M-One and Photography Lens

[Brandon Baudier]

A cheap solution for independent productions to achieve the desired "Film Look" results in investing in a Redrock Micro, Letus, or P+S Technik adapter to add onto their HVX, etc., then purchasing old still photography lenses off Ebay. Surprising how well it works... especially for the price.

 

Either way, the issue comes into play when attempting to use the standard film/video gears with my M-One on those photography lenses. They do not have "teeth" that a typical lens has and that the follow focus system was designed for. Instead it has grips. So I've attempted to use different gears, applying pressure, and for the most part, it works "well enough". unfortunately, it has tendencies to lose grip and mess up calibration. Adding a thick rubber band around the gear also adds more friction and seems to work fine.

 

I was wondering if anyone else had any ideas, tips, tricks to work around non-standard lenses.

 

Thanks,

- Brandon

[Ed Moore]

I was wondering if anyone else had any ideas, tips, tricks to work around non-standard lenses.

 

Via Teh Internets, I've seen stick-on strips of "proper" gearing that you stick round the stills lens grip to enable it to engage with the Mone ARRI standard gear, etc. Not sure where they're obtained from.

 

Obviously, any stills lens focus barrel that spins forever will be electronically rather than mechanically linked to the actual focus motor, and it's unlikely that any fine degree of repeatability could be obtained. That said, people keep buying the follow focuses for cameras like the Canon XL-H1 so either it's a case of Emperor's New Clothes or they do sort of work okay.

[Jess Haas SOC]

There are a lot of options out there for adding gears to still lenses. When using a traditional follow focus they can still be a bit of a pain because of a compressed focus range but when using a wireless follow focus they usually work well. Just be very careful not to go past the end stops because I have noticed that many of these 35 adapters and digital cameras aren't all that solidly built and if torqued too much could break.

 

~Jess