ARRI MFF-1 on an EX1 or EX3

Tim Carroll · November 29, 2008

May be shooting a project in a couple of months, and the client was looking at shooting it on a Sony EX1 or EX3. Coming from a film camera background, I would like to set the camera up like a film camera as far as Follow Focus/Matte box is concerned.

Being an ARRI guy, naturally I am attracted to their products, and today I discovered this:

The follow focus is the MFF-1 and I was wondering if anyone had used this on an EX1 or EX3? And in general, since I have not had a chance to use either camera yet, how does the manual focus work on these cameras? Is it the servo manual focus, which is kind of mushy, or is it a direct mechanical manual focus where you can repeatedly hit your marks?

Any and all info would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

-Tim

Saul Rodgar · November 29, 2008

The EX1 has really nice direct mechanical-gear focus, zoom and aperture rings on it. Comparable to a decent ENG zoom lens. So you will have no problems there. It was about time someone sold a smaller "toy cam" with a real-gear lens on it.

Edited November 29, 2008 by Saul Rodgar

Mitch Gross · December 4, 2008

Abel Cine Tech consulted with Arri on the design of these new accessories. I made an informational video on the new Arri MMB-1 and MFF-1 and their use specifically on the EX1. Here's the link to the page on our website.

http://www.abelcine.com/articles/index.php...9&Itemid=34

Tim Carroll · December 4, 2008

You handsome devil you. Very cool demo videos. Mounted on the EX1, it really is a compact package.

And like a typical customer, always wanting more, any chance of doing a video with the ARRI MFF-1 on the HVX-200?

Not sure how well a follow focus would work on that camera (HVX-200) as it does not have a "real" mechanical manual focus ring. Have you tried the HVX with the MFF-1?

Best,

-Tim

Michael Belanger · December 4, 2008

The focus ring on the EX cameras are actually servo driven. The ring slides forward or back to change operation modes. In the front position it's the normal mushy "focus-by-wire" feel, but in the rear position, the ring is stopped at each end and the servo responds instantly to ring changes, so it feels as if it's fully mechanical.

I've not yet used a follow focus on the camera but I'm betting it will behave quite well and focus should be repeatable.