I absolutely love the flowing, beautiful and engaging steadicam (stabilizer) shots often seen in films and music videos. When done properly they can add so much production value to any video production, be it a creative one or even a corporate video.  One of the first things I bought then I first got into filmmaking was a Flycam 5000, which was a great start for me. Even though it’s very tired now, in my time using it, I produced a lot great shots with it, that really helped me bring the projects that I was working on to life.

Quite recently I decided it’s time to upgrade to something better and very conveniently for me a new version of Flycam just came out, which on paper offered much more for the price I originally paid for 5000.  I didn’t want to spend much and at this price there wasn’t anything else that really stood out.

I week later I received my new Flycam C5 and made an unboxing video right away, which can be viewed below if you haven’t seen it yet.

I went through the features in the video, but the ones that stood out to me again while actually using this stabilizer were:

Top plate fine adjustment knobs: These things are so straightforward and so good for precise adjustment.  Adjusting side to side and back to front balance is so easy. There are 2 side-to-side fine adjustment knobs on each side, so no matter what hand you are holding you stabilizer with, you can reach the knobs easily. On top of that, you don’t have to undo any safety knobs/screws to adjust the side-to-side balance, unlike all the other stabilizers I’ve used.  You would usually have to undo 4 knobs on the bottom to adjust the side-to-side balance; with C5 you just rotate 1 knob and when you are happy, you just leave it as it is, it the plate doesn’t slide or rattle about.

Back to front adjustment is also much more straightforward that on any other stabilizers I’ve seen. You only have to undo one knob to loosen the top sliding plate and then rotate the fine adjustment knob to move the plate back and forth. The older/simpler models like Flycam 5000 & Nano and Glidecam Pro series, don’t even have any fine adjustment knobs, you have to adjust the balance by moving the plate with your hands, not great for fine balance adjustment and impossible to do while holding the stabilizer with your other hand to check the balance. The closest thing in terms of comfortable, precise adjustment with similar specs is the Glidecam HD4000, but even with that one you have to undo 8 knobs in total to adjust side to side and back to forth balance and on top of that it also costs almost 3 times more than the C5. Talking about more expensive stabilizers, I’m sure there are probably a lot of higher-end stabilizers that offer such straightforward balance adjustment methods, but they are way too expensive to fit into budget/indie filmmaking bracket that I’m talking about here. At this or similar price there is really nothing out there that offers the features mentioned above, unless I’m missing something.

Sliding Plate: This plate is like a tripod plate rather than one of them massive plates found on other stabilizers mentioned above. With these stabilizers people just end up buying extra quick release adapters to avoid unscrewing all 4 or in case of Glidecam HD series 8 side screws/knobs to get the top plate off just to put the camera on and do the same when the want to get it off. This is incredibly annoying and inconvenient. So one of the things that initially impressed on C5, was this cool, sliding, quick release plate; just one knob to undo and it slides out just like a tripod plate. There is a safety pin too, to make sure that it doesn’t fall out, protecting your camera from a potentially painful drop.  This plate is a really cool idea, I think it probably was inspired by higher-end stabilizers, because I’ve only seen such plates on higher-end Glidecams and Stedicams which cost at least 10 times more than C5. It’s great that Flycam is catching up higher-end technology and offers such cool features at such a low price. It’s really not a computer science, but simple things that could improve any stabilizer. I don’t know why other companies don’t offer such features on their stabilizers. Maybe it’s a part of protecting their top of the line products, otherwise why would someone pay $$$$/££££ for the features that can be found on an entry-level model.

A few other things that stood out to me are:

The carbon fiber central post. I’m not sure how much lighter is it than the aluminum post, but it looks quite cool and adds to the overall positive feel.

The poll extension knob is also really nice, much more comfortable than one on my Flycam 5000. It’s ratchet too, very good for moving it out of the way once it’s tightened.  

When assembled and fully extended, the C5 is quite a large stabilizer, capable of handling a camera up to 7.5lb/3.4kg, which means it could handle much larger cameras than just a DSLR, like my 5D,  but when dissembled it very neatly fits into a very compact, padded bag that comes with it. This is a big bonus for me, because my stuff usually gets all scratched up in my big suitcase. The bag has a shoulder strap for transportation, but even if I just drop it into the suitcase with my tripods and stands, it’s protected and basically stabilizer will last longer. If I decide to sell it in future, it will hold value better, unlike my Flycam 5000, which is now so tired, I don’t even want to put it on eBay.

So is it a perfect stabilizer? Nothing is perfect and of course there are always things that can be improved. I find that the handle is a bit short for my hand and why no foam or rubber padding? It’s simply metal, which I guess was also inspired by handles on high-end stabilizers, which are usually used with swing-arms and vests; there is no need for padding on such stabilizer handles. To be honest, when I’m using the C5 with my arm brace it doesn’t bother me either, but for people who would just hold the stabilizer with their wrist, some padding would be nice, which would also make the handle chunkier and bigger, which would help holding it for a longer period of time. Adding some padding is very simple, even I could do that, but it’s nice to have what you need when you buy something, not mod it afterwards.

The only other thing that is a bit annoying is that the holes on the quick release plate are of different sizes, 3 smaller and 2 larger. The larger ones are almost too large for the screws that come with the stabilizer, if you’re not careful when fitting the camera the crew could fall through. This could be very easily fixed if they would include slightly larger washers. For now, to I’ll just to get a larger washer or a screw with a larger head (the spare ones from my Giottos MH621 adapter should be just fine). I could just use one of smaller holes, but I find the second hole from the back is the best for a DSLR setup; it happens to be the larger one. For other cameras it might be different, quite possibly the middle one which is one of the smaller ones.

Below you can see some test footage that I shot with this stabilizer.

I think for a first time it performed really well, but I could achieve better results with some practice. To get the most out of any tool, be it a slider, tripod, dolly or stabilizer, you need to practice. I’ve heard someone say that a good steadicam operator could take a stick and make better shots than someone with a high-end stabilizer who doesn’t how to use it. I have to agree with that.  I’m not really good at it myself, but I’m willing to learn, practice and get better. If you’ve never used a stabilizer yourself and about to get one, be it a C5 or any other one, don’t be disappointed if your first try is not great. Experiment with the balancing until you get it right. It initially took me about 15-20 minutes to get the balance I wanted, so don’t assume that you can stick the camera on a stabilizer and magic will happen, when you first get into to it, things might not go your way, but just work on it, get the balance as good as you can and most importantly, practice.  Bellow you can see the video I’ve done on balancing a stabilizer and getting the best results out of it.  Hope it will be helpful if you are only starting out or want get more out of your stabilizer.

Going back to the review. I’m really enjoying my Flycam C5. It looks cool and it feels great too.  At this price, I really don’t think there is anything better. Most of the stuff out there is a bit basic and dated. The C5 is probably one of the newest budget stabilizers available and as mentioned above, it seems to be inspired by the higher-end stuff, bringing some cool features to people on a tight budget like myself. Of course it’s not the best stabilizer in the world, but it offers an amazing value/features for money. I highly recommend the C5 to anyone looking to buy their first Stabilizer or upgrading from something like a Flycam 5000 or Nano. I also recommend buying an arm brace. It doesn’t cost much and it helps so much with operation, especially for a longer period of time or with a heavier camera.

It ended up to be quite a lengthy review and I hope you stuck with me till the end. Feel free to ask any questions regarding this or any other stabilizer and I’ll do my best to get back to you soon.

Matte Boxes are very useful accessories for film-making. They can help minimize the any unwanted flares and most have filter holders for 4x4 filters, which are used to enhance the image in many different ways.

A few years back Matte Boxes used to cost a fortune, and there was a very little choice on the budget side. There ware just a few Indian ones, that would cost way too much due to the lack of competition from other brands. The things have changed. Nowadays there is so much to choose from with the prices starting under $20/£15.  

I’ve decided it’s time to do a bit of a research and put together a Matte Box Buyer’s Guide with all the best deals on eBay.  Below you will see all matte boxes I decided to include, starting from the cheapest ending with the most expensive, rounding up with my personal recommendations and conclusions. I haven’t included every single Matte Box on Ebay, but only the ones that I personally think deserve a place in this guide. Value for money varies, but even the most expensive ones are still great deals if you think about choice and prices even 2 years ago. I decide not to go above $500/£300 mark, because there is so much choice for less.

The cheapest matte box on eBay is sold by delight-digi. You’ll see it all over ebay, but this is the absolute cheapest deal I found. The price is simply incredible, although the matte box is pretty cheap and very basic. It is made out of cheap plastic and doesn’t have any filter holders. The flags are a bit weird and basic too, but they work. I actually used this MB couple of times when shooting with someone else’s camera and I was actually able get rid of some nasty flares that were hitting the lens, so if you are only starting out and don’t have money for a better MB this is well worth the money, it’s just can’t get any cheaper than this.

The next cheapest MB I decided to include is sold by pell678. This is a decent looking MB, with decent French flags.  Unlike the one above which requires a set of 15mm rods, this MB is fitted directly to the camera lens. This can be a great feature for people who don’t have any rods or/and like to keep their setup minimal. The biggest feature of this matte box, is that is accepts a Cokin P type filters rather than 4x4. Cokin P are much cheaper than 4x4, so it is a very good option for someone on a tight budget.

Next MB worth mentioning is Filmcity M-2. This is where we start to get into more traditional look and design. This MB looks like a perfect match for a DSLR. It’s lightweight and has one 4x4 filter holder, unfortunately not rotatable. I think it’s probably the best MB for under $150/£100 though.

Next up is Proaim V-11. Now I’ve never been a fan of Proaim and personally don’t have anything from this brand, but this matte box seems to offer a decent amount of features for the money. It has 2 4x4 filter holders that can be rotated, by 180 degrees,  but only together, still better than no rotation. On a downside, there is only a top flag.

Next is another Proaim MB, but this one is completely different to V-11.  The Proaim MB-700 is a proper matte box, with proper French flags, interchangeable masks, 2 filter holders (1 is rotating) and plenty of doughnuts. One of the nice advantages of this MB over others is that it can be used both on 15mm rods and clipped on directly to the front of the lens.

Moving on to Chinese stuff now; for under $300/£200 you can now get a high-end style MB from Konovacamera with all the features one might wish for. These include a swing-away arm (really good for a quick lens swap), 2x 360 degree rotating 4x4 and 4x5.65 filter holders (each filter rotates independently), 4 donuts,  adjustable flags and a few other accessories.  At this price, such package is rather impressive.

Stepping just over $300/£200 we are coming back to an Indian MB, probably made my Proaim, this one is called MB-900. This one like the one above has a swing-away arm, flags, 9 donuts (that’s a lot) and 3 filter holders (2 fixed 4x5.65 & 1 rotating 4x4), flags. This is pretty much everything one could wish for. My only complaint is that one 1 filter holder is rotating, but for a lot of people that might not be a problem at all.  This MB one of a few that can be used with bigger cine size lenses (lenses with front element up to 105mm)

Next up is a Trusmt D100MB2. This is a matte box that I bought myself some time ago. This is a one very cool MB, especially the CF version with Carbon Fiber flags. There is also a cheaper AL version with standard aluminum flags. Like some other MBs above it has a swing away arm and 2x 360 degree independently rotating 4x4 filter holders and a set of 4 donuts.  The built quality is really good and at the time when I bought it, it offered absolutely the best value for money. But very recent addition of MBs like the one from Konovacamera the Trusmt MB doesn’t seem to offer such a great value. If Konovacamera MB is as good quality as Trusmt, then there is really not much that can justify the price difference. However if you don’t want to risk and just get a quality MB for under $500/£300, then the D100BM2-CF could be a great choice for you.

For virtually the same price as Trusmt you could get the Cinematics MB. This a very cool looking MB with most of the features found in Trusmt D100MB2, except the CF flags and only it only has 1 rotating filter holder (the other is fixed). But it has it’s own interesting features. The first interesting feature of this MB is that it has a mount for bottom flag (I think it even comes with an extra flag); don’t know if it is a useful feature, but an interesting one. Also, the swing-away arm design is quite unusual but actually is really cool and I’m not sure why it’s not found in other MBs. Basically with all standard swing-away arms the arm is fixed on one side only, so the other side (usually the left one) is not fixed to anything, which can result in some unwanted movement when camera is moved with a lot of force. With Cinematics MB, the swing-away arm is fixed on one side, but locked on the other side, so there is no chance of any movement when the MB is locked. Also unlike the standard swing-away arms which hold all the weight and pressure on one arm, this one is supported on both sides, so there is much less chance that such arm will break. I think it is a great feature and it certainly stands out.

It is really difficult to recommend just one matte box, because like with the other gear it is all about your budget.  The ones that stand out to me include the cheapest one sold by delight-digi, the price is just crazy and if you are just starting out and are on a very low budget you can still afford one of this and start to get familiar with the use of a matte box. If you have a bit more money, then the Filmcity M-2 is a great little MB. The other MB that really stands to me is the one by konovacamera and identical ones sold by other sellers. These MBs offer a very good value for money and have all the features one might wish for.

I hope this guide was useful to you and will help you save some money on your gear.

Above you can see some test footage which I shot with a Helios 44-2 58mm f/2 lens.  In my opinion this vintage Russian lens is very special. It has a very nice look to it and when shooting into the sun it creates very interesting flares that add a lot of character to the footage. It’s not suitable for every scenario, but I think it definitely adds a very cool oldschool film look the footage shot with it.  I personally really like the result I was able to achieve with this lens and it’s not just about the flares. The lens is really sharp and close focusing ability makes it a really good lens for close-ups (see 0:49 of the video). The colors are really good too and the maximum aperture of f/2 is great for low light shots. One of the nicest things about this lens though is the fluid aperture adjustment.  This not something that is usually found in photo lenses. It lets you adjust the aperture in a smooth way, so you can easily fine-tune your aperture while recording without a sudden change of brightness. This feature was very handy when I was filming the BMX riders coming into the bright daylight and back under the roof where it was much darker. I was able to adjust the aperture very easily and smoothly without it being obvious in the shot. This a feature that is usually reserved to Cine lenses, so it is so nice to see it in this budget lens. The focus ring on my copy is really smooth and has long through, which meant I was able make really smooth, subtle focusing adjustments, which is what you would usually want from a lens used for video.

A lot of modern auto-focusing lenses have a very short through, which helps the autofocus motors achieve the focus quicker for photography needs, however for video this is actually a big downside, so good old manual lenses are so much better for manual focusing. They also have hard stops, which are important if you use a follow focus and focusing marks. Again, some modern lenses, Canon EF in particular don’t have any hard stops.

I keep telling people that the reason why modern lenses are so much more expensive that the old glass is not only because they have great optics, but also because they have great, fast auto focusing motors, which obviously makes a massive impact on the price. After all, these are photography lenses made for modern sophisticate cameras with fancy auto focusing systems. I said it before and I’ll say it again: if you are only doing video work with you DSLR then there is really no need to buy modern Canon, Nikon, Panasonic, etc glass. You can get so much more for your money if you invest into manual lenses and they don’t have to be as cheap as this Helios. Even very popular manual Nikon and Zeiss lenses will cost so much less that a modern equivalent which will not necessarily be better for video work.

If you are on a tight budget though, I highly recommend this Helios 44-2 58mm lens. It is a great mid/close up lens and it is so cheap that anyone can afford it.

I have 2 of them and I will be giving away one shortly. Stay tune for more details.

_Today I found a new FF on eBay. It’s a new follow focus from VARAVON. Initially I got very excited about this one. It certainly looks nice a glossy; nice looking parts and loads of logos.  Lens rings also look really nice. This unit features adjustable hard stops and quick release system. Like other VARAVON gear it is expensive, but is it actually any good. After looking at it for bid I realized some parts look very familiar. The focus knob and more importantly the gearbox are exactly the same as ones found in a very cheap RJ follow focus. Now RJ is not terrible FF, the one I’ve tried actually had very little play, but RJ is a budget unit and priced accordingly. This makes me wonder it this VARAVON FF is actually more or less an RJ unit, but dressed up to look high-end. After all, the most important part of the FF is the gearbox, all glossy stickers and nice adjustment knobs are pointless if the gearbox is crap. The RJ gearbox is not the worst, but would you pay 5 times more for glossy stickers and fancy knobs? I certainly wouldn’t. It is possible that the VARAVON FF has a different gearbox, but I highly doubt it, it looks the same and the focus knob once again confirms that this FF is based on RJ. Check out the images below to make our own mind up.

_My conclusion is that VARAVON is a complete rip off. I'm sure they will sell loads of these because they look good, but they are definitely not worth the money. You will be be better off with RJ, or some other FF.
Check out my Follow Focus Buyer's Guide for some of the best deals on eBay (by the way all cheaper than VARAVON).