Imagine you had 2,000$ which mattebox would you buy???

TimurCivan

TimurCivan

Director of Photography
Staff member
I only ask this because my equitpment for an upcoming gig is being paid for by the production comapny. essentially i have a carte blanche black check to buy equiptment. I will be shooting with my SgPro HVX combo, on 24" redrock rods. so space is not the issue, but im concerned about the height of the lenses, while on a Zacuto plate. they are inline with the HVX stock lens, so the height hsould be standard.

I am not afraid to spend some money on this. I need the best. most flexible. i figure choriznel, or Caivision, buti wanna hearwhat you guys use and are happy with. i need at least 2 filter stages, one rotating.

THANK GUYS!
 
I've seen several people with the chrosziel mattebox on their hvx's and they've had nothing but good things to say about it. None of them, however, used a 35mm adapter so i don't know if that changes things or not. I've had no real personal experience with it though.
 
Not that big of a fan of the Chrosziel, I had one and sold it off. I like the Vocas better, mainly for its integration with the Century wide-angle and teleconverters.
 
I have the 4x5 Chroz. I purchased it already set up for the HVX and it fits perfectly. Doesn't look or feel like overkill for the camera. Beautifully engineered. Haven't used it with a wide angle though. Can't comment on the Vocas or Petroff because I haven't used them however they are both excellent brands. Cavision is probably a step below these 3 manufacturers.
 
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i forgot tomention the have to be 15mm rail mountable. does the choriznell asjust ???? up and down?
 
I second the Petroff with the Zacuto rails. With the 105mm adaptor ring it fits the wide and telephoto coneverters perfectly. I have it set up with the wide. Easy to take off and on. The sidewings cost about half what the Chrosziels do. A well designed piece of equipment. The universal rails made it easy to adjust to fit the mattebox. Also I didn't want to buy a mattebox that I wouldn't be able to adapt to a larger camera and the Petroff is highly modular.
 
Vocas is a great mattebox...I currently have 2 of them. But the rotating stages tend to bind after time. I've tried lots to get them to turn smotthly and effortlessly to no avail. About 10 years ago I had a Petroff. It was great but the company had some problems at that time and I couldn't get it serviced. They have since restructured and have come out an even better company with an even better product. If I were to buy now, I'd go with the Petroff.
 
Would i need a 4x4 or a 4x5 for wide angle lenses, 18mm, 16mm, 24mm, and 16:9 framing.

Petroff looks GREAT!
 
TimurCivan,

The Chrosziel system specifically made for the HVX is the 450-HVX200K. It has one fixed 4x4 and one rotating 4x5.6 filterstage.
It handles 16x9 but not sure if it will cover a wide angle field of view.
The rails do adjust up and down.
 
I have Mattebox Geardear, it is very easy to use and it can be removed in 3 seconds. With your place, I would take a mattebox Geardear and I would keep the remainder to buy a Kessler crane…

www.geardear.com
 
I would never spend 2k on a mattbox if it were my own money, but if you have the means, a professional company like chrosziel seems to be a solid choice.
 
I had a 3x3 Cavision on a PD150- not too impressed, as it vignetted on the stock lens. Maybe they have improved their product, but they are definitely a few rungs below Chrosziel, Vocas and Petroff.

I have a 4x4 Chrosziel on my 100A and like it alot. What's not to like really- well besides the price...

For my HVX I went back and forth between the Vocas anfd the Petroff and ended up with Petroff 4x5, rails and follow focus. It's very easy to adjust, modular and fits nicely. I'm curious as to it's durability over the long haul, given the plastic clamp screw and the other clamp nobs.

Also, the filters don't slide into the trays as positively as the Chrosziel. I insert the filters a bit more carefully than the Chrosziel to ensure they are in. I wish it had metal filter trays. I'm very happy with it overall, with just those two concerns.

As others have said, the Chrosziel, Vocas and Petroff are all top notch.
 
im going to Abel Cine wednesday. I'ma look atthe Choriznel. if it awesome im ordering one.
 
I did a bit of research online before buying the Chroizel 2 stage with 4x5 fixed, set up for HVX by ABEL CINE NY.

I was very apprehensive about buying something like a matte box without having it for a test in person but I could not wait. I HIGHLY recommend you try any mattebox out yourself unless like me, you are 4 hours away from the nearest pro store.

I love the Chroizel box, it is flawlessly engineered from aluminum and composite materials. Stages are super smooth and filters are easy to change & adjust.

One note however: If you have and use the Century WIde (I have the .6x) it will vignette like crazy making it useless.

For situations I need the filter on the wide, I have a Schneider lens shade/filter holder. It at holds one 4x4 but does not rotate so 4x4 pola will not work.

The schneider shade was $125.00. I use the 4x4 holder from the Chroizel and it's perfect.

CAVISION: I used one last week for the first time. It was fitted to and SDX-900. It was brought by the client for use with my 4x4's .

It was awful. The stages stuck making it very difficult to remove / move the holders.

When the 4x4 holders were empty, it was even more difficult to get them back into the box as they are extremely thin and flimsy.

Because of Barry's comments about the Vocas I am going to check it out at NAB. If I like it better, my Chrosiel may be up for sale.

Steve in S. FL.
 
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