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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Best 4x.5.65 mattebox

R

Ryan Lalonde

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What are the best choices?

Most Important...
1. Fits the widest lenses possible.
2. 2 x filter trays + 1 x 138mm round tray
3. Lightweight
 
Lee Saxon said:
I've been interested in the Redrock Micro one. Not really much cheaper than the Obox but it adds swing-away...
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The Redrock guys are really nice and very supportive... As are The O'Connor guys... Unless "you" have to have a swing away option, the O'Box is in a different league in terms of build quality and light control. I am buying several more for our camera packages, I am very happy with them.
 
For the day in day out rough and tumble movie and Tv productions the only matteboxs that have held up are the Arri LMB-5 and MB-19. Even the MB-20 has failed too often to be trusted on bigger shows.

For clip on go LMB-5

For rod based go MB-19 (strong enough to operate off of)
 
I have a pair of 'O'Boxes, and really love them. Super strong with lots of mounting points for stuff and handles when shooting handheld - also really like the 'O'Grips as part of the package… Though the "O'Grips are fairly heavy.
There are 'only' two filter stages (one rotating), but there is a circular filter option and an add in aftermarket 3rd stage option.

G.
 
I'm also interested in the O box and was wondering how it's compared to the Arri LMB-15? The LMB-15 is twice the price as the O box. I was playing with the LMB-15, so I had my mind set on it until I saw the O Box. Does anyone have pics of the O box on their Epic? And how does it function with Nikon Lenses?
 
Thanks guys, even though I love Ocon products - the O-box is not the greatest. I think the widest lens it takes is an 18mm...
 
Ryan Lalonde said:
Thanks guys, even though I love Ocon products - the O-box is not the greatest. I think the widest lens it takes is an 18mm...
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It will cover most anything that any other mattebox of the same configuration will. Hopefully this will clarify:


MB coverage has several components, the primary ones being focal length, lens speed and entrance pupil distance from front. A 24-290 at 24mm has a larger ray trace at the front than many substantially wider-angle primes, simply because the entrance pupil is pretty far back and the resulting "funnel" size is thus already pretty big by the time it reaches the lens front... that's why you end up needing 6.6 squares to cover that medium-wide 24mm FL. Higher speed also causes the ray trace to get larger. At 16mm focal length, you can use a couple of 4x4s on pretty much any T2 or T2.1, but they'll often cause edge shading on a modern T1.3 or T1.4 design.

A secondary consideration is picture format/aspect ratio, which is often a gray area these days. Even if you don't directly see vignetting due to the mattebox being just out of frame, you can still technically be losing light -- think of hard-matting a fast tele, you don't cut the field of view but you do cut the light-gathering capacity of the front element. The gray area comes in due to the fact that many these days would rather live with the bit of light loss rather than go up in size to the "proper" (larger) box. That used to be a big no-no, but with advances in imaging technology and general increases in production time-pressure, it's become often an acceptable compromise.

The upshot is that it is hard to say with millimeter accuracy. We say 18mm because we're certain that all current 18mm primes will be covered, but there are also certain wider lenses we can cover if the other factors come together. If another manufacturer says 17mm or even 16mm, ok fine, but I'll bet it ends up being the same result with the same lenses, if it's the same size box. Sooner or later you see off the glass (outside of the filters) and you're done. Best thing to do is test when you're in that borderline area.
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I'm glad that so many like the O-Box (and thank them for their kind comments), but always encourage people to try before they buy if at all possible. The amount of insight to be gained regarding optics and coverage just by trying out a few matteboxes with several different kinds of lenses (for example, comparing a 16mm prime to a 24-290 zoom and seeing first hand that the 24mm is harder to cover than the 16mm) is invaluable and customers with experience help us all in the long run.
 
The coverage is dependent on how far back you can get the matte box on the rods as well as the lens brand. It covers the same as other brands unless it is a designated WIDE angle matte box.

-P
 
MB-19 is my all time favorite MB. Whatever you get swing away is a must for professional work.

Nick
 
Jim Elias said:
It will cover most anything that any other mattebox of the same configuration will. Hopefully this will clarify:




I'm glad that so many like the O-Box (and thank them for their kind comments), but always encourage people to try before they buy if at all possible. The amount of insight to be gained regarding optics and coverage just by trying out a few matteboxes with several different kinds of lenses (for example, comparing a 16mm prime to a 24-290 zoom and seeing first hand that the 24mm is harder to cover than the 16mm) is invaluable and customers with experience help us all in the long run.
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Thanks Jim. I'll have to try to find somewhere to test out the O-Box...
 
Quentin Devillers said:
What about Chroziel ?
They made 450R3 DSW. 3 filters and swing away for a listed price arround 1145 livres sterling.
http://www.chrosziel.com/data/chrosziel/produkte/documents/MB_450_E.pdf

Does anyone have experience with chroziel ? The ones I had in school was not so bad if I remenber...
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I will probably end up going Chroziel. I dig the O-box but it's pretty useless for rentals without swingaway. Arri is just too fricken expensive. 2K for O box, 3K for Chroziel and Arri is pushing 6K
 
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