10 Mar 2010, Posted by David Torcivia in Articles,Columns,Filmmaking,General, 2 Comments

DIY – $1 Focus Crank

With the glut of new VDSLR owners the T2i/550d has created, there will be a resulting glut in shallow DoF and slightly out of focus video. This DIY project offers a simple and cheap alternative to this problem.

Let me step onto my soapbox for a moment and recommend that if you are one of these new owners that you buy a follow focus. A follow focus is a carefully engineered piece of machinery that allows fine, smooth, repeatable, controlled focus actions which hand holding and poorly engineered DIY solutions can’t offer. There are many expensive film products which can be replaced by clever DIY solutions with no loss in quality, but thus far, there are no true follow focuses which offer the ease and exactness of a true dedicated follow focus.

This project offers a fantastically simple and quick way to allow smooth focus manipulation with a minimum investment of time and money. A typical photo lens is not particularly concerned with smooth focus and will give unwanted feedback in the form of vibrations when using the hand to focus. By the combination of the clamp and handle, the user can make smaller and smoother adjustments while simultaneously decreasing their contact with the lens resulting in an image with reduced vibration. Not bad for $1.

Check out the tool in action below.