SmallRig MagicFIZ Wireless Follow Focus Handgrip Kit Review

SmallRig is a manufacturer that has managed to strike that careful balance between quality, design and price. The new SmallRig MagicFIZ Wireless Follow Focus Handgrip Kit provides a professional focusing tool that’s fast to install and offers plenty of flexibility over the way it’s used. 

The kit I’m looking at in this review consists of the wireless handgrip and wireless receiver motor; however, there’s also the option for expansion with the Wireless Hand Wheel Controller, which also looks very nice. 

The system is designed to be modular, so you add or take away as you need. The SmallRig MagicFIZ Wireless Follow Focus Handgrip Kit is designed to get you started and supplies all the hardware, but you will need to purchase the batteries. 

Oddly, SmallRig has opted for two different styles of battery to power the two parts of the system, with the handgrip using a Canon Style EP-L6 and the Reciever Motor requiring an NP-F. This is undoubtedly due to the smaller size of the EP-L6, which fits very neatly inside the grip, whereas the focus motor requires a battery with a little more grunt and capacity.

To use the system with your camera, you will need a cage so that the focus motor and grip can be bolted on; in this test, I use the Black Mamba surrounding the Canon EOS R5 C.

The build quality and material feel of the MagicFIZ are generally good, with high grip and motor build quality and use of materials. There’s a good mix of plastic and metal used where it’s needed; however, while the build is solid enough, I’m not overly taken on the aesthetics; there is a little sci-fi laser gun about the design and why there are go faster stripes on the motor unit I have no idea. However, the aesthetics have no bearing on the form or function of the unit.

Fitting the grip and motor to the camera is relatively easy. First, the geared strap is secured around the lens; this is common practice for all follow-focus systems unless you’re using a CINE lens, in which case the gearing is often an integral part of the lens barrel design. Once that’s attached, it’s time to mount the focus motor on a short 15mm rod that clamps onto a bracket that bolts onto the camera cage. The clamp and rod’s full metal construction ensures that everything is good and solid once in place.

With the Follow Focus Motor in place, the NP-F battery adapter is fitted and the battery clipped into place before everything is rotated so that the gear teeth all meet neatly.

Next up is the grip; this comes with a small adapter clamp that bolts into the side of the grip and then clamps onto the motor bracket. Making sure everything is clamped and secured correctly only takes a couple of minutes, and the process couldn’t be easier as initial set-ups go. The last thing to do is to pop in the EP-L6 battery into the base of the handgrip.

The two units instantly flicker into life by holding the record button on the grip and the up button on the focus wheel. Then it’s just a case of running through the simple one-click calibration process.

Follow-focus systems tend to be modular by design. This means they can easily be adapted to different manufacturers’ camera bodies, lenses and rigs. The SmallRig MagicFIZ system is available in several different kit forms to provide filmmakers with the basic tools to meet their demands. As they get familiar with the system, additional accessories can be added, and the entire system can be expanded.

Some of the key features of the kit are, firstly, the modular design that enables you to start with the grip and follow focus and then add the focus wheel and additional accessories as and when you need them.

In this review, I’ve used the kit with the Black Mamba Cage for the Canon EOS 5 series, but most SmallRig cages offer the mounts required to attach the grip and follow focus mounts easily.

The system is designed to work with manual lenses or AF lenses switched to manual focus. What’s instantly apparent is the high torque of the follow-focus motor. Although it’s relatively small by design, it packs ample power to focus larger and older lenses.

Low latency is essential for any follow focus, which is especially relevant for a wireless system. Usually, follow focus features a direct mechanical link between the mechanism that enables the focus adjustment and the lens’s focus ring. Here that link is made wirelessly, and in use, you would be hard-pushed to tell if there was any delay between the focus wheel and the motor.

An impressive feature is the general battery life of both modules, with the following focus featuring a standard NP-F style battery that can be clipped in place and the grip neatly taking an EP-L6. As both of these batteries are designed for high-impact use, the relatively lightweight use of the motor and grip means you’ll get through a full day of filming before needing a battery change.

After installing the kit, you will need to calibrate the following focus to the lens. This is an easy process with a one-click approach that automatically sets the points.

The range of the wireless system is impressive and definitely worth noting. While you would usually use the grip and follow focus on a connected system, you can separate the two so that a focus puller can sit remotely from the camera. This is a great feature, and the ability to connect in a wireless record function through USB gives you a connection that works at up to 100m.

As follow focus systems go, the MagicFiz and its wireless features offer something a little different.

Once the MagicFIZ is in place, it’s a quick matter of configuring the motor before use. This sets the full focus rotation, and you’re prompted to do this when the devices power up. The Auto Calibration is easy to use and sets Mark A and B, essentially taking you through the full focus range. Initially, this takes a bit of thought over the position of the focus ring as you connect the gears of the motor, but once you realise what’s going on and how it all works, it makes perfect sense.

You set the focus to roughly the mid-focus point, ensure that the lens gear has the clamp at the opposite position to the motor and click calibrate. The motor then rotates the focus ring in either direction and stops when it hits the clamp. It seems a little crude, but I can’t think of another way this would work.

If, for some reason, the calibration fails, you also have the option to set the A and B marks manually. Generally, if the auto-calibration fails, then it’s due to you positioning the focus ring incorrectly, and a little adjustment should get things sorted.

Once the focus is calibrated, you can adjust it using the control wheel on the handle grip; at the base level, that’s the system set-up. However, there’s also the record button. Depending on the system and camera you’re using, you can either connect a USB cable from the grip to the camera or connect through BlueTooth to enable stop-and-start recording. It’s very simple but easy enough to set up and use.

The kit I’ve looked at only features the motor and hand grip, but there is the option to add more motors so that you can adjust the zoom and focus. Pressing the up button enables you to switch to motor select, and then up and down enables you to select the motor. If you have the wheel and the grip, you can assign one to the focus and the other to the zoom, which seems like a very good idea.

In use even with a fixed focal length lens and the ease of use when shooting video is instantly apparent. Having the focus readily available by your index finger rather than having to rotate the focus ring feels far more intuitive.

Considering the price and modular design of the SmallRig MagicFIZ, there is little not to like. The Wireless Follow Focus Handgrip kit works constantly and incredibly well, making the camera rig feel far more comfortable to handhold when filming. Essentially with the MagicFIZ attached you instantly transform your camera into a serious filmmaking tool.

In use, the ability to intuitively adjust the focus with your index finger is the system’s biggest advantage, especially as your system grows and rigs, filter systems, lighting and monitors all start to block the ease of access to the focus ring.

The ability to start and stop recording also boosts the functionality. During the test, I found that the SmallRig MagicFIZ Wireless Follow Focus Handgrip quickly went from a nice addition to the camera to an integral part.

I’m not 100% sold on the style, but I cannot fault the function. The point of the MagicFIZ is to bring professional tools to filmmakers working on a budget, and it does that perfectly. What it also does is give you plenty of scope for expansion. The ability to add the large wireless focus wheel and additional motors makes this a powerful system.

If you film with your DSLR or Mirrorless camera and haven’t yet gone down the Follow Focus route, then the MagicFIZ is well worth a look.