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

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.

What I find particularly interesting about these types of videos are the custom tools and jigs used for their own tasks. Tools that you have they either create themselves or have specially made. Because they’re certainly not standard. Like this soldering jig, for example, which holds all the components together while each joint is soldered by hand.

There’s something about items that are built by hand. The human touch that can just “feel” when something is right, that robots can’t pick up on. Not a single part of the process is automated. Even the screws are placed manually, and then driven home by standard person-powered screwdrivers.

When you see how much care and attention goes into the construction of each unit, you can understand why they command such prices.

You can find out more about the Hocus Reflex motor on the Hocus website.