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I'm not following the article. I think I understand what the rack focus technique is, described in the first sentence. But what does that have to do with a non-reflex lens viewfinder arrangement? What does the last sentence mean?:

rack focus the camera by looking through the viewfinder then sliding the camera over so that the shot would be in focus.

Is it suggesting the camera split apart so the viewfinder could be in the focal frame? Or is it merely that the viewfinder showed the correct focus, but was significantly off-axis? Neither is obvious how it would connect to the focusing effect. — EncMstr 04:42, 13 March 2007 (UTC) reply

I agree. Follow focus says

• the act of changing focus is called "pulling" or "racking" focus

One could make a distinction that 'follow' implies a single moving object is kept in focus, whereas the definition here switches the focus from one near object to a different, far one (or vice-versa).

Maybe cinematographers use 'pulling' as the most general term, covering 'follow' or 'racking' techniques ?

Or pulling=racking - any focussing during shooting ? And the definition here is too specific ? And this page should be deleted - redirect to Follow focus.

Probably no consensus. Any reliable sources ?

OK - consensus seems to be pulling = (racking OR follow)

Unlike a Follow Focus shot, a rack focus shot is usually done not from the necessity of keeping someone in focus but to shift attention from one thing to another.

To change the plane of focus from one object or character to another within a shot

focus from one plane to another during a shot thereby directing the attention of the viewer

Focus-Through (racking) - A change of the field in focus taking the viewer from one object to another that was previously out of focus.

The "looking through the viewfinder then sliding the camera over" bit sounds like a reference to sliding-back cameras, where the film and ground-glass can be moved alternately into the same position..

But surely they're still-cameras-only - can't be used during filming movies ?

I would suggest the term has more to do with older Rack and pinion focussing mechanisms rather than helix screws ?

Delete the odd sentence and refer to Chinagraph marks on the white Follow focus disk ?

Or rename Follow focus to Pulling focus and merge this in ?

-- 195.137.93.171 ( talk) 07:20, 10 August 2012 (UTC) reply

This is a pointless stub article, and should be deleted. The follow focus article is a little better (though technically in the film business "Follow Focus" refers the the mechanism on the camera used to achieve this rather than the actual technique itself, though I don't have a reliable source that asserts this.)

The Richard Rush claim is either nonsense or a severe distortion of what Rush might have said (I have no access to the cited source). The technique of racking or pulling focus as described in this article has existed since the early days of movies. DW Griffiths' 1912 film "The Musketeers of Pig Alley" clearly shows the technique in use before Richard Rush was even born. Verlaine76 ( talk) 13:48, 14 October 2019 (UTC) reply

Hello, I propose to merge Focus puller with this page, Racking focus because the Focus puller page links here and is essentially a description of the process. The article may then require some more cleaning up and streamlining, but I think it makes sense to fuse them. Don Tango Enchained ( talk) 16:34, 20 April 2020 (UTC) reply