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Inexpensive whips and speed crank.


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I remember a conversation a while back about trying to find a reasonably priced speed crank. I see now on indifocus' site (www.indiocus.com) that they list a speed crank ($20), a 12-inch whip ($35) and an 18-inch whip ($40). All are quite inexpensive, compared to much of the competition.

 

I can't vouch for their quality, but I thought I'd put it out there. I may try a long whip. I have a 12-inch one but it would be nice to have both lengths handy.

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By the way, and I don't know if this was what led you to post the link Chris, but there was a topic started on the SD forum with some negative things to say regarding build quality of their FF?

 

That is what led me to look, actually. I used one of their follow focus units once and really disliked it. Rickety, poor construction, sharp edges, and there was too much play in the thing. I figure that a whip or speed crank is a while different animal construction-wise than a fine follow focus and it might be worth a gamble.

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Yeah, the FF looked kinda shoddy from their website -- then again I'm never even happy with Chroziel FF's (there's always play between the grip and the housing due to slightly different key sizes), so I guess I'm a picky customer?

 

I guess we'll find out the answer to the question "how can you f* up a speed crank/whip" then, huh?

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I guess we'll find out the answer to the question "how can you f* up a speed crank/whip" then, huh?

 

Probably. I can't think of how you could screw those up but then again, a follow focus isn't complicated either. It just needs good machining and tight tolerances but there are still all kinds of shitty ones out there.

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I also had commented about trying to find affordable speed cranks in another thread, where the only place we could find them was Filmtools, for $80.

 

I should've thought to look at indifocus, it's a great affordable company. I will probably grab an 18" whip here in a day or so. Thanks again for the link Chris.

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I also had commented about trying to find affordable speed cranks in another thread, where the only place we could find them was Filmtools, for $80.

 

I should've thought to look at indifocus, it's a great affordable company. I will probably grab an 18" whip here in a day or so. Thanks again for the link Chris.

 

Any time. Once you've had a chance to put it through its paces a bit, let us know how it is.

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Guys, I've known about the indiefocus for a while already. I was also participating in the "affordable focus lever" thread and the reason I didn't post about indiefocus is that their accessories don't have a standard port and won't fit Arri type gear. They have a proprietary port (why beats me) which is a pentagon or hexagon (not sure right now) with a magnetic on the end and will only fit the indiefocus FF. At least that's how it used to be, unless they have just changed it, although I doubt it. On the top of that, I know their whip is horrible. It has a lot of play and you need to load it up before it actually starts spinning the FF knob.

The indofocus was the first of the el chepos FF units that have now flooded the market. It's older than the Redrock one. But it's also the worst quality one, the el chepos from all el chepos.

Edited by Michael Maier
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indiFOCUSpro gives you? the ability to use a whip using the new industry standard mount,

 

 

I'm not sure what the "new" industry standard mount is referring to, as I've only come across the <1/2" Arri-type mount we all know and love.

 

Thanks for the review Michael!

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Sorry for the double-post, but to Simon:

 

Whips and cranks are generally a part of the package, I've never left the rental house without them. I have worked on gigs though (usually those fly-by-night, one-weekend "great experience" jobs that you take for a quick under-the-table $300 in your pocket) where the DP or other so-and-so doing the "checkout" have no idea what they're doing and don't get what you need.

 

I've always believed that its better to have a tool and not need it than to need a tool and not have it?

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I'm not sure what the "new" industry standard mount is referring to, as I've only come across the <1/2" Arri-type mount we all know and love.

 

Thanks for the review Michael!

 

Yes, I'm also not sure what standard they are talking about, but if you look at the picture of their knob, that port doesn't look like an Arri port. Specially that it seems to be way too small to be 1/2", unless that knob is like, huge.

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Yes, I have the Redrock whips. They are great and I see no difference from the Chrosziel ones. Besides 3 of the Redrock whips (3", 12",18") coast as much as only one of the Arris or Chrosziel. Really great product and great price. But Redrock doesn't make a crank (yet) which is what I'm looking for.

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  • 2 months later...
  • 1 month later...

Buyer beware of the RedRock whip. I used one for a 4 day shoot and by he end of that 4th day the knob was coming loose for the receptacle for the flex shaft. you could take the whip off, turn it the other way and tighten it back and be fine for a while, but I guess I just like the good old 2 piece arri whips with no chance of any unscrewing anywhere. I also was using a cavision follow focus on this shoot. Everything was loose by the end of the 4th day, and it was in places where there were no screws available to the consumer to do a self-fix. I HATE cheap follow focus products made by HD serving companies trying to make a more affordable version of arri/pani gear. Although I understand that they are a great opportunity for HD shooters to have all the bells and whistles, the cost is quality.

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Buyer beware of the RedRock whip. I used one for a 4 day shoot and by he end of that 4th day the knob was coming loose for the receptacle for the flex shaft. you could take the whip off, turn it the other way and tighten it back and be fine for a while, but I guess I just like the good old 2 piece arri whips with no chance of any unscrewing anywhere. I also was using a cavision follow focus on this shoot. Everything was loose by the end of the 4th day, and it was in places where there were no screws available to the consumer to do a self-fix. I HATE cheap follow focus products made by HD serving companies trying to make a more affordable version of arri/pani gear. Although I understand that they are a great opportunity for HD shooters to have all the bells and whistles, the cost is quality.

 

There's no point in having all the bells and whistles if none of them work, or play out of tune so to speak.

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  • 4 months later...

I would beware of the Redrock whips. In my experience, the Redrock whips are too flimsy, too bendable, compared to an arri. I had one on a shoot, and I could rotate the whip more than 45 degrees before it would start to turn the followfocus knob. It was useless.

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I would beware of the Redrock whips. In my experience, the Redrock whips are too flimsy, too bendable, compared to an arri. I had one on a shoot, and I could rotate the whip more than 45 degrees before it would start to turn the followfocus knob. It was useless.

 

I got one extremely cheap on eBay, and yeah, quite flimsy. It works fine for me on lenses with very smooth focus rings...but otherwise it twists and folds on itself if you try to torque it quickly.

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