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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 :)

Matte Box Woes

Cool,

I figured your hands were pretty full. You know the # if ya need anything.
 
CVB said:
Hehe.. Actually Sunday is technically the end of my work week. I'm trying to finalize our FF remote as well as this matte box so patience :) I'm about 1/3 to 1/2 of the way there and will have renderings up shortly.
Click to expand...

Don't forget to fly that FF design out here for feedback. :innocent:
 
Hey CVB.

Seeing as you have all this free time to design a new mattebox and follow focus...lol. I think a usefull feature would be if one were able to tilt the FF knob up and down. This would be handy when using a HiHat for low angle shots and also for when the camera is higher than eye level. This would not entail to much radical engineering, as you could have the knob assembly rotate on axis by using bevel or worm gears. Just a thought.

Chuck
 
chuck colburn said:
Hey CVB.

Seeing as you have all this free time to design a new mattebox and follow focus...lol. I think a usefull feature would be if one were able to tilt the FF knob up and down. This would be handy when using a HiHat for low angle shots and also for when the camera is higher than eye level. This would not entail to much radical engineering, as you could have the knob assembly rotate on axis by using bevel or worm gears. Just a thought.

Chuck
Click to expand...

I think it won´t be needed. The ff knob is not mechanically attached to anything, so it should be easy to screw to it anywhere and into any direction.
 
kalone said:
I think it won´t be needed. The ff knob is not mechanically attached to anything, so it should be easy to screw to it anywhere and into any direction.
Click to expand...

kalone,

If it's not attached to anything thing, how is it turning the gears that are turning the lens?

Chuck
 
I meant, that the focus knob that Curt mentioned is an electronic device that connects to the Red motors via cable, and so is not a traditional, mechanical follow focus system.
 
Yes, the focus knob were are thinking about would be a digital input to the RED motor. The motors have a few analog inputs so we're going to make it so you can run 5v through a pot and have the motor travel full range based off the voltage that it sees. The other inputs may be used to control the electronic gearing... 1:1, 1:2, 1:4 etc.

I have a quick question on the matte box front... I was thinking about putting a spring&damper on the hinge axis of the box so when you pull the release pin it will rotate out and stay put. Would that be a valuable feature or a pain?
 
So pulling the pin would cause the MB to swing away on its own? That wouldn't bother me...

I'd like it to be able to swing past 90˚, though. A friction stop at 90˚ wouldn't be a bad idea as long as it can freely swing [and stop] about 30˚ in either direction from that point. So its range of stoppable position [where that spring damper doesn't interfere] would be 60˚-120˚.

Or something. :)

Hold on, I have an MB20 right behind me. I'll pop it on a camera and put a little video together describing what I'd love.
 
Do you mean the swing-away mechanism for the whole mattebox or individual components like french and side flags ?

In my case, I´d like that functionality for any of the above components, it saves time, hassle and possibly be single-handedly-operatable.

To add to the Red motors, there´s so much functionality in them it´s hard to believe that they can be equal or cheaper to i.e. Palomar`s M-one.
 
Brook Willard said:
So pulling the pin would cause the MB to swing away on its own? That wouldn't bother me...

I'd like it to be able to swing past 90˚, though. A friction stop at 90˚ wouldn't be a bad idea as long as it can freely swing [and stop] about 30˚ in either direction from that point. So its range of stoppable position [where that spring damper doesn't interfere] would be 60˚-120˚.

Or something. :)

Hold on, I have an MB20 right behind me. I'll pop it on a camera and put a little video together describing what I'd love.
Click to expand...
OK.

kalone said:
Do you mean the swing-away mechanism for the whole mattebox or individual components like french and side flags ?

In my case, I´d like that functionality for any of the above components, it saves time, hassle and possibly be single-handedly-operatable.

To add to the Red motors, there´s so much functionality in them it´s hard to believe that they can be equal or cheaper to i.e. Palomar`s M-one.
Click to expand...
I was referring to the swing away mechanism. I'd have to dig a little deeper to make it happen on the flags. It would mainly be to keep the unit from shutting on you when you don't want it to.. ie wind, gravity etc.

With regards to the motors... the palomar M-1 is $2100 right? Can't say what its gonna cost but it shouldn't be that much... you'll have to wait for Red to post the price.
 
CVB said:
I have a quick question on the matte box front... I was thinking about putting a spring&damper on the hinge axis of the box so when you pull the release pin it will rotate out and stay put. Would that be a valuable feature or a pain?
Click to expand...

The only problem I see with a spring & damper would be that at times, say in a tight space such as the inside of a car, you may not want the mattebox to swing out the full 45* or even 30*. It may nail the window, push up against something you don't want it to....

On the other hand, it is a neat feature which makes working in open enviorments smooth, but I'm not sure it's worth the effort really.
 
CVB said:
I was referring to the swing away mechanism.
Click to expand...
Sounds Great.
I was asking for some quick release/lock on the french flag because I frequently close it between breaks it to protect the lens.

Yes, price for palomar is right. If Red´s motors come in for less it´s going to be a very, very strong contender on the market - but that´s not new news.
 
Alexander Nikishin said:
The only problem I see with a spring & damper would be that at times, say in a tight space such as the inside of a car, you may not want the mattebox to swing out the full 45* or even 30*. It may nail the window, push up against something you don't want it to....

On the other hand, it is a neat feature which makes working in open enviorments smooth, but I'm not sure it's worth the effort really.
Click to expand...

I was talking to Daren (Finner) and he had the same comment about the tight spaces... It would be a spring-damper so basically think BMW type smooth movement, it would open slowly and then hold position. I wonder if it would be better to have a several detents that would hold it in different positions.. then you can just hold the release pin down and skip the detents that you don't want to use. BTW, the release system is a little different on this mattebox, you press a button on the smart side to swing the front away, should be a little easier to open than the MB20. It will be protected from accidental opening as well.
 
The funny thing is that after starting to fiddle with the mattebox... I might prefer no spring at all. Or if there's a spring, it's an absolute must that the MB can swing more than 90 degrees. I'm compressing the video now, it'll be up in a few. I also put a few other things that bother me about the mattebox in there.
 
Ok, here it is. The audio's a little rough... and my phone rings in the middle of it... but you get the picture.

If anybody else wants me to demonstrate something else on the MB [or if they want to see something I didn't show], I have it for a few more hours.
 
Nice.. thanks for the walk through Brook. I had the same gripes after 5 minutes of playing with the MB-20 that I had. I'm gonna remedy all those issues. The last one that you were talking about regarding the positioning of the thumbscrews on the bellows adapter is easily fixed... can't you just loosen the red knob and rotate the whole rear assembly 90 degrees CCW? Maybe I'm confused.
 
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