Follow Focus Adapter for the Canon 50mm F1.8 (aka the Nifty Fifty) -
May 23, 2013
This adapter ring lets you use your Canon 50mm F1.8 lens (AKA the Nifty-Fifty) with the HONDO Garage 50-Dollar Follow Focus (and most other follow focuses) in either belted or geared mode.
Get yours 3D-Printed Here
The Nifty-Fifty is a great and very affordable prime lens, but it's got this wonky focus ring that's skinny and tapered, making it impossible to use with a follow-focus for cinematic work. But we've changed that. The HONDO Garage Nifty-Fifty Adapter snaps onto the focus ring of your lens, providing an industry-standard 32-pitch (.8 mod) gear ring for use with most follow focuses. It also has an MXL-pitch timing belt groove designed specifically for use with our own Kickstarter-funded 50-Dollar Follow Focus (shown in the photo.)
A lot of work went into this model. The Adapter snaps onto the front of the lens and requires no glue or other fastening methods. If you opt for the black material, it almost looks like part of the original lens when installed. A lot of our follow focus customers have asked for this, so here it is.
One-Minute Movie Throwdown #1 -
May 18, 2013
UPDATE: 9 of 16 spaces left (don't worry, all entries that miss this one will be first in line for the next one. We plan on running this in perpetuity)
Want to win an Everything You Need PRO Bundle? Make a movie and enter the One-Minute-Movie Throwdown. Details below.
How it Works:
The One-Minute Movie Throwdown is more like a dance battle than a film festival. Two movies square off in a head-to-head duel. The winner of each match goes on to the next round. This process repeats until one winner emerges. No second place.
We'll take the first sixteen entries and randomly pair them up. Each day we'll post two movies side by side on the blog here and our volunteer judges will choose a winner and offer some commentary on their choice. Over the course of fifteen days, the entries will be whittled down to a single winner.
The entry period starts now and is limited to sixteen entries. The throwdown will start as soon as the spaces fill up. If you miss this one, don't worry, we plan on doing this in perpetuity because we think it's fun. Think of this as an ongoing venue for competitive filmmaking.
The Rules:
- Any subject or genre will do, but you'll be judged on how well you tell a story
- Your movie cannot be longer than one minute
- Should go without saying, but to win, it has to be a movie you made
- Participation is limited to the first sixteen entries, so no procrastinating
How To Enter:
- Make an awesome movie
- Send a Vimeo or YouTube link to wiley@hondogarage.com with ONE-MINUTE MOVIE THROWDOWN #1 in the subject line
- Keep an eye on this blog for the pairings
The Prize:
For this one we'll be giving away an Everything You Need PRO Bundle.
Simpler, Smaller, Changeable, Interesting - the 4 Design Rules at Hondo Garage -
April 21, 2013
If you were wondering how we decide what to make, here's a list of the four design rules we try to adhere to:
1. Simplify to Affordability
We started Hondo Garage because we like the idea of a world where everyone has access to creative tools. Affordability is the first step in accesibility, but affordable and cheap are two different beasts. Cheaply-made products do not inspire. We hate working with shoddy tools and we assume you do as well. So we design for affordablity by simplifying the product. By reducing the number of parts and features to only those necessary to get the job done, our products become both affordable and a joy to use.
2. When in Doubt, Go Smaller
The future is smaller, cheaper, better. We're always asking ourselves, what's the least amount of material we can use here? The result is gear that fits right in with today's smaller cameras. We consider the 5dMKII the starting point on the large end of the scale. People laugh at those iPhones with cinema lenses attached, but in a sense, that's the future. Pretty soon, the largest part of your camera will be the glass, and the rig. We design our stuff with this move to miniaturization in mind.
3. Reconfiguration is Inevitable
We make quality gear and we expect you'll be using it long after whatever camera you have now is obsolete. That's why we don't make camera-specific rigs. We want the baseplate or cage (yes, we've got a cage in the works) you buy today, to work with whatever camera you buy in the future. Our rigs are based on industry-standard 15mm rods and we assume that you'll reconfigure our stuff into all kinds of strange setups. Kind of like Legos, you might build the model on the box once, but after that, it's all custom. Our Barely Baseplate is not only a minimalist baseplate, but a great accessory mount, a handle mount, or the backbone of our ManCam offset rig (which can be converted into two Barely Rigs). Wherever possible, we make things backward compatible so that when your needs change, all of your gear won't have to.
4. Be Not-Boring
Because we actually design and manufacture our own stuff, we tend to be kind of picky about what we make. We won't design something unless we can do it better or, at the very least, in a more interesting way. We certainly have the capability to churn out knock-offs and make a tidy sum, but that would be incredibly boring, and the whole reason we started Hondo Garage was to spend our time doing not-boring things. We hope you'll use our tools to do not-boring things too.