Mattbox/follow focus - suggestions please

[Pieter de Vries]

I'm looking for the right mattebox and a follow focus unit for an F3. A two stage unit with wide angle coverage, but nothing that will take the profile and size into the stratosphere. Something compact is what I need.

Suggestions appreciated.

[David C. Williams]

Chrosziel 456-R20, takes up to 12mm and is nice and light. Videocraft have them relatively cheaply (For Australia that is). The Genus Superior FF is pretty good too for mid range FF, or the ARRI MFF-1 is really nice.

[Nate Weaver]

Just bought an O'connor Obox and am very impressed. About 80-90% as refined as an Arriflex MMB-1, at 60% of the price.

Way more sturdy than Arri, believe it or not. By far the most rigid, tough mattebox I've ever used/seen (and I've used the big daddy modern cast Arris like the MB-14), it's in it's own category as far as that part is concerned. And very light. Picture below is making it look bigger than it is (wide angle on iPhone). It's not that big at all.

Between the Redrock and Obox, there is not much comparison, even though they are in the same price bracket. I had the Redrock, it got me through but it kept wanting to loosen up and drop pieces. Sold it 9 months later when I had more to spend.

Just FYI, the guy designing all the new O'Connor camera accessories is the same guy who designed the same stuff at Arriflex for the last 8 or so years.

[Leonard Levy]

It depends partly on your lenses how wide you need to go. I have all pretty compact Nikon lenses and can get an 11mm Tokina into a Petroff 4x4 mattebox with one filter. A physically bigger wide angle lens would need a bigger matte box.
Likewise many decisions go into the mattebox that can price you between $600 and $3000. A good budget mattebox and follow focus seem to be the ones from Shoot35 the guys who made the SG Blade adapter - good reviews on both units. The Redrock is attractive but heavy as hell. I bought the Petroff at around $1300 because I wanted 4x5.5 vertical trays, and 2 rotating stages in a mattebox lighter than a redrock, and cheaper than a Chroziel or a Vocas.

[Timur Civan]

Originally Posted by Nate Weaver

Just bought an O'connor Obox and am very impressed. About 80-90% as refined as an Arriflex MMB-1, at 60% of the price.

Way more sturdy than Arri, believe it or not. By far the most rigid, tough mattebox I've ever used/seen (and I've used the big daddy modern cast Arris like the MB-14), it's in it's own category as far as that part is concerned. And very light. Picture below is making it look bigger than it is (wide angle on iPhone). It's not that big at all.

Just FYI, the guy designing all the new O'Connor camera accessories is the same guy who designed the same stuff at Arriflex for the last 8 or so years.

WHAT the bloody hell is that submarine dive module looking thing on the side of your camera! thats awesome!

[Nate Weaver]

Originally Posted by Timur Civan

WHAT the bloody hell is that submarine dive module looking thing on the side of your camera! thats awesome!

Willytec, overkill king of follow focuses:

Cinematography.net discussion

I bought it for my Red kit, it's a little much for the F3. But I'm not going to sell it to go smaller, I'll just deal. It is amazing though, it does just about everything. In my pic above, I have just the simple handwheel on. Have both regular marking disc handwheel and dual speed handwheels in my kit.

[Steven S. Miric]

I just transfered all add ons from my "ex" EX1 to F3: Genus rails, Genus wide angle matte box (I like it small and compact) and RR FF. All together sits nice on the camera, with big Sony battery on the back and Tokina zoom on the front it is well balanced for hand held "run and gun" work...

[Dennis Dillon]

Which ever you choose, add a swing away for ease of lens changes. Red Rock not bad for the price.

[Brian Lai]

Pieter I just came back from a shoot in Sydney and Dragon Image studio carries various Chinese knock off versions of the Redrock and Zacuto system at much lower $ which you may want to consider. Of course the quality is not as good as the original but at 1/3 the price they do have a market. Did another shoot in Shanghai a week ago and there was a 5 story super store that carries knock offs to every photo accessories imagined, including Arri & Lite Panel lights. Hey, 'emerging market', they're just trying very hard.

Agree with Nate the O'Connor box is very good. I'm disappointed at my Arri MMB-1 being built and configured like a DSLR unit - no pivoting open option and wimpy lock down latches, and more than acceptable play with the follow focus.

Try them all out before buying. It's comes down to tactile feel and is a very personal thing.

[Thierry Humeau]

Also, check out Vocas ( that's what I got for my F3...). They make excellent accessories with very unique design and features. They have a special brochure for the F3 here.

http://www.vocas.com/pdf/Sony%20PMW%20F3%20folder.pdf

Thierry.

[Justin St.Clair Lewis]

Hi Piet,
Agree with Brian, for the price you can't go past Dragon Image stuff. But Higher end brands will generally always feel and fit better.
I was surprised that the Chrozial rig we used didn't fit properly with all lenses, but there must be a solution by now.

[Pieter de Vries]

Originally Posted by Justin St.Clair Lewis

Hi Piet,
Agree with Brian, for the price you can't go past Dragon Image stuff. But Higher end brands will generally always feel and fit better.
I was surprised that the Chrozial rig we used didn't fit properly with all lenses, but there must be a solution by now.

I decided to go with the Chrosziel MB 456 Academy Double mattebox (thanks David Williams) mainly because, apart from other many good things it will cover lenses as wide as 12mm. I like the Carbon Fibre-ish look!

Nice to meet you here on the forum Justin.

piet

[Peter Moretti]

Originally Posted by Leonard Levy

It depends partly on your lenses how wide you need to go. I have all pretty compact Nikon lenses and can get an 11mm Tokina into a Petroff 4x4 mattebox with one filter. A physically bigger wide angle lens would need a bigger matte box.
Likewise many decisions go into the mattebox that can price you between $600 and $3000. A good budget mattebox and follow focus seem to be the ones from Shoot35 the guys who made the SG Blade adapter - good reviews on both units. The Redrock is attractive but heavy as hell. I bought the Petroff at around $1300 because I wanted 4x5.5 vertical trays, and 2 rotating stages in a mattebox lighter than a redrock, and cheaper than a Chroziel or a Vocas.

Which model Petroff did you get? Thanks!