Another Matte Box Thread

G

Gavin Garrison

Active member
I've seen various posts peppered here and there, and a lot of two year old threads, which don't really help anymore:

Now that there are a few sub-$500 matte box options, which way do people suggest?

I see a lot of Geardear boxes.

Indiesnap boxes seem a quite bit more limited, but are a contender nonetheless.

The RR I'm assuming is a bit pricier?

The Formatt is pushing the $450 range, so a bit more than a typical Geardear setup, 2x as much as Indiesnap.

Anyone willing to chime in appreciated!
 
I've been using the Indiesnap since January on my XHA1 and GL2. (it's easy to make it work on either with as simple reduction ring for the GL2).

True, it is a bit limited (for example to rotate the filters you rotate the entire mattebox). And, it's very lightwight so you don't want to accidently sit on it...it will be destroyed. On the other hand, because it is so lightweight, you don't need rails. They do make a rail support for the box if you want, but it really doesn't need it.

It does what it was intended to do and it does it well.


I probably will upgrade to a sturdier box down the road, but for now, it's just fine.
 
bump

The other mattebox thread turned into a giant argument about poaching other people's designs. As interesting as that is, I don't really want to read through a bunch of people arguing with each other (no offense to anyone). I don't have a deep passion for defending or attacking any of the companies involved. I just want to know which mattebox does the job best for the price. Yes, that equals a lot of questions, like, "do you want rotating stages?," or "4x4 or 3x3?" SO, I'm purely looking for opinions. Seems like a lot of people have Geardear. Then again, a lot of people have gone the eBay Indian route. Sigh...
 
Just Noticed you have A LEX. I would rule out any Thread Mount matte boxes for a 35mm adapter. I have the Indie Snap Mattebox. But the weight of the box mounted to the lens threads of my canon FD lenses make pulling focus hard with a FF. Sometime gears slip and it can be messy.

If you have a LEX than you should already have rails. I would get a Rail Mount Mattebox.
 
Good point....although Indiesnap now makes a rail mount for their box. If I was smart enough to make one out of cardboard or plastic that worked and looked "professional" I'd probabaly do that instead. :laugh:
 
Haha, yeah if I could paper-mache my way to greatness I would too. Plus I'd have totally rockin' Mjolnir armor to do it in style.
 
Hi there,

I'm in a similar position to the original poster: I'm looking for an affordable rail-mounted Matte Box for use with my DVX100a + Brevis35 + rails.

The Indian-made ActiveIndustries matte box looks to be the best value. My main concerns about this matte box are 1) As I understand it, it's all made of plastic and the height-adjustable rails holder looks like it will struggle to take the strain of a fully loaded matte box 2) I believe the two filter holders rotate together (which would be a problem if using a grad with a polariser).

Does having hinge to allow the matte box to flip out really save all that much time when chaging lenses? Surely it doesn't take that long to take the matte box off the rails?

The microMatteBox sounds very intruiging if it's at the rice price. I might hold back on purchasing a matte box until we learn more about the RedRock microMatteBox.

Many thanks,
Jack

*edit* there's lots of up-to-date info about the microMatteBox over on RedRock's forum
 
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Matte Box links:

Some matte boxes available for purchase

http://www.geardear.com/pictures.html

http://www.indiesnap.com/DVXuser/ (apparently they do a rail-mount option too)

http://www.hysonfilms.com/ (plastic Matte Box with static filters for $279; metal+plastic matte box with swing arm and rotating filters for $599) question over whether it works will all 35mm adapters

http://www.vocas.com/ (can't find a UK supplier of the Production Matte Box (the one with rails) but looks like it could be thousands of pounds)

http://stores.ebay.co.uk/5-colors

http://www.redrockmicro.com/microMattebox.html details due to start producing April 15th (NAB), $595 reservation price for basic matte box, 2 x independently rotating filters, can take 4x4” and 4x5.65” filters, swing-arm, all-aluminium build.

http://shop.ebay.co.uk/merchant/dv-shop23 (ActiveIndustries) Plastic rail-mounted matte box with 2 rotating filters for ~ $180

http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Indikit-Pr...QcolZ4QQdirZQ2d1QQfsubZ18225070QQftidZ2QQtZkm

http://www.cinevate.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=70 $509

http://www.cavision.com/Mattbox/Mattebox.htm

Forum threads

The Official Mattebox thread - long, quite out of date and wanders off topic quite a lot
 
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Based on Dan's list:

http://www.geardear.com/pictures.html From an estimate I got, ~$350

http://www.indiesnap.com/DVXuser/ (apparently they do a rail-mount option too)

http://www.hysonfilms.com/ (plastic Matte Box with static filters for $279; metal+plastic matte box with swing arm and rotating filters for $599) question over whether it works will all 35mm adapters

http://www.vocas.com/ (can't find a UK supplier of the Production Matte Box (the one with rails) but looks like it could be thousands of pounds)

http://stores.ebay.co.uk/5-colors - $368.51US Plus shipping (Donut)

http://www.redrockmicro.com/microMattebox.html details due to start producing April 15th (NAB), $595 reservation price for basic matte box, 2 x independently rotating filters, can take 4x4” and 4x5.65” filters, swing-arm, all-aluminium build. <-- What if you don't have a reservation? :/

http://shop.ebay.co.uk/merchant/dv-shop23 (ActiveIndustries) Plastic rail-mounted matte box with 2 rotating filters for ~ $180 - With rod support $307US

http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Indikit-Pr...QcolZ4QQdirZQ2d1QQfsubZ18225070QQftidZ2QQtZkm These guys have a few different ones. "Top of the line" $510US plus shipping.

http://www.cinevate.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=70 $509

http://www.cavision.com/Mattbox/Mattebox.htm
 
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Thanks for the updates! Hmmm... perhaps there should be a DVXuser Wiki? (Speaking of Wikis, there should definitely be a REDuser wiki... anyway...)

It occurs to me that matte boxes are rare animals in that they might last for decades. If you look through your kit, how much of it will still be around in 5 years let alone 20? In other words, maybe it's a false economy to buy a cheap plastic (i.e. easily breakable) matte box because a solid metal one might last you >20 years. Is that true?
 
dan_aka_jack said:
It occurs to me that matte boxes are rare animals in that they might last for decades. If you look through your kit, how much of it will still be around in 5 years let alone 20? In other words, maybe it's a false economy to buy a cheap plastic (i.e. easily breakable) matte box because a solid metal one might last you >20 years. Is that true?
Click to expand...

That is what I'm thinking. The Micro would be worth it solely based on the fact that the cheapest plastic (Indian) matte box costs just about $200, which some people consider "disposable." That's 1/3 of the price of the Micro. You break two of those and you'd be wishing you saved your cash for the bigger one. Though, I heard the geardear boxes, although plastic, are superb for their price.
 
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