Why are Matte boxes so damm expensive

scoobysteve

scoobysteve

Member
I do not understand why Matte boxes are so expensive they seem to be around the same cost as a medium range 3ccd camcorder which when you think about the cost of R&D into the said camcorder it simply does not make sense.

You could not make a camcorder from scratch without a serious outlay and yet you could make a matte box that would work from houshold materials, It just would not look good strapped onto your expensive HDV setup. It is exactly that reason why these are so expensive.

Being part of a captured market they can charge what they like, after all if you spend upwards of $10,000 on a package you are gonna want to look the part. You are not going to want to have a cardboard magiver setup stuck onto your prize lens.

I wonder how many people have purchased a matte box to finish off their package to make it look the complete dogs boll33$$.

I really want one for my V1E with SGProR2 and various lenses but I still cant bring myself to spending that amount of money, I would rather spend it on a lens.

Someone please explain.

Steve
 
Good matte boxes have lots of parts and its pretty intricate to make them all work correctly. I'm not saying that they should cost as much as a medium level 3ccc camera though. I agree with you on how some are over priced. That is why I didn't buy one from Chroziser. (though my store rep recommended it highly)
I got one from GearDear.com $337 (and I must say it does the job well, but not what you are looking for if you are concerned with looks. It just looks bulky and awkward)

I'd suggest getting one from RedRockMicro.com (not sure if they are selling them yet) I saw their prototype at a screening in CA and it looked awesome. It was a hinged (lets you move it away from the lens with a hinge. like a door opening) and multi stage setup. so you could add as many stages for filters as you would like. They said it was going to cost around $500. And if you ask me that's not too expensive and it was super PRO looking.

I've also head good things about Hysonfilms.com (though I'm not sure if he is back up and running) The guy who heads that site had a family emergency and it has delayed his new offerings.
 
Matte boxes, 35mm adapters, other specialty items cost what they do because the market is very limited and they are durable goods, i.e. you buy one every 10 years...maybe.

A company couldn't stay in business if they charged less than they do.
 
Think about the Rycote Windjammer. For the price of one Windjammer I can buy 25 reversible fleece jackets in Kathmandu...

Price is high because basically there is no competition and production houses are not going to ask their secretaires to make one over the weekend, even though the material cost is about a dollar.
 
Plus these mfg's are selling them in mass quantities, and because of that they have to recoup more of their overhead per item sold.

If they were selling millions/year in WalMart, then you could probably buy one for $39.88.
 
someone should just make some plans w/ some sort of rapid prototyping thing like eMachineShop.com
would be cool to just have a kit one could buy to make one. reverse engineer a good one and start selling at $39.98 ;)
 
The thing is, the other brands in the market are already addressing the cost concerns in this thread. Someone else thought matteboxes were too expensive and set out to design their own with the requisite features for less.

Once the R&D and manufacturing work is done, a like-featured system (non-clamping / rods support; 2-stages min; 4x4 or 4x5.65 filter trays; French flag; side-brows) always ends up at $500 or more. Machining trays and t-risers and camera plates and hoods is a precise and expensive endeavor. You won't see a commercially available system that compares with a Chrosziel at half the price. You might find something very close at a third less, but not much better.

If they're less than half than the comparably-equipped version, they are often made of sub-standard or lesser grade materials and the fit and finish (arguably an important feature in a mattebox) is less precise. Or they clamp. Or the whole thing rotates to polarize or accomplish a like effect. Or the lump is made of foam core.

You get what you pay for, and, from what I've seen, if you choose to DIY, you get something no one would want to buy for even $200.

e
 
Last edited:
FiddlerMD said:
someone should just make some plans w/ some sort of rapid prototyping thing like eMachineShop.com
would be cool to just have a kit one could buy to make one. reverse engineer a good one and start selling at $39.98 ;)
Click to expand...

*LOL*

I love this place!

:thumbup:
 
Yeah, Fiddler, thats a great idea, but unfortunately, Emachine.com charges much more for prototyping.
It comes out to something like $150 for a small part. It might go down to $70 if you buy 5 or even $35 if you buy 10 or so, but you will have to make many parts to make it all work.
At the end you if you make one, I would guess to cost you $2k if you had emachine.com make you all your pieces. if you made 10 if you could get 10 people to commit once you have engineered the whole thing and hope (though I doubt it) have no mistakes and the parts all fit together. Maybe you can bring down the price to $400-$500. Not to mention all the time to do all this.
At that you are better off just buying one from Cavision or RedRockMicro.

I've looked into prototyping and unfortunately its a huge expense for a little DIY like me. Unless you have the tools and the time and the only thing you are paying for is materials, it is difficult to get a product made. (not so much difficult as expensive.)

Just my thoughts.
 
That GearDear thing looks like someone took router patterns to a bunch of plastic laminate polystyrene material like StructaFoam. I'm sure that thing can be made to work - though it comes in at about $50 less than our 4x5.65" Cavision 2-stage 16:9 bit with t-riser.

So, there's an example of a DIY that's gone to market that still had to come right up to the common pricepoint watermark. That fellow likely burned through sheets and sheets of that material and dozens of knobs, fasteners and configurations before arriving at what he has today.

e
 
If you want to prototype something you will either spend a lot more then you would have for the best offering of the pro market... or you will make 10 of that prototype, selling the other 9 just to cover the total investment and get your's paid for.

In the end you'll find that engineering a product is for entering the marketplace... not for saving a little cash on a couple items for yourself (of course depending on the item and your resources)

The first Bic pen costs a million dollars... the millionth Bic pen costs a dollar... and now they're about .25 each.

emachineshop is great if you really want to go for it... for any small part you can usually get about a hundred of 'em for about 3-5x the cost of 1. It's all economy of scale.

Speaking from direct experience on multiple items... engineering is a *****.
 
Actually, just access to a body shop with a metal brake would be a start. The stages can be sent off to that eMachine, and extras could be sold off, much like the people making gimbles and stuff for steady rigs do.
 
I've got a metal brake, sheer, and a slip-roll... plus air-rivet and other sheet metal tools... I don't think I could make a good looking matte-box. I could make one that functions, but it probably wouldn't be something you'd be proud to have mounted on your cam.

What's usually made me lose my mind is the finishing stages of this stuff... eliminating sharp edges etc.

If you come up with some key parts that can be made with the tools that I have... and you don't mind doing the "ass-work" yourself (meaning filing, sanding, and finishing) then I'll help you out for peanuts... litterally... you can send me a couple bags of nuts and I'll build you a matte box.

Seriously I'll do the rough stuff for you... based on what you just asked for. What I would not do is HOLES and shapes... a brake doesn't do either.

I can do sheers, bends, and angle shapes easily. It would be fun to send you some parts per your specs and then see if you could get it the rest of the way there... I'll bet that would give you a whole new view of this stuff. The rough construction is almost fun because it goes so fast... but once that turns to precision parts and actual machining I just put my head down and cry through it.
 
I agree, it would be a project, but if done with thought and planning, it could likely give you a decent piece for a bit less. I mean, I could likely do the french flag and doors myself- without the benefit of your shop tools- and yeah it would be rough. The hard part for me, would be mounting and stages. I've never used a bayonette mounted box, or even looked at one closely, and the same goes for the rotating filters. If given the specs on the filters I could probably come up with a workable solution. Do you have a mattebox to use as a basis?
 
I have access... but no, I don't have a box of my own. For absolute DIY basis... I've often considered doing a kit based on the original DVX "box" part... that gives you the mount and the initial fitting.

What gets complicated about real matte boxes is the rotating stages. That's why I never pursued this further... that level of precision in something thin, small, and lightweight... may be tough.
 
On a side note... what is my Chroziel Mattebox made from? I got it and picked it up and was like... the hell is this? Cardboard? I can't figure out the material. Like real fancy egg carton stuff. Why it cost so much was the first thing that crossed my mind too. I do love the thing though. :D
 
I was fortunate to get a Hyson mattebox before Joel stopped production.

newmattebox01.jpg


The whole thing complete with bottom flag, brows, rod mounting support was under $300. I consider that to be a very fair price.
 
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