Why Use A Mattebox?

By Author: James Hill
Total Articles: 26
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You might be wondering what the point of buying a DSLR matte box is when you can attach filters to the front of the lens.
One major drawback with screw in filters is that you have to remove them from one lens and attach them to another if you switch lenses. This can be time consuming. Another drawback is that they come in different diameters to suit different lenses. This means you might have to add different adaptors each time you change lens, which can make a lens change even more time consuming.
With a mattebox you have the option to stack and rotate multiple filters and you also have a choice of high quality filters used in professional filmmaking. There are numerous correction and effect filters available, from subtle mist effects to powerful NDs and color correctors. Though color correction can be done with grading, there are a number of reasons to get it right “in camera.” Firstly, digital camera sensors tend to have a native color balance. This means that the further away you are from the native color balance, the less dynamic range you have to use, and the more likely you are to clip a channel or introduce ...
... noise into the image. Another issue is that with compressed codecs used in DSLRs, there isn’t the same ability to make the major adjustments that you can make with a camera that shoots raw images. Another reason for doing things “in camera” is the fact that effects tend to look better. A computer can introduce a subtle mist or diffusion effect in the same way that a filter can, but it can’t exactly match the way the light is affected by the filter. Filters can produce beautiful effects on skin and create halos of light around people in a distinctive way.
You also have the option to use graduated ND filters. ND Grads allow you to reduce the brightness of part of the image (for example the sky) without affecting the rest of the image. You can rotate them and adjust their height to match the horizon. Although you might be able to fix this in post, the difference in the brightness of the sky and the subject can often be beyond what the camera is capable of capturing.
Another benefit of using a DSLR Matte Box is the use of flags. Protecting the lens from light is often overlooked. We know when there is an obvious flare in the lens, and sometimes this can be a desirable look. But what many people don’t realize is that there is nearly always unwanted light hitting the lens. This reduces contrast and resolution in the image. By using flags, we can protect the lens from this unwanted light and improve the quality of our images. Flags are moveable and can be quickly adjusted to match the lens being used. The lens hood, which comes with many lenses, is fixed and doesn’t offer true protection of the lens. This is especially true of zoom lenses.