25Jun Budget Follow Focus – Reviewed Again
Another review based around the recent Budget Follow Focus which has been coined as the RJ Follow Focus. (More news on that soon). This review from Just Basl Productions is a bit longer more thorough and should answer any questions you have, and also compares it against another Follow Focus system. A few people have mentioned about the QC (quality control) of these FF’s coming out of the factory. Assembly might be a bit inconsistent, so if you receive yours with a little bit of play there are a few screws inside the gear box that can be tightened up.
General Consensus from buyers of the RJ FF? It’s good, and for the price – it’s great. Oh and don’t forget you’ll need a set of Rails to mount something like this, and sometimes you can get killer deals with the Gini Rigs.
DSLR Follow Focus with Lens Gears
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June 25th, 2011 at 2:15 pm
Has anybody else gotten theirs? I was within the 20 first buyers and still no FF?
June 26th, 2011 at 3:13 am
I’m also ordered mine with Rail rod system hand grip for Follow Focus on 21.06.11 and have no idea when it will arrive, because now in their ebay profile:
“Thanks for all your support. We’re gearing up to meet your needs, but delay in shipping is still foreseeable. Very sorry for the inconvenience. If you need immediate delivery, please hold the purchase till our further notice. You’re always welcome to message us to discuss your specific needs, and we’re all ears.”
:/ I hope that will not took too long.
June 26th, 2011 at 7:47 am
@slicKrox – I think they will all come through, but it will take some time. They are really backlogged.
June 26th, 2011 at 11:14 am
Yeah, I think they have around 260 orders right now….and I think they are making some last minute changes.
I have never owned one, so I can wait a little longer.. I am going to a shoot on the 31st of July, I would like it for that.
June 26th, 2011 at 2:15 pm
Has anybody received the rail rod system hand grip from the same seller ?
It seems not that bad, i’m thinking of using it with my 550D/T2i but i’m not even sure if it fits or not…Anybody can help on this ?
I saw the Ginis one, the K-92 seems like a really great deal,
and an excellent look to it too,
&
Thanks for all the work here Emm…really appreciated !
June 27th, 2011 at 4:08 am
I ordered my follow focus, rail system, and the fold-up one that was profiled here a while ago, and all arrived today (took only a weekend to get here, but that’s from China to Singapore, so its closer than the US). All I can say on all three items is: wow. This stuff rocks. Such value for money. There is a tiny bit of play on the ff but its very slight and I think it can be tightened. The rail system is great (make sure you get the shoulder addition for only $20), only complaint there is that the knobs are plastic and seem cheap (improvement: make them metal), the rest is well made. I made a connector for the fold-up system and made that into a very sturdy cage type platform that allow me to do low level shots with a monitor. All in all, very happy with everything that I got.
Also, thanks to this website and all of Emm’s hard work in putting it together, I’ve made a lot of smart and informed buying choices over the past six months, and I’m happy with every single one of them. Thanks Emm!!
Alex
June 28th, 2011 at 11:34 am
I ordered mine on 6/8 and finally received it today. Overall, really impressed with the build quality. However, the one unfortunate flaw is the size of the insert for a crank or whip. It’s still not correct. I believe I had read that it was too big, but now it’s too small!
June 29th, 2011 at 9:57 am
I just ordered the FF and the base/grip as well. I also elected to add on the shoulder mount. I can’t wait for it to get here so I can try it out! Hopefully it won’t take too long to get here!
June 30th, 2011 at 2:03 pm
Mine was finally shipped today. Paid on Jun-21-11
Shipped on Jun-29-11.
By the way, price still going up all the time.
July 1st, 2011 at 12:33 am
Ordered the FF on the June 25th. Still doesn’t show that it even shipped out. I also ordered Gini’s DLSR rig Pro-10 or whatever.. for less than $300. got it within a couple days and I’m ridiculously impressed with it.
July 6th, 2011 at 10:27 am
Hello,
I finally have RJ Follow Focus and Rail rod system hand grip, maybe somebody can recommend me Quick Release Mounting Plate which I can put between FF and Rail rod system hand grip? Reason: I’m using 550D and when Rail rod system hand grip on I can not change battery.
Thank you.
July 11th, 2011 at 6:07 pm
Why not go with the cheaper and much more respectable Jagg35 D|Focus ?
http://jag35.com/index.php/products/dfocuskit.html
At $140 it is cheaper and probably more reliable then random overseas sellers.
July 14th, 2011 at 3:00 am
the ebay link says DSLR Follow Focus FF for 15mm rod support 60D 600D 5D2
meaning it WOn’t fit on a 7d?
if so, what are the alternatives for a 7D?
July 14th, 2011 at 7:51 am
@mario – It will fit a 7D. It will fit any camera once it’s on rails.
July 15th, 2011 at 3:49 am
I initially had some problems with my RJ Follow Focus – lots of play and blacklash. I opened up the gearbox, tightened the 5/64″ allen screws on two of the gears, closed it back up, and now it works perfectly. Zero play.
July 15th, 2011 at 9:33 pm
Just got mine. Almost a month later.. This is cool, but it needs to have adjustable height. I know, it would make it more expensive, but now I can’t use my quick release with it. Quite inconvenient.
July 15th, 2011 at 10:11 pm
@Paul – You could also look into getting larger gears. Something like these would add distance
Follow Focus Gears
July 25th, 2011 at 3:20 am
I’ve had a lot of problems with this gear since getting it a month ago. There is a lot of play in the gears. Tomorrow I will open it up as suggested here and see if I can tighten it up. As for the rails, great price and design, but big problems. When the flimsy plastic tightening screws are all the way tightened, they STILL slip on the rails. Same with the metal screw on the bottom of the FF unit. All the way tight and it just falls off the rails. I’m contacting them to see if they can send me another if they have improved it since the past month. The price is great, looks pro, design is good, but lots of problems. If they can fix these, they have a winner. Hope they do…. Alex
August 11th, 2011 at 7:55 pm
@Alex -
I’ve just started having problems with the metal knob underneath the FF plate – it looks like the screw has actually stripped the threads of the bolt itself – so it no longer tightens.
I’ve probably only used it half a dozen times, and I’m not happy at all. I may just find a bolt with the right thread size and see if that will work in the interim.
Gordon
August 26th, 2011 at 5:08 pm
How did you tighten the gear to minimize play? When i open it from below by the four umbraco’s, all i see is a gear wheel and a lot of grease, but no screws to tighten? It would be awesome if someone would explain how you did.
Thanks for a great blog!
August 26th, 2011 at 6:28 pm
I found out, just needed to dig a little deeper. Works super now!
September 21st, 2011 at 5:27 pm
I have one of these, I ordered direct from the manufacturer in China privately as I was looking at doing a bulk order into the UK – but this video is what inspired me to track them down! Thank you.
In my experience – the play is horrendous but is not in the gearbox itself, and it is quite a simple fix with no screws. allen keys, or fingers covered in grease to worry about.
If you look at the part where the external gear (the one that connects to the gear around the camera) connects to the gearbox itself, it is designed so that it can be moved to either the front or the back, or used on the left or the right of the camera. Whilst this is good for people who want to use it right or left handed, or any nutters who want to rig a second one up the other side for zoom on a telephoto the split pin that it uses provides a very loose clamp around the pin in the middle of the barrel it sits in.
I found that if i held the external gear with my finger and moved the focus wheel, i could actually see the pin inside moving through about 10 degrees of movement left and right before it gathered enough torque to move the gear.
At first i tried bending the split pin into more of a V-shape, but because the metal is so soft, as soon as there was any resistance from the friction of the gearing, it opened back out again.
The solution? bend a c-shape bit of tinfoil, (or aluminum/aluminium foil) and put it inside the split pin, then push that back through the barrel, basically making a much more “snug” fit.
If you use too much it wont go back on, and too little you wont find a difference. but if you get it just right you will find it eliminates all of the play in the gearing – just dont take it off mid shoot, as you may lose the tinfoil and then it’s back to being delayed, and if we are completely honest – totally inaccurate compared to manually focusing the good old fashioned way.
Hope this helps someone, i love this bit of kit after this little change and it now has a permanent place on my shoulder rig.
May 24th, 2012 at 2:32 am
Can anyone tell me if this is the FF that is used in the rig by FancierStudio??
May 24th, 2012 at 6:05 am
@Tim – Yes it is.
June 11th, 2012 at 4:57 am
@ Emm thanks!!