NAB 2012 – Jag35′s affordable ultralight rig & follow focus

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Jag35‘s continues efforts to create useful HDSLR gear at extremely low prices continues with the new DvRunner rig, which is targeted at people with small camcorders, but looks like it wouldn’t mind to add extra stability to an HDSLR either.

They have also increased the quality of their low cost remote follow focus system.

You can find the $149 DvRunner rig at Jag35 here
and the $199 Sidekick Follow Focus here.

Check out all other Jag35 gear at www.jag35.com

Video Review: JAG35 electronic FF – impressive with trade-offs

The JAG35 electronic follow focus is a motorized focussing system that is controlled via a thumbunit.

After I had seen it at NAB this year and tested some similar products I wanted to take a closer look at this device which lies at one tenth the price of some of its competition while still delivering a working solution (with some trade-offs).

Buy it here: LINK

To get the exact package as seen in the video you will need the following items:
J2D or J3D motor*
LP-E6 battery plate
M1 thumb controller
12v powercable
3.5mm headphone jack cable
you might also need a D|gear or zip gear on your lens

In the video I’m using

and this

What I didn’t mention in the video:
A good idea to prevent your motor from going past a hard stop on your lens is to set it up so the controllers starting point equals the inifity point (or close focus point if you’re working closer to this one) on your lens. The motor is very accurate and this way you’ll have at least one point the motor will not overshoot.

Note:
The noise test clip at 6:15 has not been edited for noice cancellation or such.

*About the motors:
The J2D is Digital, has metal internal gears, higher torque, faster speed, and it rotates the lens barrel 150° a good match for iris or zoom on Cinema Lenses. It also has the added feature of being able to be used on either side of the lens by swiveling the motor head. The J3D Is also Digital and designed for longer throw lenses like Zeiss CP2 and other PL cinema lenses. It rotates the lens barrel approximately 330°.

Thank to the guys at DigiRental Vienna for their friendly service and support:
kameraverleih.at/

NAB 2011 – JAG35 blows me away – $900 LCS

By: Sebastian Wöber

One of the most intriguing booths I’ve seen at NAB so far was the Garcia brother’s corner. They’ve become famous in hdslr world with a company they call “JAG35″ and while they’ve started out with affordable and not so good quality products, they’ve managed to make affordable and amazingly awesome products by now. I’ve talked to Misa a lot and I’ve tried all their new stuff. Their philosophy: They constantly improve their products based on user feedback and get out new versions very quickly to serve great quality and usability at an affordable price.
I’ve never seen an LCS (lens control system) that’s so affordable and I’ve never guessed I’d ever see one that works so well at this price. You get the whole thing (complete version with two motors) for $900, it’s crazy.
The one downside I can see, or should I say “hear” is the noise the motors produce. You’ll be able to catch it in the video (keep in mind: some parts of the video have closeup shots that have no sound in them, please forgive the crappy editing on that part).
It’s a noise that has a rather small frequency throw, so it will probably be easy to cancel it out in post, but this will still be a downer for some people. Never the less, I’m already sold and I’m sure they’ll produce an encased version of the product in the future to kill the noise further.

Get their stuff on the Jag35 website.

More…

Tatto Doc BTS With JAG 35

[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/16113456[/vimeo]

By: Jared Abrams

Misa Garcia from JAG 35 shot this little BTS video from a short documentary we are working on with Dave Hatton from The Velvet Grip Family for my personal website Wide Open Camera. We used multiple cameras with JAG35 rigs and tested out their new on board battery and Monitor X  viewfinder. It was great to work with the manufactures on this shoot. We were able to give Misa direct feedback about his gear. The crew over at JAG are filmmakers like us and it really shows in this killer video they put together.

Here is the rough cut Trailer for the Short Doc.

[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/16060087[/vimeo][