Jar Openers as Follow Focus!?!

So, I ran across a post a few weeks ago that featured a video from Tony Carretti. He found these little jar openers that work beautifully as a follow focus.

Here’s the video:

And here’s the product:

I couldn’t find them in our local Bed, Bath and Beyond, so I ordered some online. And those were back ordered, so I had to wait almost a month to get them. But, I’ve gotta tell ya, they work! They will fit around all of my lenses and they grip beautifully. I haven’t tried it yet, but I imagine you could even put two on a zoom lens and use one for focus and the other for zooms. The only lens that gives these guys a little trouble is my 50mm pancake lens. The focus ring on that lens is very narrow, so the follow focus sometimes slips around a bit, but it I get it on really tight to begin with and check it every once in a while, even that one seems to be fine. And, hey, for this price? I’ll live with a few little imperfections.

One thing to note is that these guys no longer seem to be going for $2.50, as stated in the video. Mine cost me a whopping $4 each. But, I’ll take that over $400 any day!

Bottom line: If you can find these suckers and you don’t have lots of money for gear, they are well worth the (very minor) investment.