Matte Box

Does it? It seems to me that paying $55.00 per 18" Rod on Red's site is pretty steep considering you can buy 15mm Aluminum Rod at Home Depot for about $4/yard. Cut it in half, polish it, and resell it for $110. How do you justify that? At least it takes me about $500 in power tools and a good deal of my time to put these together. If you have a Miter Saw, a Drill Press, a Sander, a Hammer, a Paint Gun, a host of Drill Bits, a Jigsaw, two hours of your time, and about $15.00 then yeah, it's a bit steep to pay someone $90.00 for "some wood." But all things considered, I don't know how someone can argue with the price when I've seen plastic Matte boxes with no rod supports go for well over $100.00
 
that 0.875mm difference is a bit of a pain.

How much does that thing weigh anyway? I'd think with wood it wouldn't be so light.

what size are your rods anyway? they look more like 1/4" rods than 5/8" rods.
 
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puckthemad said:
that 0.875mm difference is a bit of a pain.

How much does that thing weigh anyway? I'd think with wood it wouldn't be so light.

what size are your rods anyway? they look more like 1/4" rods than 5/8" rods.
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Mine? Yes, they are 1/4" rods lol. I was referring above to people charging hundreds of dollars for 15mm aluminum tubing when 5/8" tubing is $4.00/yard at Home depot.

My Matte box system is not really that heavy. There is wood, yes, but the camera base block and the tripod mount block are made of White wood which is notoriously light. The horizontal railblock is a small strip of pine, and the matte box itself and vertical adjustment plate are made of 1/4" MDF panelboard which is quite light also. The filter holders are made from strips of Plexiglas. The rods are 1/4" solid Zinc which is actually harder to bend then 5/8" Aluminum tubing (the hollow type, anyhow). The French flag is made of 1/8" Hardwood Panel. I have no problem disclosing everything I make this box out of and even including a price list. I admit it is only about $15-$16 in raw materials to make. However, it is work to put it together. The matte box (4:3) is made of (2) 3" wide pieces mitered at 14 degrees out and (2) 4" wide pieces mitered at 14 degrees out. Then those pieces are cut along the 14 degree edges at a 45 degree angle for joining together. Then the pieces are joined together using Gorilla Glue and finishing nails, sanded, and painted. Then the filter holder strips are painted and adhesed to the back of the otherwise completed Matte box. The French flag is bolted on using #4-40 bolts into the flag and the top of the matte box. The hinge is a tiny brass bi-fold hinge.

There is a full sheet of parts that make one system, believe it or not. When I first started this venture, I had no idea how many parts went into it. It was enlightening.
 
I built a matte box with filter holder, based on the Hyson FIlms design (which is actually a really affoeradble and well built system) and used mostly black ABS Plastic with a few additional parts from Home Depot.... the little L brackets and stuff. i found that even those little pieces added some weight to the Matte Box. I was glad I was using the 5/8" rods since it allowed me to mount it properly with no problems whatsoever.

You might consider upgrading to a bigger rail. Would save some headaches down the road (I started out using the 1/4 zinc rods myself and can only speak from experience)
 
thanks for the info. I dont use the rods for large cameras however. I am actually trying to develop a system for large cameras that will include 5/8" Aluminum rods (Im not really concerned about it being 15mm). The rods will be 18" long to accommodate long camera/lens and will support 4x4 filters. It will take awhile for me to fund this and they will be pricier.

BTW, my current system is about 1.5 ibs total. That is not incredibly heavy IMHO.
 
OK, I get it. So you go off on your own and make a totally incompatible system to anything that exists in the cinema world, guaranteeing that anyone who buys your stuff will be totally unable to use any of the millions of commercial products out there for a 15mm rail system....right?

This is a case where you need to think INSIDE the box, Matthew.
 
>(Im not really concerned about it being 15mm)

You will be young Skywalker, you will...

Not trying to be an industry nay-sayer, its just that I have been down that road and regret the waste of time and money.

-J
 
Pay heed to j for he is wise in the ways of the force.

Everything that mounts to the mattebox rods beit lens support, manual or electrict follow focus etc. is set up for either 15mm or 19mm rods. If it's made for 19mm rods more often than not you can adapt it to the 15mm rods.

chuck
 
Hey, I'm not here to take insults. I was just passing along some info. As far as my ORIGINAL intention, it was to provide a low cost Matte box system for SMALL cameras. I dont think people who are looking for a simple Matte Box/Rod Support system for their Super 8 camera are going to be concerned because they dont have "industry standard" mounts that allow them to add on accessories that cost more than their camera and Matte Box system put together. I admit, if that is your aim, go elsewhere and spend $750-$2000 for your system. I'm not trying to please everyone, just a niche.

Honestly, the way it all started was because I posted a thread on another forum stating that I was going to build a DIY Matte Box that could fit on any Super 8 camera. Initially I was only going to build it for myself so I could use it on any Super 8 Camera I might purchase. However, everyone else seemed to think I was making it to sell so I decided "What the hell, why not" and there it went. I took all the suggestions I was given from folks in the Super 8 community. Not a single one of them seemed to care about the 15mm issue. I've already sold a handful of these and none of them seemed to care either. You cannot assume that because you care about something that everyone will. Otherwise, there wouldn't still be Matte Box systems that don't even have rod supports.

I would love to hear ANY advice that is constructive in nature but have no interest in sarcastic and rhetorical firestarters. Other forums have been great, but this one is showing it's rear end quickly.
 
>Super 8 community.
>Not a single one of them seemed to care about the 15mm issue.

15mm rail support is not a standard in the Super8 film production world (except for high-end stuff)

It is a standard in 16/35/video world.

Again, not being a jerk, just letting you know.
 
syncman said:
If you are just passing on info, why are you charging for it?
Members here give info freely.
Your last comment is not welcome here. Members respect each other on this forum. If you are rude on other forums and they accept you, then perhaps, you should stick to the forums that welcome you.
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I'm not charging for information, Im charging for a product that I build if someone does not want to make it themselves. Im not being rude to this forum, Im not the one who remarked that I was dooming my customers to an incompatible system. Nor am I trying to glorify myself by being condensending and acting like Im Yoda talking to Luke Skywalker, as though Im some sort of Matte Box Sage. The whole thing is ridiculous, honestly.
 
Capt Quirk said:
I think that paying 10x as much for plastic is too expensive. While I don't care for the Lincoln Log approach, at least the dude is trying.
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Well I can build one out of steel which is cheaper than plastic but that still doesn't make it practical, does it?
 
Logan, I am now experimenting with Balsa wood, and it is incredibly light but still rather strong. I also am using 8mm Aluminum rods at the moment which further reduces the weight. If all goes well, the next generation of my design should be 1 ibs or less. That is rather practical IMHO.
 
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