NAB 2012 – Zacuto’s recoil rig & tornado – focusing done right!

by Sebastian WöberApril 23^rd, 2012

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It’s unfortunate that the experience of trying the new Zacuto Tornado remote focus cannot be shared online. I had a chance to test it on a Recoil rig at the Zacuto both and like some other news shooters I was quite impressed.

The Tornado is a really revolutionary device. Just like the also awesome new Redrock thumb focus it allows you adjust focus on your lens while resting your hand on the rig handle. This makes for much more control and long lasting and accurate handheld shooting. Add to that the well balanced Recoil rig setup and you have a really good setup for “large” cameras like the C300 or Scarlet-X.

Is it hard to focus with the Tornado remote focus, does it have play?
No. The translation from your hand movement to the lens is really a direct one. It works pretty good. It’s the device I’ve been asking other companies to produce for years and Zacuto has done it right.

There was one moment when I had an important question for Zacuto product designer Patrick Fee: “The Tornado works great on that Canon lens, but Canons focus ring only has very low resistance, what about focus rings from lenses like Zeiss’ that need to be worked stronger?.” His answer calmed all worries: You’re actually using a Zeiss with that Tornade right now.

Zacuto’s recoil rig is $1306:

The Tornado will be $??? and I also don’t have a price for the extremely useful C300 grip relocator yet.