EX1 + Cine City Matte Box from India

Tata Steva

Tata Steva

Well-known member
Hi everybody!
This is my first post, so I salute all of you for providing valuable information regarding EX1.
My dilemma at the moment is how to decide on Matte Box set up for EX1? I have seen different models on the net and in person here in Toronto. I did not like most of them first because of the crazy prices:cry:, and second because most of the designs that I saw do not fit properly on EX1 because of the low mic. position. I tried CAVISION (EX1 model) and Petroff and both have clearance issues with LCD being folded.
Now, there is Cine City from India. Anybody?
I tried to get images of this set up on EX1 directly from them: no luck, they don't have it. At the same time, person I was in contact with assured me that their matte box fits good on my camera.
If there is anybody reading this post that have Cine City's matte box on EX1 I would appreciate if you can post the picture of it showing the side view with LCD folded under the mic.
And some feed back in general about this product.

Regards,

Steven
 
I do not have any knowledge about the Cine City matte box, but I have purchased a camera stabilizer from them. It was a piece of trash. It looked like it was made by hand in a rural village (probably was). Cavision is really about the cheapest you should go. You might need to wait until something comes out specifically for this camera.
 
I'm using the Cavision Mattebox with the Cine City Follow-Focus. Works fine. It just barely clears when you fold the LCD out.
 

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Well, I know I'm going to get some slaps for this, but I just received the CineCity Matte box AND the Flycam 5000 with body harness/arm and I am impressed. Not because it's as good as a Steadicam or RedRock Box, but for the price, they're both damn good.

Here's the link to the mattebox. I use it on my HVX/Redrock rig, and it's PERFECT for what I need. The shipping was 5 days including the weekend. The flags are great, as it comes with different sizes. Fits 4x4 filters just fine. Made of metal but light as a feather. The different size donuts are great for the multiple lenses I use, and are easy to switch out. Plus, it looks cool. I just don't see wasting any more money on a mattebox. I've used the chrozhiel mattebox before, and I never understood why you would spend that kind of money on one of these. Matteboxes are simple devices people, don't let anyone justify telling you to spend a grand on one when you could get so many other more useful devices for that money.

As for the flycam, it works just as good as the glidecam I borrowed in the past. It's just as pro looking and built great. I don't understand why people jump all over CineCity. Their products (at least these two) are very reasonable.

That's my 2 cents. Feel free to pounce on me. But don't do so if you've never used these products before. If there's anything more frustrating it's the "I've never seen one, but I've heard or they look like crap" comments in these forums. Don't dog it unless you've tried it.
 
I do not mean to "dog" CineCity, but I did purchase a $1,200 Magic Arm and Flycam 6000 from them for my EX1. The arm on the unit (one of the bolts) broke literally in the first 5 min. I used it. I emailed them, and the shipped me a replacement bolt which I received the following week. I put it on, and another identical bolt on the unit broke within 5 min. The bolts that break are these proprietary connectors that connect the arm to the vest. You can't just run to the hardware store and pick one up. I agree that CineCity has good prices, but all I am saying is that I paid $1,200 for a unit that was unusable. I ended up biting the bullet and getting a Flyer. Night and Day to say the least. It cost 5x as much as the Flycam but its 100x better....
 
Hi Friends!
This is my first post.
i recently buy new Sony Ex1 from B&H Photovideo. its amazing quality.
Can anybody tell me about letus extreme? Can it work with all SLR Lenses like Canon, Fuji, Nikon or Sony. i have no idea about it so please peply my friends?
 
Phillips
You have posted this to the wrong thread - however, I have a Letus Extreme and yes, you can use it with all the lens brands you mentioned, you just have to get the corresponding lens mount to go on the Extreme. If you are thinking of changing mounts in the field then you'd be well advised to get the Elite backfocus upgrade, which allows the back focus (distance between the rear of the lens mount and the ground glass) to be changed to allign infinity focus and also the markings on the lenses with actual measured distances from the focal plane.

There are separate threads and complete sections here for the Letus. And with that, I'll resume the Cine City thread.

I've been in contact with them from time to time and have bought various of the smaller items from them.

They seem to be pretty defensive when presented with our collective quality concerns. Phil Bloom among others has tried their products and have been similarly underwhelmed by their build quality and after sales service. I've offered to review several of their products and find out if those claims are actually justified, and I've gotten the "buy one and then you can do what you want with it" - except, it seems, return if for a full refund if it doesn't work as advertised.

Well I'd say that anything without great mechanical stress works fine (I've bought 15mm rods, follow focus rings, etc) but anything that requires heavier engineering tolerances or actual weight bearing... (such as a monitor arm or a steadicam-type device) that you're putting actual expensive machinery on, I'd say... well, test it thoroughly over a decent period of time, then review it for the rest of us.

Please.
 
Has anyone seen this review about the Cine City matte box? After seein this, I regret paying too much for my Cavision matte box which was not that good. The screws on the side are so loose. The french flag are hard to adjust (and by the way it's plastic) because I don't want to break it. The clearrance of the Cavision mattebox was...let's say not great. The Cavision mattebox scratched the back of my EX1 LCD screen when folding.
 
Cine city

Cine city

I also used to own a Flycam, and its complete rubbish. The thing is made out of plastic and you just can't trust to put a 5000 euro camera on a piece of plastic. The knobs just don't hold.

So if you look for a similar priced flyer/steady cam take a look at the Blackbird from Camera Motion Research or take a look at a Glidecam.

Anyways, I also have a Cine City mattebox for my Canon XH-A1 and for this cam it works fine.
I just don't like to use it because its a bit large and it actually damages the ring on the camera when removing it. It's very rough metal and I have a very versatile work flow (always running about) so I can't really be careful when attaching and removing the mattebox.
 
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