jameswmulryan
Active member
Notes from field testing my Hyson X Matte Box for the past three weeks:
Features:
Break away base plate. The plate has a top and bottom deck, unscrew the rear quick release, and the lightweight top deck comes off -- camera is ready for hand held shots without having to use the the matte box.
Matte Box--You can completely close the matte box to protect the front of your lens, and make it compact for storage.
Stout construction. Think you would have to hit the matte box with a hammer to dent it. Much stronger than the Petroff.
Lens Shades. You can raise and lower top and bottom shades by swinging the side shades away, this is great for back light telephoto shots, where you want to get the sunshade just above the frame line. Much more flexible than the Chroszeil
Lens Shade construction-- they butterfly out, made of a very tough plastic, look much stronger than the Redrock set up. From the pix I have seen, Redrock's look to be made out of thin aluminum, kind of like one of my Lowel DP barndoors. Have not seen them in person, so I might be wrong on this one.
Responsive owner. Joel is a one man band with a great design sense. He has already done two modifications to his base plate. Received product within a month of ordering, no year long waits, fast e-mail responses and phone consultations. American made.
Rig adds bling to the HVX. Really like red knobs with black finish.
Would like to see the swing away pivot on a vertical post.
Since it is a full size matte box, can't really keep the rig assembled and in a portabrace bag, have to break it down for storage. Also needs a shoulder mount a la Zacuto.
Fairly heavy for hand held applications, definitely want a shoulder brace. If the wind comes up, the lens shades have a big surface area-- which is great for light control, but might cause the camera to shake in really high winds.
Feel like Hyson's pricing is very reasonable, much nicer construction than Cavision.
Not quite as slick as the Zacuto base plate, but a lot less expensive. This thing is going to last.
Features:
Break away base plate. The plate has a top and bottom deck, unscrew the rear quick release, and the lightweight top deck comes off -- camera is ready for hand held shots without having to use the the matte box.
Matte Box--You can completely close the matte box to protect the front of your lens, and make it compact for storage.
Stout construction. Think you would have to hit the matte box with a hammer to dent it. Much stronger than the Petroff.
Lens Shades. You can raise and lower top and bottom shades by swinging the side shades away, this is great for back light telephoto shots, where you want to get the sunshade just above the frame line. Much more flexible than the Chroszeil
Lens Shade construction-- they butterfly out, made of a very tough plastic, look much stronger than the Redrock set up. From the pix I have seen, Redrock's look to be made out of thin aluminum, kind of like one of my Lowel DP barndoors. Have not seen them in person, so I might be wrong on this one.
Responsive owner. Joel is a one man band with a great design sense. He has already done two modifications to his base plate. Received product within a month of ordering, no year long waits, fast e-mail responses and phone consultations. American made.
Rig adds bling to the HVX. Really like red knobs with black finish.
Would like to see the swing away pivot on a vertical post.
Since it is a full size matte box, can't really keep the rig assembled and in a portabrace bag, have to break it down for storage. Also needs a shoulder mount a la Zacuto.
Fairly heavy for hand held applications, definitely want a shoulder brace. If the wind comes up, the lens shades have a big surface area-- which is great for light control, but might cause the camera to shake in really high winds.
Feel like Hyson's pricing is very reasonable, much nicer construction than Cavision.
Not quite as slick as the Zacuto base plate, but a lot less expensive. This thing is going to last.
