SnapFocus: An Innovative Follow Focus With Bicycle Brake Levers

Filmmaker Brandon Davis Cole’s interesting take on the traditional follow focus does something that few, if any, products have ever thought to do — integrate bicycle technology into DSLR cinematography. Cole essentially reinvented the follow focus. By instituting a “brake lever” system, the SnapFocus allows cinematographers to keep their camera steady and pull focus quickly and easily to wherever it’s needed, all without ever moving your hands from the SnapFocus handles.

Check out the video to see how it works:

As you can see, this leads to dramatic shifts in focus and extremely impressive production value achieved without the help of a crew. Of course, this one man rig doesn’t come cheap, but then again there’s a lot of money to be saved (and made) when you can achieve this kind of production value all by yourself.

Getting the focus itself minus the “hitchhiker” shoulder mount will run you $399 while adding the shoulder support will cost you a total of $598 (early bird special) or a whopping $799 once that promotion ends. So if this is something you’re interested in, head over to their Kickstarter page and take advantage of some of the better deals while they last.

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