Along with its wider brother (MK 18-55 T2.9), Fujinon's 50-135 T2.9 cine zoom has just gorgeous image quality -- especially when paired with Sony's little a6300. The key is to truly lock the lens down on such a small body, and for that Zacuto's Scissors is fantastic: it locks the lens in place on your rail system by literally screwing into the lens itself, so you don't get flexing in either direction. If you have a Sony e-mount camera, you'll want to take a look at this pair. You may also want to look at the rig I used to hold it all together, the Sachtler Ace Baseplate; SmallRig 15 carbon fiber rods; Really Right Stuff L-bracket; and the edelkrone FocusOne.
Read moreSachtler Ace Follow Focus: Exceptionally Straightforward and Complete
In this penultimate episode of our series on Sachtler gear -- our first exposure to this legendary German company's products -- we take a peek at their follow focus unit, available separately or as part of the complete and beautifully integrated Ace accessories kit (which also includes their matte box and base plate). At $630 for the follow focus alone, it's just over three times the price of my edelkrone FOCUS ONE, but spoiler alert: if it fits with the rest of your gear, I think it's worth it.
Read moreSachtler vs. Zacuto vs. FOTGA -- or Why the HECK Would Someone Spend Five to Ten Times as Much on a Freakin' Baseplate When You Can Get a Perfectly Usable One for $60? THIS is Why.
This is why it makes sense to find the optimal compromise between price and performance for the core components of your gear (camera and lenses): you're going to need a pile more dough for everything else. But "pile" is a relative term. Welcome to episode 2 of what I'm now calling our Goldilocks series, where this time we look at baseplates - a category I used to think was beyond mundane. I was wrong.
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