Today we're doing a first look at the Astral Wireless Follow Focus System from CAME-TV. This lets you control focus, iris, and zoom on almost all common camera lenses, including expensive cinema lenses, without ever touching the lens. Wireless Follow Focus tech has been getting cheaper without sacrificing professional features and CAME-TV has come a long way in providing an affordable solution. There's a lot of features packed into the Astral but I'll walk through some of the common ones.

A wireless follow focus system allows you to control the lens remotely, which can create some unique shots.

So why do you need a wireless follow focus? Well the main reason is when you're mounting a camera to a steadicam, gimbal, drone or a jib. But essentially a wireless follow focus system allows you to control the lens without being near the camera. Controlling the lens remotely can actually create some unique and creative shots.

The CAME-TV Astral has a lot of settings you can customize depending on your setup.

Out of the box, the CAME-TV Astral feels heavy duty and professional. Almost all of the components are housed in metal with branding on the front. The controller features a built-in marking disk and an OLED display and the menus can be navigated using the buttons on the controller. It can also be mounted using its 1/4"-20 threads located on the bottom and the sides or worn on a lanyard using it's built in loop. It's powered by a built in LiPo battery that lasts up to 8 hours on a full charge. The best part of the design is the damping knob that gives you much better control when focusing.

The 250 rpm motor means quick snap zooms and focus pulls.

The motor has a .8 MOD gear and can operate at high-torque if you're using heavy duty cinema lenses. With a maximum speed of 250 rpm, you can do some interesting quick zooms. There's also a mini-USB port located on the bottom that allows you to connect to your camera for wireless start and stop. The motor is powered by your camera or an external v-mount battery with the included D-Tap to 6-pin LEMO cable.

Be sure that the open side of the metal sleeve inside the rail mount is facing up, towards the clamp screw as you tighten.

To start, you'll need a rail system for your camera, preferably one that has vertical adjustment. First you connect the rail mount to the motor which has vertical adjustment as well. Next you'll have to clamp the rail mount to the rod. This next part is important to ensure a tight fit. Be sure that the open side of the metal sleeve inside the rail mount is facing up, towards the clamp screw as you tighten. If this metal sleeve is not facing the right direction, you won't have enough tension and the motor will sleep on the gears. Next you want to fine tune all your adjustment points to ensure a good fit with the lens gear. Play with the vertical adjustment on your rail system as well as the vertical adjustment on the motor rail mount. You'll know that it's a good fit when the gears move together. Then, plug in the LOMO power cord into the DC port and run the other end into a D-Tap port on your camera. There's no power switch so the motor will automatically turn on.

The Astral's default torque settings are very strong so I usually hold the gears together before auto calibrating to prevent slippage.

Now turn on the controller by holding the power button for three seconds. It should automatically pair with the receiver. The first thing you'll want to do is go to the calibration menu. Press the OK button. Press OK again to enter calibration. Choose AUTOMATIC. Now the Astral's default torque settings are very strong so I usually hold the gears together before auto calibrating to prevent slippage. More on this later. Press start and the gear will automatically find the hard stops on your lens.

Being able to customize torque settings can accommodate a variety of camera/lens setups.

If you find that the motor keeps slipping it's probably either the rail mount tension which I described earlier or the torque is too strong for your lens and camera combo. You can adjust this by entering the motor settings. Scroll down to TORQUE and press OK. For my setup, an Ursa Mini G2 and Rokinon Cine Lens, I find that setting both the RUN and CALIBRATION torque settings to minimum, solve any slippage issues. Some other interesting miscellaneous features include switching the speed range between A and B points and automatic power shutoff from 10-60 minutes.

I was able to do some fun snap zoom shots by attaching the Astral to the zoom of a Canon 70-200mm lens.

If you're using a cinema lens like the XEEN which has a bit more stiffness, the motor will require more torque which it can easily handle. The ability to control the torque is a great feature for the film professional who uses stiff Cinema lenses as well as the casual video creator who uses photo lenses. Speaking of photo lenses, if your lens has no hard stops like a Canon L series, you can do a manual calibration by rotating the lens and choosing your endpoints. If your camera already has auto-focus, you can use the Astral to control the zoom instead. So that's my first look at the CAME-TV Astral Wireless Follow Focus, one of the more affordable prosumer options out right now. If you have any questions about the Astral that I didn't cover, feel free to hit me up in the comments.

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