The Gini’s iFocus has now been out for quite a few months. When it first came out I saw a review on another website and I bought it 10 minutes later, the review has totally sold it to me. Now, 2 months or so later I managed to get around to my own review of this unit. If watched the video above, you’ll know my initial thoughts. I filmed that video about a month ago and by now I’ve used the iFocus quite a few times. So let me go through all the point in the video with my updated view on them.
First of all, the unit is so nicely built. It’s very solid, quite heavy and feels really nice. This is my 4th FF by now and it is certainly the most professional, high-end looking out of 4, although Trusmt FF also looks and feels really cool.
Looks and feel are important, but to me and probably most of you the performance is the most important thing in a Follow Focus. Considering the price of this FF is certainly doesn’t disappoint. It is slightly cheaper (only slightly due to Gini’s high postage costs) than my Trusmt and Camtree, but the performance- wise is it the same if not better than the other 2. The focusing knob is large and feels very good in the hand. The gearbox is one of the best at this price range, but it still has some play, which is a shame. The other reviewer claimed his didn’t have any play at all and this is the reason why I got mine. I wonder if it just my copy that has play or is it just how this gearbox performs.
One of very unusually things about this follow focus is that it is mounted to just one rod. Initially I was concerned that due to its weight the unit would move out of position, but after using it for a few times I didn’t experience any problems at all, so no problems there; this cool design actually works.
As mentioned in the video, the gear box can be reversed and I did have to reverse it for my needs. It took a few minutes and was not very difficult, so this is a very nice feature on this unit. Again great design that makes sense and works.
It is a shame though that the actual gear can’t be swapped from one side of the gearbox to another as I was unable to use the ifocus on the left side of the rig with smaller lenses like 28mm/50mm. The unit digs into the camera while the focus gear is stays to far away. The only thing to do is to fit the FF to the right side of the rig, which some of you probably do anyway, but I usually have mine on the left and for me it is a bit of a problem.
Few other points: The pointer is not movable, but for me it is not a big deal. I couldn’t take off the marking disc, which is again is not a big deal. The marking disc itself is very large; great for setting a lot of precise marks.
Overall the unit is great, definitely worth the money. If you are about to buy your first FF, you should take a very good look at this unit. However, if you already have one of the decent budget FFs it might not be worth the upgrade.
Nevertheless, apart for a few slight downsides it is still one of the best budget FFs and one of my favorite too.
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