D|Focus V1 Review by photonashville on cinema5d.com Forum - Visit the Full Thread

I have been using the DFocus FF for about 4 months. I honestly think for the price point, Dave makes one helluva decent FF. It works very well. I find a little play but nothing that is a deal breaker or an issue in filming. The unit is very adjustable, more so than other brands. You may wonder why is that important. Well, for one, Canon lenses need the gearing to be reversed from Nikon lenses. I don't know if Dave knows but his gear box can be removed and flipped over so that the main gear is to the back end with the FF on camera left. This helps with spacing of the FF on the rails and fits well for using prime lenses which have focus rings so close to the camera body.

The DFocus works great with Cinevate and RR/dvcity.com lens gears. I personally do not like the little zip gears offered, but Dave has designed new gears that should be great cost effective alternative to other brands of lens gears.

I opted for the double gears which I think helps to give a wider contact area to the lens gears. His rail block is plenty strong. I think he uses Delrin plastic for those. The ironic thing is that for the price and how he designed it from existing parts and his own CNC made parts, it's so much more versatile that others. The lack of versatility on some FF is a failure when using them for DLSRs like the 5D, in my opinion.

While I have recently been using a Cinevate Durus (which costs 10x as much!), I am still going to keep the DFocus. I have been doing some mods on the DFocus to fix some issues I have had. Dave uses round rods to mount gear, gear box gears, and knob. That works, but lenses with stiff focusing rings make any one of those things to slip on the small rods, because no matter how hard the set screws are set, there is still the chance one or many for them to slip. So I have ground a flap edge on the small rods where needed so the set screws for all the parts can't slip. Works well, except one tiny thing arose from doing that. The large gear is press fit with its metal set screw collar which spins around the collar now. So I need to glue the large gear to the collar which should finish out that fix.

The other thing is that I like to use a FF as an actual handle. The Durus is so strong, "as if it's forged from a single block of metal", that it really is now my left handle. The DFocus isn't quite that robust to use it exclusively as a handle, but I don't fault it for that. It's not intended or designed to be one. I did replace the "z" shaped angle brackets on the DFocus with a single steel z bent piece to match which I think helps a little to add more strength and one less screw joint.

One thing I truly like more about the DFocus than the Durus is the larger size of the gear. The Durus gear is too small that contacts the lens gear. I wish they made it with a larger diameter similar to what the DFocus has. Larger diameter gear, means less rotation(s) with long focus lenses such as Zeiss. Unfortunately the gear on the Durus is so proprietary in how it attaches, there is currently no way of mounting a larger diameter gear.

I will post some photos of how I have configured the DFocus specifically for the 5DII and Zeiss primes soon.

I personally don't think anyone who is interested in a decent, inexpensive, very useful, effective follow focus should hesitate to buy the DFocus. Maybe the low price scares some people. I look at it as we are lucky that one small boutique gear maker has put out a product that is high in functionality with a low price point. You really can't go wrong. It may not be to everyone's liking, but for budget conscious shooters, consider it your first choice.

What I do like about Dave, he comes across as a very honest person, designer and small business. I don't feel there is anything "shifty", which I feel when dealing with some large faceless businesses sometimes. I follow him on Twitter because it's a great way of finding new announcements and see his progress. He's also honest about how much stock he has in and when he should have more. Something other companies should do.

I have no affiliation with DFocus or Dave. I am a still shooter in Nashville, TN who has been working towards shooting motion this year to add to my own visual creative content for my clients. (It's taking longer than expected though, but fun and challenging.)

Added: I also wanted to mention that the single screw used to tighten both the rail block and adjust and tighten the FF bracket works well. It's a simple design and does two things just fine. One caveat, when adjusting the FF gear to a lens gear, it's best to apply a little downward pressure on the FF aluminum bracket to the rail block when tightening the screw. This makes everything come together. It's something you just have to experience and get the feel. Then you'll know what I am talking about. And always allow a very tiny setback between the FF gear and lens gear. This helps any brand of FF not to bind with the lens gear.

Doing a review in video form would be sooooo much easier than typing it out. Some things are just easier to convey by watching it than reading it. Maybe if I have the time, I might do that over the holidays here. We'll see.

One of my goals soon it to get Dave's new handle that has the accessory port to update the earlier none port version I have.