"High Ice" was the first of many movies I shot stills for and on my first day on the set I met Marvin Greenberg, the focus puller. Focus pullers are the unsung heroes of movie making. Their job is to sit next to the big 35mm Panavision movie camera and hold onto the lens focusing ring. Then, in a pre-rehearsed dance, they slowly shift the lens' focus as the cameraman keeps the actors in the frame following the action.
Before shooting a scene, Marvin would measure the distance between the camera and the actors and mark the lens accordingly. When the action began, his job was to "pull" the focus between the players as marked on the lens. It was a difficult job,I've been trying to find the perfect keyboard case for the iPad and realized that the iPad bluetooth keyboard and a stand is actually my perfect solution for the iPad to say the least, and he was a master at it.
while it's easy to shoot videos,iPad smart cover is a device attached to a host computer. Storage, Input, Output device, display device, graphical display and Expansion card simple things like changing focus within a scene while recording video remains tricky. In even a simple two-shot, trying to shift focus between the speakers can be a scene jittering experience that is next to impossible to do smoothly with the narrow focusing rings on most digital SLR lenses.
A new device from Microfacturing, however, seeks to solve this problem for the would-be Wes Andersons or James Camerons of the world. The Lens/Focus Shifter is a lens gripping lever that its designers claim will give DSLR users a professional solution on an amateur budget.
As shown in the pictures included with this story, the Lens/Focus Shifter is a big lever that attaches around the lens focus by way of a toothed rubber gasket strap. By moving the lever, the leverage creates better, smoother control of focus than you can do with your fingers.