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-...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