Polar Pro BaseCamp Matte Box Custom Trays?

[Joshua Milligan]

I have a couple of Polar Pro BaseCamp Matte Boxes, both with the third state adaptors, and I really like them. I use mine with straight NDs, mist filters, gradient filters, and sometimes a polarizer when needed. The modularity of the matte box combined with how lightweight it is, especially when you remove the flag and hood for gimbal work, makes it a great option for the type of work I do. I also really appreciate how you can mount it directly to a lens with the clamp-on method, or that you can use it on rails. All of these options make it a solid buy for the money.

My one complaint, however, is that the filter slots only take their proprietary filters. Their filters are great and come built inside a filter tray which is extremely useful, but sometimes I want to try filters outside of what Polar Pro offers. The filters themselves are just over 5.5" x 5.5".

This got me to thinking. If the filters are 5.5" x 5.5", why couldn't someone outside of Polar Pro create a filter tray that fits their matte box system that takes more standard sized filters. Because of the size, it seems like someone could create a tray that takes 4x4 filters, 4x5 filters, or even 5x5 filters which some companies make. I'm not sure if a 4x5.65 would work, but who knows?

When I was shopping for matte boxes, I really wanted the Bright Tangerine Misfit Kick 3-stage kit, but two of those plus filters would have set me back quite a bit. The BaseCamp was simply more affordable, especially because I wanted to buy two of them, but the I can't help but feel somewhat limited on filters. I believe having a third party filter tray that fits the Polar Pro BaseCamp would really unlock the potential of this matte box.

Do any of you think this would be possible to design? If so, do you think it's something that could be 3D printed?

 

[Joshua Milligan]

Well, I have an update on this. I reached out to a friend of mine who's a DP who also runs a 3D printing business and he designed for me a frame that slides into the Polar Pro BaseCamp Matte Box that allows me to slide in 4x4, 4x5 and 4x5.65 filters. In this example below, I'm testing out a 4x5.65 filter which as you can see has to go in vertically. But, this works well and when used in the closest trey slot there's zero vignetting, even on my widest lens which is a 16mm. I've attached below a full frame straight-out-of-camera still taken on my A1 at 16mm and as you can see there's no vignetting.

This may seem like an unorthodox way to get a 4x5.65 filter into a matte box, but it works and opens the door to use more filters with the BaseCamp system than what Polar Pro currently offers.