TRUSMT Matte Box review

[Brad Webb]

We all know the truth. Matteboxes are the most ridiculously overpriced pieces of film equipment on the face of the planet. God forbid you want one with a swing away arm and rotating filter tray. I was looking for a cheaper alternative. After doing a ton of online research I decided to pull the trigger on one of the TRUSMT Matte Boxes that I’d seen on ebay.

I bought the one that comes with Carbon Fiber Flags. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Trusmt-DSLR...638?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item43b24be716
Don’t bother with the buy it now price. Just bid the minimum and you should win. I got mine 3-4 days after I ordered. Plus it comes with some weird mini rug thing. Not sure why.

The Good
The Swing away arm works like a champ. It’s fantastic. The overall construction of the mattbox is pretty solid. Both filter trays rotate nicely. The filter trays fit nice and snug and snap into place. The Carbon Fiber eyebrow is wonderful. I don’t know if it’s 100% Carbon Fiber, but it’s nice. The side flags are also nice. The screws that hold the flags on work great.

The Bad
The filter trays are made of plastic. They are nicely made plastic, but there is no doubt that at some point one of these is going to snap in half. It’s not built to last. This thing will probably fall apart after a few years of use. Maybe even with a year of heavy use. The screws and rods that let you position the top and side flags kinda suck. They hold ok, but it’s tough to loosen them.

The Ugly
The Donut holder. This thing sucks balls. It looks like it should easily screw on an off but it doesn’t. Pretty sure I’ve already broken it. Which is ok. I bought one of those $10 lindcraft donuts to use instead.

Overall
Basically, you get what you pay for. You get a cheap mattebox. Is it a cheap piece of shit? no. Not at all. It’s no where near as nice as an Arri, but what do you expect when paying 1/5th the price.

I don’t love the mattebox, but I don’t hate it either. However I feel good that I made a good decision in buying it. It functions like a real mattebox. It holds filters. You can rotate them. It blocks the light. It swings away easily to let you change lenses, and it makes your camera look cool.

 

[Nick Gardner]

We all know the truth. Matteboxes are the most ridiculously overpriced pieces of film equipment on the face of the planet

To each his own. My arri MB-19 has done nothing but work perfectly on every camera system I have had for the past 12 years. Worth every penny.

Nick

 

[Lee Saxon]

Is this made with CAD files stolen from Letus like the FF? -.-

 

[Matt Ryan]

Haha yeah why is the rug so prevalent on the listing?!

Seriously, spend the money and get a system that lasts years, even a lifetime, not a year if your lucky. Bright Tangerine is available now and are a great option. I highly recommend them as I own a "Strummer" myself. http://matthayslett.com/bright-tangerine-matte-boxes/

Curt, who reviewed the Strummer a ways back and is now a distributor will be doing video reviews on the entire line of Bright Tangerine matte boxes. Ill post them in my blog once they are up.

Trust me, I understand not having the funds to buy the best, but you can either buy the cheap gear and have it break and continue the cycle or just buy a good one that will last you forever. It's tough at times to pull the trigger on a more expensive piece of gear when their are cheaper options but really it's better to just bite the bullet. You'll be rewarded in the long run. Plus no producer wants to see a cheap piece of gear on set thats falling apart.

 

[Yousuf Abbasi]

Ordered a couple rugs

 

[Brad Webb]

There are high end matteboxes and there cardboard matteboxes and there is virtually nothing in between. It doesn't make economical sense for me to spend over $1,000 on a Mattebox at this time. So I was looking for alternatives, and it's slim pickings. Redrock didn't impress me for the $$. I couldn't get ahold of a shoot35 to see if it was any better. Never heard back from Bright Tangerine, so I rolled the dice on this. The TRUSMT is good enough to get by while I save up for a better Mattebox. It's not junk. It's a serviceable Mattebox, and for the price and features it's unbeatable.

I purchased it being fully aware of its possible limitations. I was expecting to have to spend double what i spent. When i saw how inexpensive these were I searched for more info. I found 2 video reviews by the same guy (reviewing different models of the TRUSMT) and it looked good. I felt that at that price it was worth the risk. I think it will last a good 2-3 years as I don't see it getting heavy use (aka rental house use). I'm not here to tell people to buy it. I'm just putting out information about my experience so other people can make more informed decisions.

Also while the bright tangerine matteboxes do look impressive, there is no guarantee they will last 10+ years like an Arri.

 

[Matt Ryan]

There are high end matteboxes and there cardboard matteboxes and there is virtually nothing in between. It doesn't make economical sense for me to spend over $1,000 on a Mattebox at this time. So I was looking for alternatives, and it's slim pickings. Redrock didn't impress me for the $$. I couldn't get ahold of a shoot35 to see if it was any better. Never heard back from Bright Tangerine, so I rolled the dice on this. The TRUSMT is good enough to get by while I save up for a better Mattebox. It's not junk. It's a serviceable Mattebox, and for the price and features it's unbeatable.

I purchased it being fully aware of its possible limitations. I was expecting to have to spend double what i spent. When i saw how inexpensive these were I searched for more info. I found 2 video reviews by the same guy (reviewing different models of the TRUSMT) and it looked good. I felt that at that price it was worth the risk. I think it will last a good 2-3 years as I don't see it getting heavy use (aka rental house use). I'm not here to tell people to buy it. I'm just putting out information about my experience so other people can make more informed decisions.

Also while the bright tangerine matteboxes do look impressive, there is no guarantee they will last 10+ years like an Arri.

Well considering the owner / engineer of Bright Tangerine was an engineer at Arri for years its safe to assume. Plus if you saw one in person and played with it you will see how solid it is. I'm not a salesperson, but the bright tangerine is killer. The matte boxes have been out for a month so of course it's hard to know how long they will last. They haven't been around 100 years like Arri. But I am sure it will last just as long as an Arri matte box.

In the defense of Bright Tangerine there a new company of 6 people (including the owner) not even expecting to start sales or launching until September. The interest in their system forced them to jump in before they were fully ready. They chose the distributor route because they didn't have the resources or man power to handle orders themselves. Camadeus (Sebastian) is terrible at responding to inquiries but Curt is excellent (BT distributors). Give him a call or email him if you are curious about one of the Bright Tangerine matte boxes.

 

[Jon Carr]

Maybe try O'Connor. Bright Tangerine came out a month after I bought my O'Box, sadly. But I love my O'Boxes strength except the knobs for flags. You will need to sand down the brackets cause the tolerance is too tight for smooth movement. But over all a great matte box that will last. Add O'Grips to the matte box and you will never use another set of hand grips again!

 

[Nick Morrison]

Well considering the owner / engineer of Bright Tangerine was an engineer at Arri for years its safe to assume. Plus if you saw one in person and played with it you will see how solid it is. I'm not a salesperson, but the bright tangerine is killer. The matte boxes have been out for a month so of course it's hard to know how long they will last. They haven't been around 100 years like Arri. But I am sure it will last just as long as an Arri matte box.

In the defense of Bright Tangerine there a new company of 6 people (including the owner) not even expecting to start sales or launching until September. The interest in their system forced them to jump in before they were fully ready. They chose the distributor route because they didn't have the resources or man power to handle orders themselves. Camadeus (Sebastian) is terrible at responding to inquiries but Curt is excellent (BT distributors). Give him a call or email him if you are curious about one of the Bright Tangerine matte boxes.

How much IS a Bright Tangerine Matte Box, approx? I'm never got a good sense of where they stood price wise in the market.

 

[Matt Ryan]

How much IS a Bright Tangerine Matte Box, approx? I'm never got a good sense of where they stood price wise in the market.

I only know about the Strummer but I bought it back at NAB so not sure the current price. You'd have to ask a distributor like Curt for pricing cause not sure if price went down, up, or stayed the same since then.

curt@picturethisproductions.net

 

[Mike Garrick]

@ Nick Morrison

Unfortunately this appears to be the "big secret" about Tangerene .....no one knows or is to afraid to state a price & also its bloody ridiculous. The various websites all list components but no prices , you get a price by asking for a quote, WTF ! I don't want a house built on a slopping site, I just want a MB ! AND I don't want to be upsold by a salesmen who now has my contact details . In my opinion buy an O'connor at least you can look at their shopping list and budget accordingly & until Tangerene stop being so secretive, they don't deserve the business .

In regards to the Trusmt MB yep its cheap & I imagine works better than the indian versions. There appears to be alot of "price snobs' saying that you should only pay top dollar for something that will last to the next "Ice age." However what many miss is if you don't have the funds right now & you have a job next week that will help get the better MB why not buy the cheaper MB use it until it till falls apart whilst saving for the better one at a latter point in time.

As the O.P. stated there a things to dislike about it but there are also things to like, out side of price. At the end of the day this item mightn't have a big Arri logo on it but it does the job for the dollars. All gear is a compromise one way or another ..........even the super expensive stuff.

 

[Yousuf Abbasi]

@ Nick Morrison

Unfortunately this appears to be the "big secret" about Tangerene .....no one knows or is to afraid to state a price & also its bloody ridiculous. The various websites all list components but no prices , you get a price by asking for a quote, WTF ! I'm don't want a house built on a slopping site, I just want a MB ! AND I don't want to be upsold by a salesmen who now has my contact details . In my opinion buy an O'connor at least you can look at their shopping list and budget accordingly & until Tangerene stop being so secretive, they don't deserve the business .

In regards to the Trusmt MB yep its cheap & I imagine works better than the indian versions. There appears to be alot of "price snobs' saying that you should only pay top dollar for something that will last to the next "Ice age." However what many miss is if you don't have the funds right now & you have a job next week that will help get the better MB why not buy the cheaper MB use it until it till falls apart whilst saving for the better one at a latter point in time.

As the O.P. stated there a things to dislike about it but there are also things to like, out side of price. At the end of the day this item mightn't have a big Arri logo on it but it does the job for the dollars. All gear is a compromise one way or another ..........even the super expensive stuff.

Mick, Agree 100%

 

[Matt Ryan]

@ Nick Morrison

Unfortunately this appears to be the "big secret" about Tangerene .....no one knows or is to afraid to state a price & also its bloody ridiculous. The various websites all list components but no prices , you get a price by asking for a quote, WTF ! I don't want a house built on a slopping site, I just want a MB ! AND I don't want to be upsold by a salesmen who now has my contact details . In my opinion buy an O'connor at least you can look at their shopping list and budget accordingly & until Tangerene stop being so secretive, they don't deserve the business .

In regards to the Trusmt MB yep its cheap & I imagine works better than the indian versions. There appears to be alot of "price snobs' saying that you should only pay top dollar for something that will last to the next "Ice age." However what many miss is if you don't have the funds right now & you have a job next week that will help get the better MB why not buy the cheaper MB use it until it till falls apart whilst saving for the better one at a latter point in time.

As the O.P. stated there a things to dislike about it but there are also things to like, out side of price. At the end of the day this item mightn't have a big Arri logo on it but it does the job for the dollars. All gear is a compromise one way or another ..........even the super expensive stuff.

Pricing isn't a secret and I can tell you Curt only charges MSRP for the units. Camadeus has raised their price a bit. The reason no prices are listed is due to the wide variet of accessories and options available for each kit. It would end up being more confusing to people if they had 12 prices for each mattebox (due to all the available options and accessories). As for their website, this is just temporary to give people an intro into the products. Official launch was scheduled for September but threw something together when they started to get a lot of interest. Stop flaming the company when you haven't even attempted to contact Bright Tangerine or a distributor for details. Call or email Curt and he will answer your questions before you hand over your info.

As to your comment about not having funds and a shoot coming up, you can always rent.

If you guys have questions about Bright Tangerine call or email Curt for details. He's a regular guy who's distributing, not a company. The full Bright Tangerine site should be up and running in September so hopefully more info would be readily available.

Back to the OP, I wasn't intending to rip on you, just speaking from experience. I have owned several matte boxes in the past ranging in price from cheap to mid level and learned my lesson. In the end it's all about if your happy with your purchase and if the value is worth it to you.

Cheers

 

[Brad Webb]

The rule for expensive items is "if you have to ask how much it is, you can't afford it."

I was looking into Bright Tangerine, but when I found out the guy was from Arri, I realized the prices would be near Arri. That was more than I wanted to spend on mattebox at this time. So I started looking at cheap alternatives and I think I found one of the better cheap alternatives. I wrote the review for people in the same situation. I wrote it honestly and I did my best to stay objective and not sway opinion one way or the other.

 

[Matt Ryan]

Hey Brad not blaming you for anything. I too wanted to throw in my opinion. You got what worked for you an that's fine. Glad you are pleased with the purchase. At that price you definitely can't beat it.

The Bright Tangerine VIV is priced like the OBox, the Strummer kit is significantly lower than an Arri MB20, and their other two clip on models are less than both. The goal for Andy and Bright Tangerine was to provide a matte box that was far superior to Arri, and make them upgrade able as to not needing to own multiple matte boxes for different uses, and offering them at less than the competition. Before distribution was set up Andy would call me personally from wherever he was traveling to demo the unit to speak to me and answer my questions. To me, that says a lot about a person and a company. I even told him I wasn't really looking to purchase but wanted more info. Camadeus here in LA is notorious for not responding to inquires which is why I suggest calling or emailing Curt. I am sure once the real Bright Tangerine site is up a complete pricing list will be included. When I purchased they didn't have a comprehensive price list or even a basic description of each product. Why? Because at that point the company consisted of only one man, Andy. Basically he left Arri, designed these matte boxes and accessories, took out a large loan and began a production run. He then went around with the units all over the world and to trade shows to demo the unit. Recently he hired several employees which I believe is now up to 6. At one point Andy was receiving hundreds of emails a day and personally responding to each or calling to speak over the phone. I'm adamant about the company based on the passion Andy has and after going out on a limb and purchasing the Strummer and seeing how amazing and revolutionary the product really is. Even after I received it he said please email me any and all criticism you may have so I can improve the product. He is even implementing a height adjustment on the Strummer now due to user input and will be sending the upgraded part to existing owners at no charge. He openly welcomes ideas and criticism in the name of improving his matte boxes.

Anyways, that's it for the rant. Just wanted to clear up the some what bad name the company has for their lack of public info. Again if you have any question contact Curt, he's a good guy, not a business. In the near future Bright Tangerine will have more public info and reviews out there. Remember the first production run was just completed less than a month ago. Anyone remember a situation like this back in 2007? I think everyone here does. Give them a break and as time passes things will get much smoother.

Best,
Matt

 

[Ned Wilson]

Pricing isn't a secret and I can tell you Curt only charges MSRP for the units. Camadeus has raised their price a bit. The reason no prices are listed is due to the wide variet of accessories and options available for each kit. It would end up being more confusing to people if they had 12 prices for each mattebox (due to all the available options and accessories). As for their website, this is just temporary to give people an intro into the products. Official launch was scheduled for September but threw something together when they started to get a lot of interest. Stop flaming the company when you haven't even attempted to contact Bright Tangerine or a distributor for details. Call or email Curt and he will answer your questions before you hand over your info.

As to your comment about not having funds and a shoot coming up, you can always rent.

If you guys have questions about Bright Tangerine call or email Curt for details. He's a regular guy who's distributing, not a company. The full Bright Tangerine site should be up and running in September so hopefully more info would be readily available.

Back to the OP, I wasn't intending to rip on you, just speaking from experience. I have owned several matte boxes in the past ranging in price from cheap to mid level and learned my lesson. In the end it's all about if your happy with your purchase and if the value is worth it to you.

Cheers

If I can easily get prices for every Arri combination and part, I see no reason why Bright Tangerine can't do it. Sure, it'll take a bit of work to break it down and integrate into a site, but it'll pay for itself in more product sold. Make the buyer experience simple and easy and you'll be showered with riches. Eitherway, I'll be seriously looking into BT. If there all what folks say they are, my MB 20 will be on the market.

 

[Matt Ryan]

If I can easily get prices for every Arri combination and part, I see no reason why Bright Tangerine can't do it. Sure, it'll take a bit of work to break it down and integrate into a site, but it'll pay for itself in more product sold. Make the buyer experience simple and easy and you'll be showered with riches. Eitherway, I'll be seriously looking into BT. If there all what folks say they are, my MB 20 will be on the market.

Hey Ned,
Why not contact a distributor to get pricing details? They have prices for every part. Arri doesn't list prices on their site either, only the distributor sites.