I don't have a lot of time to go into extreme details, but I thought I would mention that I just picked up a 320 dollar (380 with shipping) Cinecity Jumbo Mattebox with rails kit. www.thecinecity.com
I was skeptical, but took the plunge because it had some features that none others in its price, or even above range had to offer.
I must say, I'm very pleased with it. I feel for the first time in years, I got something that was "priced right", and seems to be engineered from the ground up to BE a mattebox.
The construction is mostly ABS resin plastic. Which is fine unless you plan to beat the heck out of it, or slam it in and out of the back seat of a car going from gig to gig.
This version has a French Flag and side barn doors. The addition of the side doors were worth the extra money spent. They are metal and the side doors can expand with the turn of a thumb screw. Everything folds up Fairly well to protect the lens in transportation, but I would NOT consider it a lens cap by any stretch.
It has a two stage filter holder, one of them rotates, the other is stationary. Filter Frames are plastic. It came with optional parts to mount it VIA rails, or Stepdown Adapters in case you want to simply screw it onto the front of your camera. I would probably not recommend that for this larger unit, IMHO, that is a little too much weight on the front of a camera lens. (maybe Im just being too conservative here???) It also came with a smaller French flag for 4x3 shooting or just a smaller flag for limited light control.
In all, there is a ton of engineering that went into this. It was well thought out, and was not composed of a few Proprietary molded pieces of plastic, and the rest, being re-purposed off-the-shelf parts from other products or industries. I have seen some boxes made from re-puposed Cokin filter mounts. ETC ETC, This is NOT one of those. I tip my hat to the engineers on this one. A job well done.
IMHO, There just isn't a lot that goes into making a Mattebox, they aren't rocket science. I can understand the pricey versions that are made from all machined aluminum, but those are in another class in themselves, and should not be brought into comparison here. However, for the money and function at hand, I am very very happy with this.
In an industry that has a tendency to overprice/over engineer the simplest of Items, or charge you for flashy-bright colored anodized aluminum and a big logo that is sure to amaze rich friends. This was a breath of fresh air. It is mechanically sound, and performs its function well. Not to mention, it can give a small camera a big boost of appearance if that is an issue you need to tend to.
If you are looking to use this in a situation with lots of wind, or mount it to a car externally, I would not feel comfortable with the mounting construction of the barn doors, to fill that need. They ARE pretty sturdy, but I would not push my luck in that kind of an application. I don't think they would break the hinges, or snap the hing mounts on the main box, but they may slip out of the clamping mechanism and end up as fair game for road kill.
None the less, It should provide years of use with proper care, and bring the same basic results ANY 2 stage mattebox would, at any price level. And in my book, that is the bottom line.
It is a mostly tool-less design and the flags all come off with a turn of a thumb screw. However, I can see where it helps to have some hex wrenches around to stiffen the hinges up once and a while. With the screw on adapters, it is kindo of nice because the whole thing can be screwed on in an upside down position if you are in a situation where light from below is the problem. All screws and bolts are metric.
I noticed immediately after mounting it up, that my images are a little richer and slightly more detailed with the Light Wash being taken care of with the flags. That is primarily what I purchased this for. It is also a snap to loosen the rail mount, push the whole thing forward an inch, and adjust my Screw-on Circular Polarizer filter leaving the filter stages for other filter uses.
For 35mm adapters, you could probably make a down-sizing adapter frame so you could easily take advantage of less pricey Cokin P-Sized Filters. The HVX-A uses an 82mm lens so if you are going to use filters with that, 4x4 filters are a must.
The only thing I would recommend is replacing the Hex Bolts on the rail mounts with a better grade of hex screw. These are kind of cheap and I could see them snapping. But, That is only a $2.00 fix.
The aluminum rails are also kind of flimsy IMHO. (Maybe they are all that way??, I have never used them before so I have no comparason) I have been using Fiberglass Ski poles for the past year. At 19/32s they are just a TAD tight fit for most rail parts, but do work. However those ski poles poles are even stiffer than these and they can be found at any Goodwill store for a few dollars.
Shipping is a little slow to leave the facility, Cinecity states 24 to 72 hours to ship your Item. Getting here was rather quick. It was sent on Oct 19th, and arrived Priority FedEx on the 23rd. It was packaged nicely and came with plenty of padding. Unless the shipper is going to play vollyball with your package, it should arrive in good shape.
With all this being said, If anyone is interested, I would be happy to take a bunch of detailed photo's and do a less-opinionated write-up so you can come to your own conclusions. There are several video's on YT about the cheaper 100 and 69 dollar versions of this, but they really don't go into the gritty details of construction that most of us would like to see. Not to mention, those units dont have removable filter frames, rail mount options, or side flags.
David Walker
Media Magic
I was skeptical, but took the plunge because it had some features that none others in its price, or even above range had to offer.
I must say, I'm very pleased with it. I feel for the first time in years, I got something that was "priced right", and seems to be engineered from the ground up to BE a mattebox.
The construction is mostly ABS resin plastic. Which is fine unless you plan to beat the heck out of it, or slam it in and out of the back seat of a car going from gig to gig.
This version has a French Flag and side barn doors. The addition of the side doors were worth the extra money spent. They are metal and the side doors can expand with the turn of a thumb screw. Everything folds up Fairly well to protect the lens in transportation, but I would NOT consider it a lens cap by any stretch.
It has a two stage filter holder, one of them rotates, the other is stationary. Filter Frames are plastic. It came with optional parts to mount it VIA rails, or Stepdown Adapters in case you want to simply screw it onto the front of your camera. I would probably not recommend that for this larger unit, IMHO, that is a little too much weight on the front of a camera lens. (maybe Im just being too conservative here???) It also came with a smaller French flag for 4x3 shooting or just a smaller flag for limited light control.
In all, there is a ton of engineering that went into this. It was well thought out, and was not composed of a few Proprietary molded pieces of plastic, and the rest, being re-purposed off-the-shelf parts from other products or industries. I have seen some boxes made from re-puposed Cokin filter mounts. ETC ETC, This is NOT one of those. I tip my hat to the engineers on this one. A job well done.
IMHO, There just isn't a lot that goes into making a Mattebox, they aren't rocket science. I can understand the pricey versions that are made from all machined aluminum, but those are in another class in themselves, and should not be brought into comparison here. However, for the money and function at hand, I am very very happy with this.
In an industry that has a tendency to overprice/over engineer the simplest of Items, or charge you for flashy-bright colored anodized aluminum and a big logo that is sure to amaze rich friends. This was a breath of fresh air. It is mechanically sound, and performs its function well. Not to mention, it can give a small camera a big boost of appearance if that is an issue you need to tend to.
If you are looking to use this in a situation with lots of wind, or mount it to a car externally, I would not feel comfortable with the mounting construction of the barn doors, to fill that need. They ARE pretty sturdy, but I would not push my luck in that kind of an application. I don't think they would break the hinges, or snap the hing mounts on the main box, but they may slip out of the clamping mechanism and end up as fair game for road kill.
None the less, It should provide years of use with proper care, and bring the same basic results ANY 2 stage mattebox would, at any price level. And in my book, that is the bottom line.
It is a mostly tool-less design and the flags all come off with a turn of a thumb screw. However, I can see where it helps to have some hex wrenches around to stiffen the hinges up once and a while. With the screw on adapters, it is kindo of nice because the whole thing can be screwed on in an upside down position if you are in a situation where light from below is the problem. All screws and bolts are metric.
I noticed immediately after mounting it up, that my images are a little richer and slightly more detailed with the Light Wash being taken care of with the flags. That is primarily what I purchased this for. It is also a snap to loosen the rail mount, push the whole thing forward an inch, and adjust my Screw-on Circular Polarizer filter leaving the filter stages for other filter uses.
For 35mm adapters, you could probably make a down-sizing adapter frame so you could easily take advantage of less pricey Cokin P-Sized Filters. The HVX-A uses an 82mm lens so if you are going to use filters with that, 4x4 filters are a must.
The only thing I would recommend is replacing the Hex Bolts on the rail mounts with a better grade of hex screw. These are kind of cheap and I could see them snapping. But, That is only a $2.00 fix.
The aluminum rails are also kind of flimsy IMHO. (Maybe they are all that way??, I have never used them before so I have no comparason) I have been using Fiberglass Ski poles for the past year. At 19/32s they are just a TAD tight fit for most rail parts, but do work. However those ski poles poles are even stiffer than these and they can be found at any Goodwill store for a few dollars.
Shipping is a little slow to leave the facility, Cinecity states 24 to 72 hours to ship your Item. Getting here was rather quick. It was sent on Oct 19th, and arrived Priority FedEx on the 23rd. It was packaged nicely and came with plenty of padding. Unless the shipper is going to play vollyball with your package, it should arrive in good shape.
With all this being said, If anyone is interested, I would be happy to take a bunch of detailed photo's and do a less-opinionated write-up so you can come to your own conclusions. There are several video's on YT about the cheaper 100 and 69 dollar versions of this, but they really don't go into the gritty details of construction that most of us would like to see. Not to mention, those units dont have removable filter frames, rail mount options, or side flags.
David Walker
Media Magic
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