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Are 3D printed cinema lens housings worth it?

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I’ve seen quite a few of these 3D printed cinema lens housings over the last few years. We’ve featured some of them here on DIYP and I’ve even designed a couple of focus rings for my own lenses in the past. I’ve not had a go at printing a full housing, though.

They need a lot of plastic to make, and they look 3D printed. Are they really worth it? In this video, Adam Harig at FoxTailWhipz attempts to answer that question by printing one of the housings available for his Tokina 28-70mm f/2.6-2.8 lens.

First look at the new SmallRig F60 modular follow-focus unit

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Follow-focus units have been around for a long time. Over the last few years, we’ve seen many of them pop up from quite a few companies. Particularly manual follow-focus units. You’d think that by now, it’d be pretty difficult to innovate and do something a little different, right? Well, SmallRig’s taken up that gauntlet and run with it for the new Small F60 (buy here) modular follow-focus unit. And despite the buzz over last year’s SmallRig MagicFiz, this one’s all manual.

What makes the new one so special then? Well, it dispenses with the lens gears. Sort of. It does come with a gear for those using cinema lenses, but it also includes a friction wheel for those who want to use photography lenses without the hassle of fitting gears each time. We spoke with David Zhuo on the SmallRig stand at NAB 2023 to learn more.

SmallRig announces their new modular MagicFIZ Wireless Follow Focus System

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Camera accessory manufacturer SmallRig has now officially announced their new MagicFIZ Wireless Follow Focus System. No stranger to follow-focus systems, SmallRig’s latest release takes the wheel off the camera for remote use by focus pullers for gimbal, shoulder-mounted, or handheld cameras and for those working in a small crew where you can’t always stand behind every camera.

It has less than 50ms latency up to a distance of 100 meters (328ft) over 2.4GHz and features secure data transmission using what SmallRig describes as “specialized encryption algorithms” to ensure that signals are interference-free, even with multiple units on set. We got to take a brief look at the new unit pre-announcement last month at IBC 2022.

SmallRig becomes a BigFish with new follow focus, battery and audio system

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SmallRig is on a mission. They may be small by name, but they have big plans. Initially known for their camera cages, rods and handles, they’ve been scaling at an incredible rate and are excited to be expanding their range of products to better serve their customers.

DIYP had a chat with Wilson Chen from SmallRig about where the brand is headed and what we can look forward to seeing in the near future from them.

Convert your vintage photography lenses into DIY cine lenses with these 3D printed housings

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The popularity of classic photography lenses for video has seen a massive increase in the last few years. And it’s no surprise. Some of those old lenses have a fantastic look about them and produce footage that would be difficult or impossible to shoot with modern glass without a lot of post-processing effects to simulate it. And even then, it wouldn’t look 100% the same.

But vintage photography lenses aren’t exactly built for video use. They’re designed to be operated by hand, twisting the focus and aperture rings manually, not with a follow focus unit or a gimbal motor. But Fusion 360 wizard, Edward Park has created a bunch of 3D printable housings to convert them and made them freely available to download.

The Tilta Nucleus Nano adds a wireless focus wheel & motor to your gimbal

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If you’ve been jealous of the focus wheels available on the Zhiyun Crane 2 and Crane 3 LAB because your gimbal doesn’t have one, then lust no longer. Tilta has now released the Nucleus-Nano wireless follow focus system for gimbals that don’t have this feature built into the unit. It comes with adapters for the DJI Ronin-S as well as other Zhiyun Crane gimbals that don’t have a built-in focus wheel. And it’s only $229.

How to make your own DIY wireless follow focus rig out of LEGO

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Other than being the greatest toy ever, LEGO bricks have been proven useful in photography and filmmaking. Some creatives use them as subjects, and some make sliders or stabilizers out of them. In this video, Jacob Kassnoff of Indy Mogul demonstrates how he made a DIY follow focus rig using LEGO bricks and a single 3D-printed piece. So if your stash of LEGO is gathering dust somewhere in the attic, here’s a chance to play with it again in this super-geeky project.

Take a peek inside the Hocus factory and watch how they hand build a $2,000 follow focus

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I always love watching how things are made, especially the tools that man of us use on a daily basis. So, when I see a new video pass my screen showing the inner workings of the production line, I’m fascinated.

In this video, we take a look inside the Hocus Products factory. This is where they assemble all the components for their $2,000 Reflex follow focus by hand. And I’m not just talking about putting motors in a case, either. They actually assemble the motors themselves from the basic parts, completely by hand.

DJI’s new follow focus lets you remotely focus your drone’s camera lens from 3 miles away

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Designed for both the land and air, the new DJI Focus remote follow focus system wants to change the way we record our aerial footage.

No longer are we limited to hyperfocal distance and infinity focus lenses that have everything sharp. Now, we’re able to nail focus on our subject and use cinematic focus pulling techniques while shooting from the skies.

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