the whole thing about driving a car with the steering wheel backwards before I posted my first question about this reversal gear. I think the same way about it now as it did then...too ridiculous of an analogy to bring into this. Driving a car is far more difficult than pulling focus could ever be. A better analogy would be to say its like going into a building where all the doors have to be pulled open instead of pushed open. Now if your use to pushing doors open then yes the first few are going to be a problem. But if you can't learn after those first couple doors then maybe you shouldn't be in the building. Good thing the way out is all push open doors.
 
Reversing gear

Reversing gear

Nick,

Nice solution. Where did you purchase the 19mm Offset Adaptor pictured in your reverse gear set up?

Tom Gleeson
 
Andrew Walker said:
I'm sorry man but I think its all about personal preference. Most people that I meet in this industry want it their way or its the wrong way. Even if that other way means just a simple change in direction on which way a knob is turned. I've worked with some AC's that I wanted to kick in the face because of their bitching about this and about that and about how the Red camera isn't film and blah, blah ,blah. Most difficult focus pulls are rehearsed or at least they should be and if someone can't remember to go the other way...well then maybe they shouldn't be doing that job. The ability to adapt to different situation in life and at your job make you more valuable.

I also thought about the whole thing about driving a car with the steering wheel backwards before I posted my first question about this reversal gear. I think the same way about it now as it did then...too ridiculous of an analogy to bring into this. Driving a car is far more difficult than pulling focus could ever be. A better analogy would be to say its like going into a building where all the doors have to be pulled open instead of pushed open. Now if your use to pushing doors open then yes the first few are going to be a problem. But if you can't learn after those first couple doors then maybe you shouldn't be in the building. Good thing the way out is all push open doors.
Click to expand...
I suggest you watch these videos (http://www.freshdv.com/2007/10/follow-focus-reviews-and-1st-ac-tutorial-roundup.html especially part 3), they might change your opinion. Pulling focus is a pretty hard task sometimes. You can't rehearse everything. If you are shooting wide open, with a long lens, the actor might only need to lean a little bit forward and his eyes are already out of focus. This demands fast reaction and the ability to anticipate movement. It is not just preference, pretty much all cine lenses focus the same way and this is how most ACs are used to pull focus....
 
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