Official Mattebox / Matte Box F.A.Q.

Great info Barry, thanks. I personaly wait for Redrock Micro Mattebox to come out. If it does what is promissed I think it will be by far the most flexible choice with a reasonble price. We ll see...
 
The Redrock mattebox could well be worth the wait. One ting is for sure is that it will be well thought out and probably thrash the pants off its competitors in terms of value and price.

I myself own the Vocas MB-350 and woouldn't want anything else. Well made, does everything I ask of it and with the new built in kettle on the french flag I have a constant supply of hot steaming tea!

Seriously I highly recommend the Vocas MB-350.
 
I'm with Barry

I'm with Barry

Hey Barry,

Michael Schoenfeld here, (hope you're adjusting to NC - )

I have two HXV's - I bought two Cenruty Precision wide angle matteboxes - 1 for each - no regrets.

Barry - I ordered spare rods from Redrock and they work just fine with CP's camera mount - I think the spare CP rods are holding up my tomato plants in the backyard - (don't really remember what I did w/ them.)

As as for that stupid shoulder bracket.......don't go there.

All the best,

Michael Schoenfeld


View my newest portfolio offerings at:

www.michaelschoenfeld.com
 
Official Mattebox / Matte Box F.A.Q.

The Hyson Films website, http://www.hysonfilms.com/ , has been locked up for sometime with a message that they will soon re-open.

Any news on when that may happen and again offer the nice looking matte box seen in photos on the website?
 
you should contact joel at Hyson Films to see whats happening, it says hes launching new products on the web page, so im sure hes busy with that. Maybe he has some in stock still!

Did you send him an email? if you didnt, then you should. his contact i think is

Joelart05@yahoo.com

get a hold of him, the last time i emailed him was a while ago to let him know i got the new gear rings in the mail, and he responded quickly.
 
I ordered a unit from him three weeks ago and have been waiting for confirmation, tracking number etc. I got an email Thursday night, appologizing for delay. Joel said he's been swamped with orders and getting new production line up and going. He had said my unit was just shipped and would get me the tracking number Friday but still haven't heard back. So who knows.

When a startup hits critical mass and orders explode, delays are not uncommon. Heck, I've had to wait months in some cases for overseas products to finally come in where the company and product have been around for decades. Such is the nature of this business.
 
hopefully he takes care of you craig, ill contact him and see how things are going, ive noticed the site go down a few times and im planning on placing another order with him in a few days anyways, maybe i can get to the bottom of it.
 
Joel is a very reliable and solid guy so don't get frustrated. If you don't need rotating stages, his mattebox is very nicely designed.
 
I got the hyson, it was 240 bucks from hysonfilms.com . his new one is goung to have 3 rotating filter holders if you can wait for his
 
Hi Majormorgan,
the mattebox fits perfectly to the SGPro. I have been sending one mattebox to Wayne (the producer of the mattebox) yesterday, he wants to take some pictures combined with the SGPro. If you can wait, you´ll see how they work together. But they will, Wayne and I checked the measures... And designwise they do, too...

You can use the Geardear mattebox on both, direct on the HVX or on any adapter with SLR lenses. You can even use the mattebox on every ENG camera (digibeta, DVCPro, Varicam) with the right lensmount. That´s one of the advantages of the modular concept...

Best wishes from Germany

Gerhard
 
Hi Richard,
our turnaround times are always delivery next workday after payment via Paypal. And the mail takes two days in Europe and one week worldwide...
Please contact me over mail@geardear.com , it´s easier to attach a pdf-quote than to type in all in a private message...
Gerhard
 
The mattebox is on its way to me. Once I get it, I'll take pictures of it attached to the SGpro Rev.2 and will be sure to post.
 
Hi Barry,

Barry_Green said:
So I went with the Vocas MB-250 (which is also sold by Century Optics, I think they call it something like the Century 4x4 Wide Angle MatteBox Mark II), and I'm content. The Vocas may not be perfect, but I do think it's a better match for the HVX than the Chrosziel is, and it's a bit less expensive too. Especially when used with the Century lenses. Vocas uses its own filter holders that aren't compatible with the Chrosziel or CAVision, which is a point against it.
Click to expand...

I'd like to point out to you that Vocas sells "filterframe size reduces" that reduce the width of the mattebox's filterslots, to accomodate the other brands of filterframes. You can order them from your local dealer under the number #0310-0009

Barry_Green said:
Also, my Vocas has the rails with the goofy flip-out shoulder thing. I puzzled over that one, as it seems to present itself as a ghetto "shoulder mount", but it's not at all, if you tried to put that extended portion over your shoulder you'd accomplish nothing more than to make yourself look goofy. But what it does do is let you jam the shoulder thing into your shoulder, and that helps stability enormously. If you just butt the thing up against your shoulder you can handhold so much more efficiently; it removes your wrist from the equation entirely (instead of three axes of rotation around your wrist, you now have a solid non-moving surface). So it looks a little silly, but I think it's darn handy for handheld work. It's not comfortable, of course, but it is stable. I still prefer using the Steadi-Stick to stabilize because it takes the weight off your back and arm entirely, but if you don't have something like that, the flip-out shoulder brace thing does work surprisingly well. It's not a "shoulder mount", it's a brace you brace the camera against, and in that context it does what it should and makes handheld shots much more stable.
Click to expand...

You are actually using the "shoulder brace" as was intended Barry. The name is a bit clumsy of us, I admit, but most people seem to get the hang of it anyway:) The nice thing about the brace is that it is a very cheap solution. Offcourse steady sticks and the like work better but those cost allot more $.

Mark B.
www.vocas.com
 
Comes in handy preventing unwanted lens flares. Also when light hits the lens directly at most angles, it can illuminate the dust thats on the lens, along with other minor imperfections, and they show up horrible in the picture you are trying to film.

The astetics aside, it is cool lookin, we know. But if shooting outside with passerbys coming from all angles, a large mattebox will discourage them from interupting your shooting since it is all the average person really knows about someone shooting movies, "the big mattebox look" thats what they recongize about cameras, where if even its an HVX, people dont know what that is, so they think its a bulky home video you are shooting, probably think the camera is some ANCIENT vhs cam or something and dont give your location any respect.
 
Official Mattebox / Matte Box F.A.Q.

Last week I posted some pix of Geardear Firestore cage and Backpack.

Received the Mattebox today and here are first pix on HVX. I'll share some impressions in subsequent post... just want to get the pix up first.

Note that Gerhard did not have any baseplates and rails when he hastily sent me this rig. I have set it up on the Zacuto baseplate and rails, this time with the extension rails.











 
The first pix show the optional sidewings and French flag. The last shot shows the standard side pieces.

I'll be writing a little more extensively about this once I actually use it and get a filter or two in it.

The first thing that I will say is that despite the bayonet mount for the HVX lens and despite its light weight, I still honestly recommend using this on rails. I just don't feel comfortable hanging something off the lens without support. Call me overly cautious if you like; however, when dealing with $6K worth of camera I would rather invest a small amount in rails just to be on the safe side. Also, white line on lower part of wing in the head-on shot is not a scratch on the wing; it is cat fur (found everywhere in the home studio).

Quick review-- great job Gerhard. Well worth the money. Quick advice-- take the money you would save between the Geardear and the Petroff (a terrific piece of gear and I'm in no way critical of it) and buy yourself another 8 gb P2 card.

Ned Soltz
 
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