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Follow Focus help needed


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Im looking at getting a FF unit. The arris look really nice but are kinda pricey. How does chrosziel stack up against them? It will be used mostly on 35mm adapters with cine lenses (and eventually film cameras). Also, does anyone have any info on where to get them?

 

Thanks

 

 

Seb

Edited by Sebastian Andexer
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Im looking at getting a FF unit. The arris look really nice but are kinda pricey. How does chrosziel stack up against them? It will be used mostly on 35mm adapters with cine lenses (and eventually film cameras). Also, does anyone have any info on where to get them?

 

Thanks

Seb

 

 

Arri's ff is nice. Very tough and solid. No play. Chrosziel, from my experience is generally very well designed but on the light-duty fragile side. I haven't used their follow focus but I would expect similar to their other products.

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I'd recommend Arri's above all else - they were made to play with the big boys and are built like it.

 

The big question is FF3 vs. FF4 - the 3 has two gear speeds, which is nice, but the FF4 allows you to remove the 19mm connector so that the FF weighs less when in lightweight mode.

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Definitely go with the Arri above the Chrosziel. I've done a few jobs w/ their FF and, while I never had any major problems, found them to be a little flimsy. No disrespect to the company, but I know some other AC's I've worked with have similar feelings about their design.

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Ive had some experience with the FF4 from arri but not the FF 3. How does the 19mm adapter work. Does it just slide into the slots for the 15mm rails? Also, does anyone have a ballpark figure on what the ff unit, focus knob and a short whip for the ff4 and 3 would go for?

 

I interned at a rental house and the willytech just sat on the shelf. I couldn't even put the thing together. Its design is needlessly complicated.

 

 

Thats what ive heard from a few ac's but apparently once you get a hang of it its a very versatile unit.

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the FF4, with both knobs and a 15mm (or 19mm) baseplate rod adaptor comes to around $3000. It's a wonderful follow focus. It is much lighter and more useful than the FF3 for what I do. It ends up on my lightweight rods alot.

 

What I can't understand is why Arri's new FF1 (designed by the Willytech people) is $5000, though it is the smoothest Follow Focus I've ever felt.

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  • 6 months later...

I've used the willytech on 2 movies and just love it (unlike my 2nd who hates all the parts and complications). In fact I've had my ebay search engine set to Willytech for 2 yrs in the hopes that someone would unload one for a song (right now they retail about 5 grand. I've found that you just can't beat the no play aciton and I just love that slide to engage as opposed to the swing arm and do you put it above or below and and and. Guess it's just me, not many guys use 'em but I think it's the Benz of FF's.

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Hi,

You should really consider buying a wireless, remote focus system like the Preston or BFD (Bartech Focus Device) instead of a follow focus unit. Cinematography has become a remote environment for our jobs due to all of the remote heads being employed these days. You would get much more use and flexability out of owning one. Now days, I usually live day to day on a remote focus unit. I don't have to be standing by the camera to pull focus, allowing me an optimal view point to see all of the action. It allows me full freedom to be where I feel I need to be to perform the shot.

 

The Preston is an expensive piece of equpment but a sophisticated system of 3 microwave digital channels for focus, iris and zoom. The BFD is a single channel focus or iris system for much less money. Both gives the owner a good rate of return on renting them to different productions.

 

Cheers,

Greg

Edited by Gregory Irwin
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That's a good tip Greg. Having owned two Bartech's and now a Preston I would say that either would be a great choice. Of course, I never get to use the darn thing! I hand it to the assistant at the beginning of the day and stick it in my case 12 hours later.

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Just out of curiousity, has anyone used the Kinor 35H FF and how does it stack up against the western stuff like the Arri? This is the pair that I have to work with, a single sided and the dual sided. If you know, what are the positives and the negitives with these units? Thanks.

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I've used the willytech on 2 movies and just love it (unlike my 2nd who hates all the parts and complications). In fact I've had my ebay search engine set to Willytech for 2 yrs in the hopes that someone would unload one for a song (right now they retail about 5 grand. I've found that you just can't beat the no play aciton and I just love that slide to engage as opposed to the swing arm and do you put it above or below and and and. Guess it's just me, not many guys use 'em but I think it's the Benz of FF's.

 

Where do they retail at? I can never find any info on them!

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