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Lightweight follow focus for short still lenses


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I'm looking for a mini follow focus that works well with short lenses and allows room for a matte box. All of the top options from Arri and O'conner have gear boxes that are too long and collide with either the camera or the matte box. - In other words they can't reach the lens gear from behind the lens because they hit the camera body and when placed in front of the lens ( away from the camera) the gear box interferes with the matte box.

 

The only options I've seen that work are the studio units like the Arri FF4 and the CFF-1 by O'conner. They arm out the gear away from the gearbox and take up a tiny amount of space once they reach the lens.

 

Does anyone know of a lightweight follow focus that has a slim gearbox and works well with short still lenses?

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hi check the ff dv format from arri, chrosziel, cavision, alfatron, other mono-rod ff. They're all smaller then arri FF3,4, may fit or have a arm-extension that will do the job.

 

http://provideocoalition.com/freshdv/story/freshdv_reviews_arri_mff1_ff4_follow_focus

 

http://www.emit.fr/fr/location/30.html

 

http://www.cavision.com/followfocus/singlewheelnew.htm

 

http://www.alphatron.tv/ProPull/follow-focus-15mm-rod-support.html

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  • 3 weeks later...

Edelkrone makes a nice FF that has a pretty small footprint on your rod system. The marking wheel is turned toward the operator for easy operator viewing as well.

 

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=&sku=1016665&is=REG&Q=&A=details

 

Oh, it might be as lightweight as you wanted. Its pretty solid construction.

Edited by Jeremy Parsons
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Thanks for the suggestions, guys. I've spent enough time with sub-par follow focuses to last me the rest of my life so build-quality means everything. I haven't seen anything outside of Arri/Oconner/Chroisziel that really made the grade but I'm always willing to take a look at new places (for example Bright Tangerine was founded by a former Arri designer and they make great matte boxes http://www.brighttangerine.com).

 

For now I've concluded that the only real options are the studio configs such as the FF4/5 or Cine Focus One by Oconner. They separate the gear box with an arm that extends to reach the lens. I guess I'll have to save my pennies for one of those. Keep posting options if you find anything interesting though!

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  • 4 weeks later...

The Chrosziel single sided swingarm type designs look really good to me. Sometimes not too expensive used prices. Modern catalogues call them 203-013 and 204-013.

 

Petroff made a swingarm type FF, later (he swears) that Cavision cloned his design. The Cavision ones are quite cheap, but I can't tell from a distance if they have much of the good design that the Crosziel has.

 

One thing I have noticed about some of the new brands trying to muscle in from the low end of the market is that the FFs are a bit overbuilt rather than being perfectly designed, and often affect the style of intensive design (affected style vs the real thing).

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