Matte Box for 35mm adapter

Rodney V. Smith

Rodney V. Smith

DVXFest Promo Guru
So I did it. I upgraded my DIY 35mm setup to look a little more professional.

I built the Matte Box, and yes it does hold filters. It's a little lighter since it was made out of a hard plastic from Home Depot, and the measurements are based off of one of the more expensive pro models.

I do have plans available if anyone is interested. The design was loosely based on pictures of the Hyson matte box, and frankly, I'm surprised well it came out.

Filter Box (dunno brand) I got at Wings Camera and mounted that to the back.


DVX-moviecam-1.jpg

Full view (with my Fisherman Follow Focus)

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Room for follow focus, and can adjust forward for longer lenses.. filters fit through other side
DVX-moviecam-5.jpg

Allows room for the Follow Focus
DVX-moviecam-2.jpg
 
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Well done, Can you post a PDF file of this? Also your fisher man follow focus looks cool, The lens ring are from a underwater case ring. Can't remember the name. Looking really cool like a real indie hardcore shooter...:thumbsup:
 
http://flyinmonkey.com/RVS-35mm/mattebox.pdf

PDF with actual size and measurements (not all measurements, but you can trace it out onto plastic or whatever)

Hardware you'll need from Home Depot:
little corner brackets (don't remember the size, got them a long time ago)
Flat head screws with nuts
I used some screws for computers and they worked great. you can see em in the pics

pics to follow as the disassembled unit.
 
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Thanks J. been fiddling with it for a while and almost gave up in disgust cuz every version looked so cheap and homemade... I think I've almost got the pro look down.... now just need labels and cool names :-D
 
Here are a couple pics of the assembly with some parts shown. some pieces I didn't take apart because of the difficulty of reassembling, but you can get a good idea of what it takes to put this together. along with the PDF, it shouldn't be a difficult build.

With the filter box I have this might even fit my DVX with an adapter... will have to find out for sure and let yuo guys know, but right now it fits best on the rails.


Without flag
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Top Flag
sideflags.jpg

side flags
sideflag-disassembled.jpg

side flag dis-assembled
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flags
filterbox5.jpg

filterbox4.jpg

filterbox3.jpg

filterbox2.jpg


filter box aseembly
backassembly2.jpg
 
kind of... it's a filter holder, a real one that comes with the box aroudn to shade from the sun... so yeah it's kind of a sunshade....
 
David, I just checked the box again to try to find the brand, but there are no markings on it. wish i could say exactly what it is adn who made it, but it was one of those lucky finds....
 
well mine was a little to big to hold cokin filters and was a little too small to hold the 4" filters.. but there were a bunch of kodak gel holders right there in the store that fit right in.... so mine might have been a kodak? dunno for sure.

what size filters does your kenko hold?
 
you can get some decent sized Black ABS sheets from McMaster-Carr.. I only just discovered today that they are here in Atlanta so I gotta take a drive over there along with my wishlist.

search for the ABS 1/8" thick sheet 12"x24"

I'm going to buy some of this next week along with a heat gun so I can bend some plastic instead of having to use the hardware. Then we'll see about version 2 of this matte box....

I gotta keep tweaking until I get it as perfect as I can and this one, while it's workable, isn't all the way there yet...

Which brings a question to mind: has anyone come across any Matteboxes made of ABS or are they usually made of aluminum?
 
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Another place to try would be places that deal with full 4 by 8 sheets of plastics. They do alot of cutting for customers and usually have a scrap area of small sheets. That's where I've gotten good prices on plexi before and if the people are in a good mood sometimes you can get stuff for free.
 
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