Tilta III Follow Focus Just Arrived
My Tilta Follow Focus just arrived. First impression? Very well machined piece of kit! Not as stiff as the TrusMT and that I like. The small thumb screw on the side of the follow focus acts like a break giving two damping levels. Open it feels like a free wheel. Great for cine lenses. Tightening the thumb screw gets you a nice soft damping. Interesting feature. Feels more like the a Chrosziel follow focus when the break is off. The Tilta follow focus has two hard stops that are set by two threaded pins. When you loosen the pin the stop can be adjusted. lock it in by tightening the pin. The pins need to be removed if you don’t want to use hard stops. I have a feeling I’m going to loose one of those.
At 1lb 4oz. the weight of the unit is heavier than the TrusMT. Not a deal breaker but it stands out. I don’t want anymore weight in the front off the camera if I can avoid it.
I like the rail mount design. The drop in is much easier if you have a matte box attached or anything else in front of the follow focus.
Comes with.
1- Marking plate
4 – 0.8M pitch flexible lens ring
1 – 0.8M pitch pinion gear
This is only my take on about 10 minutes of looking at the follow focus. I need to get it on the camera and give it go. However for now I like what I see so far.
Very solid. Has two dampening settings. Great if you use SLR and cine lenses. Drop in rail mount design is a great feature.
Filed in: Camera News • Equipment Reviews • New Release • Support and Grip
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Would be interested in your views as to how it compares to your Trusmt NF1! Am deciding between this , the trusmt nf1 and the fotga dp500 ver2 (which is a lot cheaper)… not sure if the tilta sale is still available, but do get back to me if it is!
Cheers,
Zexun
One feature that stands out on the Tilta is how low the resistants is when turning the wheel to focus. Almost none. Very different than the TrusMT. The weight is more as well.
That’s good… but well damped gearboxes are important, are they not? Any idea where I can buy them?
Yes it is, however when if it’s to stiff then it’s not so good. Most of the expensive cine follow focuses aren’t stiff because the lens has the dampening instead. With SLR lenses you would need the follow focus to have it instead making it more precise. When both your lens and follow focus are damped then it feels overly stiff and kind of slow.