matte box and follow focus recommendation

[King Cheung]

Dear all,

We are thinking to have a matte box and follow focus for our RED One. How about Arri system, as it is a big brand? Yet, within Arri system, there are many types of matte box and follow focus models. How should we choose? Please help us to give us some guidelines.

For our application, we mostly do documentary films. Our lenses are mostly Zeiss SLR prime lenses, but we will move to Zeiss cine lenses soon. In other words, it would be nice if the systems can be used for both SLR and cine lenses.

Thanks in advance.

King

 

[Cail Young]

Our lenses are mostly Zeiss SLR prime lenses, but we will move to Zeiss cine lenses soon. In other words, it would be nice if the systems can be used for both SLR and cine lenses.

Our dual-use mattebox kit is:

Arri MMB-1 with 143mm top-load back, 15mm LWS rod clamp
143-130 clamp ring
130-105 clamp ring
Genus "Nun's Knickers" 105mm flexible donut
143-110 circular 138mm filter holder
Flag set

This will cost you a lot of money; fine for us as we need reliable gear for rental. However, any mattebox that can clamp down to 105mm will allow you to use the Genus flexible donut.

Followfocus is a matter of personal preference. Again, we use an Arri MFF-1 with internal hard stops and Genus gear rings but you could use any followfocus and put stops on the lens gears for SLR lenses or just deal with the shift in marks.

 

[Ned Wilson]

If you're using SLR primes I'd definitely purchase Chrosziel 50-85mm and 75-98 flexible step down ring. They're absolute genius and those two will cover you for just about every DSLR option. Far better than Zacuto's universal donut with is often a pain to get it to work with short barreled lenses. We use this ring with our Arri MB 20.

When it comes to MB's, you have to ask yourself what kind of shooting will I need it for. For handheld, I'd recommend something lightweight like an MMB1. If you need complete flexibility and multiple rotating trays, an MB 20 is hard to beat.