This $400 knob proves that the SLR really is the movie camera for today’s indie filmmakers. It’s called the Okii Systems USB Follow Focus, and it does what it says, allowing you to control the focus of a Canon SLR via USB. Think of it as focus-by-wire for your SLR.
Canon’s cameras can be controlled by hooking them up to computers,
too, but the Okii knob is arguably more practical on-set, especially as one big point of using an SLR to shoot video is its small size.
What’s that? You at the back there. Speak up. You’re wondering why you shouldn’t just use the auto or manual focus built-in to the camera? Well, pay attention, boy. Autofocus is never used in movies, as it tends to swim around, and if the subject walks away from his focus-point, the camera will refocus on the background. And manual focus, especially the fast accurate kind you need to pull focus between, say, two actors at different distances, is almost impossible with a modern AF lens.
Not only can the Okii knob save and flip between four pre-set focus points, you can also turn its hefty aluminum collar to focus using the lens’s built-in motor. Buttons around the edgers can also control digital zoom (to aid focussing), start/stop shooting, adjust ISO, aperture, shutter speed and exposure compensation, as well as focussing=zone positioning. In short, if you put this on a long (tested up to ten meters) USB cable you have a full remote setup. Plug an HDMI-cable into the camera and hook-up a monitor and you’re done.
The knob costs $400, and is available for pre-order now.
Okii Systems USB Follow Focus knob [Okii via Oh Gizmo]
See Also:
- Nano' Mounts Turn SLRs into Movie-Cameras on the Cheap
- New Chips Poised to Revolutionize Photography, Film
- One-Million-Pixel External Viewfinder for Video-Shooting SLRs …
- Should DSLRs Shoot Video?
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