Durus Follow Focus unit for rent in Australia?

[Rob Castiglione]

Hi there,

I am wondering whether anyone has a Durus follow focus unit for 19mm rods for rent for a couple of days? It would be great if it was someone in WA but if not no worries. I am trying to work out whether this unit will work with my nikon still lenses. Trying to find out that answer over the net has proven completely fruitless so the only way to find out the answer, short of buying a unit, is to try one myself.

Many thanks

[scott william]

Hey Rob,

Are you talking about the cinevate one?

[Rob Castiglione]

That is the one - cinevate.

[Alexander Ibrahim]

I have answered in a similar thread that it works.

Definitively YES.

As in I use the Cinevate with Nikon mount SLR lenses with a 7D and a Red One.

It works well.

I also have used with Canon lenses on a 7D, great results.

The DSLR lenses I use it with most often are the Zeiss ZF primes, again it works great. The smallest lens of that set is the 50mm and it is an EASY fit.

I hope that helps, although I do encourage you to rent and see for yourself.

[James McLellan]

I have a 15mm Durus on a lightweight setup. I like it a lot. It's simple sturdy and effective.

One point: our 15mm rods are thread-in lightweight rods (Long Valley Equipment). Sometimes this causes an issue as the Durus only clamps to one rod and depending on which side it's on can cause the rod to become loose. Not a huge issue but can be annoying as I am also warry of overtightening the rods and getting them jammed in.

The Durus comes with what look to be 3 very slick universal focus rings. I haven't used them as my lenses have focus rings on them but I am looking at buying some Canon L's and mounting them with the rings.

I know you are asking about 19mm but in case you change plans there's some info.

My 2 cents. (anyone know the short-cut for the cents symbol?)

[Rob Castiglione]

Hi James. I intend using the follow focus on a lightweight set up which I have ordered so it is nice to know the cinevate works on that. What lenses are you using? How do you mind the placement of the large gearbox?

Thanks Alexander. It is certainly not that I do not accept what you are saying. It is just that each follow focus seems optimised for certain specific things. I am going to be using my specific set up (Nikons and 15MM LW rods) for the next 12 months or so. I know that this is a bit of an ask but do you have an images you could quickly post showing the Durus with small diameter Ai/Ais still lenses on the Red?

PS Anyone out there who has the 15mm Durus I would be happy to rent that as I have a 15 LW rod set up coming soon.

[James McLellan]

I will take and post some pictures tomorrow. We are using a 20-60 Cooke zoom and rent RPP's so there is lots of room for the Durus. After shooting some HDSLR stuff on a T2i this past weekend I would say the smaller primes - like 50mm might have problems with the width of the Durus gear. I'll try to hold it up to a canon dslr so you can compare size with what you have.

I think it's extra wide to allow for gear travel on old lenses where the front element rolled with focus. I think the Angenieux 20-120 does that.

Edit: Looks like Alexander commented on fitting 50mm slr primes with the Durus. Since he does it it must work. I will post some pics tomorrow of what we use anyways.

[Rob Castiglione]

James, that is excellent. Thank you.

[James McLellan]

Here are some pics. The canon is a D30 with an 18-55 kit lens for reference.

Two of the focus rings are in a photo provided as well. Hope that helps.

[Rob Castiglione]

Hi James. Thanks a lot. That is indeed helpful. I can see that the gear box and its mounting is indeed quite large and could present problems for shorter lenses. Essentially, I think that I would need to reverse the gear but then it would mean using not using a matte box.

[Alexander Ibrahim]

Do your lenses already have rings mounted?

If not, and you use rings like the Cinevate, I think you may find all the concern is for nought.

With a ring, if you aren't using a pancake lens it won't be an issue.

Actually my biggest issue is that with some SLR lenses the focus ring is right at the front of the lens (like the Canon kit 18-135) and that is far more limiting with a mattebox.

I have no pictures at the moment. I had a couple up on Facebook, but somehow they are lost with the recent update.

[Rob Castiglione]

Hi Alexander. Yes, all the lenses have a Duclos focus rings mounted. I can see how by using Cinevate's rings, the FF would be that much further away from everything. Believe me I would buy the Durus unit in a flash if it would work with my set up.