Upgradeble Mattebox. anyone have experience with this?

DavidChia

DavidChia

Well-known member
Hi,
i found the site in germany http://www.geardear.com/
The system looks great, one could buy and upgrade as one needs increase. mix and match, build from scratch. Have anyone use this system before?

My concerns are, how strong is the set up, ease of use when changing filters, weight without rod support, does it harm your camera treads?

David
 
hi

i´ve bought it last year and it is really great. it´s lightweight and sturdy, supereasy to set up and the material is wonderful. i´ve the medium mattebox and its pretty all i need, but i´ll get the french and sides, because its a little more beauty ;)
and gerhard is a really nice man - and really fast with his service. ordered on 25.12 got it at 28.12!!

so all i can say: go on and get it :)
 
Very happy with Gerhard mattebox. Just 90% of the time I don't use sides and french flag. I find usefull those masks to put in front of the box. Buy 3/4 stages if you can. Maybe you'll need to put just 1 filter at time, but then you'll have extras when needed
 
I bought the Mattebox first and it works very well - mounted on the lens.
But I wanted to use an ND soft grad filter (vertical) and there wasn't anywhere for the filter to move downwards, so Gerhard sent a replacement filter tray. Then another because the first wasn't right.

Then I added the Rail System, French Flag and Sides - and ran into all kinds of trouble. Parts didn't fit because other parts got in the way - and I have to slacken all the assembly bolts before I can insert a filter.

There were no instructions at all with either lot of equipment - and the pictures on the Geardear Website were unclear (assembly-wise). Gerhard has since rectified this.

I had to file some parts down to get them to fit - and I had to file the sharp edges off the filter trays to prevent them snagging. They are much better now - but I still have to loosen the whole assembly to change a filter.

In my opinion, the Base that houses the Rods, is not strong enough. It twists very easily and to be honest, I have my doubts whether it actually supports the Mattebox, French Flag and Sidewings at all.

Also, the sidewings are too floppy - the slightest movement of the camera causes them to move (sometimes with disasterous consequences).

I have now taped-up French Flag and Sidewings, so they can't move around.

I should add that, as Alvise Tedesco said, you don't need the French Flag and Sidewings - the Mattebox itself does a great job. I bought them because I'm working with dogs in very muddy and wet conditions, so they protect the lens from splashes etc - they're great for this!

I sent Gerhard an email with all my comments about the system (I think it's really great but needs further development) - he didn't reply.

Andy
 
andynick said:
In my opinion, the Base that houses the Rods, is not strong enough. It twists very easily and to be honest, I have my doubts whether it actually supports the Mattebox, French Flag and Sidewings at allAndy
Click to expand...

True. I bought a second screw and doubled the base. Now it is strong. I spent a lot of time emailing with Gerhard, and spent some more € each time I wanted an "improved/fixed" piece. I still always need to remember not to take upside down the camera (relax between handheld shots with camera+M2 on rods) when a polarizer is in the filter tray...It will easily fall on the ground. I also had to cut paper shapes now inserted between stages and customize bottom parts to let grad filter tray move ok and downward...and I tried different papers before the one that worked fine...
Maybe today I would wait a little seeing how will perform the RedrockMicro Mattebox.
But I'm still very happy with my Geardear, (especially) after those "homemade" improvements

Cheers
 
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