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Coolness Matters

Sep 1, 2005 12:00 PM, By Barry Braverman

The professional matte box and why you need it.

“Look, I'll be honest with you,” the caller admitted. “I have no idea what it does, but I know I need it.”

This phone conversation actually took place recently between an eager but clueless customer and a slightly exasperated sales rep for professional matte boxes. The salesman, with decades of experience selling to accomplished shooters as far back as the Ford administration, cleared the thick accumulation of film emulsion and other debris from his ears.

“You've got to be kidding,” he replied.

“Not at all. I just bought a new camera this week, and I'm talking to clients, so I'm kind of desperate. I need the best matte box I can find.”

“But why you would spend $1,500 on something if you have no idea what it does or how to use it?”

“Because it looks cool.”

Twenty-five years ago this macabre conversation would not have taken place. But times have changed, and nowadays pretty much anyone who cares to can be a “professional” shooter. Indeed, based on the outward appearance of many DV and HDV cameras today, it is often difficult to tell the true professional from the novice wannabe. Increasingly, we all seem to be using the same gear.

This could explain then the heightened interest in cool-looking accoutrements like a precision follow-focus or matte box that can help you and your camera convey the proper “pro” look. Today, as in everything it seems, coolness matters, so the marquee emblazoned on a lens barrel, for example, is more important to many shooters than what the lens can actually do. In this context, the “right” camera, lens, or matte box proclaims to the world: “Yes, I am a professional!” And as every Californian who's worth his soy iced latte knows, looking cool and buying cool things are the only true measures of our worth as human beings.

This love of status and desire to look like a professional rather than work hard to develop the skills of one seems to be the case for this caller who sought out a professional matte box like a bauble to hang around his neck. Only years from now, he will realize he made a very smart investment.

Toward a life with meaning

As we continue to evolve as professionals, the coolness factor eventually wears thin. Good craft really does matter, and the ability to tell compelling visual stories is the only genuine mark of the professional shooter. Of course, the right tools can help achieve the requisite high level of craft.

Your camera's matte box has several key functions. As a filter holder, it provides support for a range of contrast, exposure, and FX filters. Some shooters erroneously believe that physical glass camera filters are no longer needed or advisable, that any desired look can be more readily and efficiently accomplished in software. While this is true for straight color effects, such as adding a bit of warming to a scene, the premise is patently false overall. One or more physical camera filters are almost always necessary to capture optimal detail and contrast.

Truth is, in the current digital world, on-camera filtration is more imperative than ever. Contrast filters can expand the apparent range of tonal gradations, facilitating the arduous task of DV and HDV compression in-camera and thereby reducing artifacts and noise. The reduced risk of clipping in a scene's brightest highlights is an overwhelming benefit of on-camera filtration because detail lost during capture cannot be resurrected in post, no matter how good the software or plug-in. The polarizer filter can also serve to increase contrast and perceived sharpness and thus help offset the effect of many cameras' less than stellar optics. When shooting DV and HDV, an on-camera filter is almost always desirable, along with a suitable professional matte box to enable this functionality.

Protecting your contrast

Preserving contrast is a key responsibility of any shooter, and the matte box is the principal tool in achieving it. Stray light striking the front of the lens or filter at an oblique angle can lead to uncontrolled internal reflections and flare, the principal culprit responsible for loss of contrast in the captured image.

A well-fitted matte box conforming to the aspect ratio of the image format ensures that light striking the lens is more frontal and less apt to be kicked around inside en route to the CCD. Widescreen matte boxes should thus be a top priority for use with the latest-generation 16:9 cameras. The 16×9 Chrosziel model ships with a plastic insert and integrated wingset to further protect the front of the lens from off-axis rays.

Rejecting the screwy world

If you understand the advantages of a physical camera filter, my lens cap is off to you. But then you must also properly conform the filter to the front of the camera. Screw-in filters offer the advantage of (usually) lower cost and easier availability in amateur photo shops, but the fumbling and risk of cross-threading when the chips are down (so to speak) can be a serious occupational hazard, especially when facing the pressures of a rapidly fading sunset or a charging rhino on the plains of Africa.

Slide-in square or rectangular filters used in professional matte boxes offer greater ease of handling in addition to more creative possibilities. Some of these capabilities include better and more accurate positioning of graduated and effects filters, and optimal rotation of the polarizer, the orientation of which is critical to fine-tuning the level of darkening in the northern sky or to control window reflections.

Also, not all professional filter types and grades are available in screw-in sizes. This is particularly true of professional-level contrast control filters from Tiffen and Schneider Optics.

Supporting your decision

A professional matte box can either be clamped onto the front of the lens or supported independently via a set of rods. The clamp-on approach is much more convenient and compact, but the additional weight of the box and filters can place excessive stress on the front element section of the lens. Most prosumer DV cameras, including the Panasonic DVX models, do not provide sufficient support for a clamp-on full-size matte box, so the utmost care must be exercised when using such units on these models. A rod system secured to a special platform beneath the camera can be awkward, but the support it provides is more secure and safer. The rods are also useful for mounting other “cool” accessories, like a professional follow-focus rig.

The coolest accoutrement

For most folks, a high-quality matte box represents a considerable investment, and so it should be easily adaptable to many different camera models from various manufacturers. It should be lightweight yet extremely robust. Your matte box will likely be with you for decades, long after the “cool” cameras in your life are relegated to the scrap heap.

And here's something else to think about as you consider the investment in a professional matte box: Almost 20 years ago I was alighting from a helicopter onto an oil rig in the North Sea when a gale-force blast of wind caught the chopper door and slammed it into my Arriflex 16SR camera. The Chrosziel 3×3 matte box serving as a crumple zone absorbed the brunt of the impact, thus protecting a very expensive camera (and me) from more serious injury.

Clearly as serious camera accoutrements go, the matte box is the coolest accoutrement of all.

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