Hocus Focus Remote Focus Puller Now Available
 

I got an email announcing that the Hocus Focus, a reasonable cost wireless focus unit, is now available for sale. I know this has been discussed over the past few months. Here is the link:
Hocus Products, Home of the Hocus Focus

Check Legality First!
 

I would urge prospective buyers to research the legality of this unit in the country where they plan to operate it.

The spec sheet states it uses the 433-434 MHz as its "Worldwide" frequency, and 900 MHz for the USA version.

This unit apparently comes from a UK manufacturer and/or distributor. 433-434 MHz is allocated to the Amateur Radio Service in the UK (as it is in the USA, Canada, Australia and many other countries), making the unit illegal to use there.

The spec sheet simply says the USA version uses "900 MHz", but goes into no further detail. In the USA, the 900 MHz band includes Amateur Radio operators at 902-928 MHz, and Nextel "push-to-talk" cell phones (Transmit: 896 - 902 MHz and 935 - 941 MHz
Receive: 935 - 941 MHz).

Jack, this may be really good news if you are in the UK or EU.

I discussed the HoFo being imported in the US with Peter last week, and he said they were submitting it for FCC approval (which is likely to take a some time). So as of now, I don't think they are fully legal to import.

If you work for, or have a contact at, one of the big TV networks, you could always have it shipped there (US Customs rarely opens those shipments), or if you live or have a friend that lives in Canada, have it shipped there, and then import it to the US (less duty and hassles importing into Canada, and importing to the US from Canada is pretty painless).

Of course, getting a HoFo is pretty much going to be dependent on what the first purchasers have to say about it in a real world production setting. Peter states that it will most likely not work with cine lenses, so a stiff video lens may also cause a problem. RED lenses tend to be a little on the stiff side and I don't know if the HoFo has been tested on the RED or not. Lots of questions, few answers.

Always remember that old (politically incorrect) American saying, "The pioneers get the arrows, the settlers get the land".

Does this unit use so much power in the antenna DA that it could interrupt another radio signal that is less than 650ft away?

Hi Everyone,

Its Pete from Hocus Products.

The legal status regarding the HoFo in the US is a little bit of a grey area. Whilst the unit has not been put through FCC testing, the FCC don't seem to be able to give me a solid answer on weather or not it is legal to import. We did take one unit to NAB in Vegas, and it was waved straight through.

We are working on FCC approval, but we have recently ended our relationship with our distributors, which means I don't have a lot of money for FCC testing right now. Give me a few weeks and we should be in a better position to get something done about it.

Thanks,


Pete.

It is too bad you do not choose a 2.4Ghz frequency, that is worlwide available.