Get the look you want with the focus range you need.

The issue with doing any kind of macro or tabletop work is the fact that your tools don’t scale to the subject. That’s always been the challenge of doing this type of work. You have to build your own tools to execute shots because the equipment grossly outsizes the subject, even in the digital age. To solve this problem, we custom designed and engineered a digital version of a tool once used primarily for film: our bellows focusing digital camera.

Cobalt’s Custom-Built Solution
To overcome the limited focal lengths of available macro lenses and to avoid hanging a lot of accessories on the lens and support bracketry, we designed and engineered a unique system to focus our Red 6K Epic camera. Our Bellows-Focusing Camera derives focus by moving the camera toward and away from the lens instead of rotating the lens, which can introduce distortion.

The Benefits are Numerous
Its range is impressive: you can shoot about an inch from the subject, all the way to infinity. What you get are amazing focus ranges and amazing close focus. It’s motorized to integrate seamlessly into our Motion Control system so that you can write the most complex focus racks in a snap. It’s also a PL mount system the Industry standard. So, any and every imaginable PL mount lens now becomes a macro lens.

Our Bellows-Focusing Camera in Action
Our clients use it to shoot food and jewelry all the time. For a Kay Jewelers’ commercial featuring a cascade of tiny loose diamonds, it achieved an incredible three-quarters of an inch frame size—incredibly close. And for a Cobalt-supported Hulu shoot, it enabled a shot to focus on the eye of “Breaking Bad” actor, Aaron Paul, then widen out to a medium shot.

If you have any challenging production needs coming up, we’d love to be a resource.

Let’s talk.

 


We are closer to Midtown than Brooklyn.

If you haven’t shot in NJ lately,
there’s a lot to catch up on.

Let’s talk.