***Trusmt D100MB2 CF Review***

Recently received the Trusmt D100MB2 matte box with carbon fiber flags.

It fulfills my expectations of what it would be: functional, no frills, practical, basic. It's just the kind of matte box I was looking for - for the right price.

The hood is made of strong, impact-resistant plastic. The swiveling, hinged parts are made of aluminum/metal. The carbon fiber flags are pretty cool. Incredibly light and super stiff - I understand Vitaly's concern about durability, but it would take quite an accident to snap one of these.

The up-and-down adjustment of the mattebox is about 6mm in each direction - enough to make a difference.

There are four neoprene "donuts" (which they call 'gaskets') included. I struggled with them a bit before figuring out they're supposed to angle back out from the ring in a conical shape. Once you get that they install in and out quite easily. They don't exactly cover every one of my lenses perfectly - there's a bit of a gap between the donut and the outer diameter of the lens on a few of them. A universal donut might do some good here.

One thing that's not perfect is the strength of the screw-down knobs that hold the flags in place: while they tighten down enough to prevent the flags from swinging around when moving the camera, the hold is a bit loose and can be knocked out of place by a slight touch.

A bigger issue is the sizing of the 4x4 filter holders (made of plastic). They are slightly too big for my Tiffen 4x4 ND filters. I'm not sure if Tiffen 4x4s tend to run small, but this is the first time I've had this issue. The spring-loaded "arm" on the filter holder that is supposed to hold the filter in place does not quite touch it, and therefore the filter will drop right out of the holder. This already happened once, and the ND filter clattered onto the floor. I'm getting around the problem for now by jamming a Q-tip stick in the gap. That's enough to hold the filter in securely.

I emailed Trusmt about this issue (trusmt@gmail.com) and they were very responsive - much quicker to reply than the typical eBay seller. They said that they're already aware of the problem and are currently creating a new filter holder. The implication is that they will send out a replacement once it's ready.

But don't let these two issues give you pause on purchasing the D100. For this price, I feel it gives matte boxes costing $800-1000 a run for their money. Two 360° rotating filter stages, a swing-away function, and just an all-around good, basic matte box design. Let's assume they will be fixing this 4x4 sizing issue and sending out replacements.

Hope this review helped. Good luck with your shopping and shooting!

lol. That looks funny.

Well, given the price I bought a the LCD hood even though the seller doesn't specify a GH camera fit. It's strong, felt inner lining, stitched leatherette & folds flat.
The floating GH-2 effect was all mine. No photographic equipment was injured in the process.

I'm planning on ordering the TrusMT follow focus and mattebox. Does anybody have any experience with the follow focus? How does it compare with other oens in the price range?

Tripod screws for rail rigs: a big time-saver & space-saver compared to allen-key screws:
- anybody want one like this (see photo) - but longer (ie 12mm instead of a 9mm shaft), so as to fit thicker aluminium base plates & risers found in rigs, matte-boxes? I bought one; good quality but too short.
Seller says,
>Yeah, I can make it for you but
making and shipping takes a long time, and on the other hand how many
pieces do you want to buy, if just several pieces, the cost could be
higher. Would you please let me know the
quantity you want?
>
http://www.ebay.com/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330580301908&ssPageName=ADME:X:RTQ:US:1123
If interested please ask seller via ebay. Perhaps just a few of us might persuade him to make some.

@osresentidos

Yep.

Most probably 7" will do.
They have adaptability.
You are better to ask seller citing exact width and height.

Just ordered the Cinematics Mattebox + the 7inch monitor hood. Via paypal, looking forward to receive it.

>has been scratching the front rods. Anyone having same issue?

You can find this in my first report.
Get screwdriver and remove bottom flag holder, as if it scatches rods you don't use it anyway :-)

Mine came w/ scratches. I took a sigh, swallowed my pride, and came to the realization that you're definitely paying for what you get. While it is built nice, the packaging/etc are nothing better than proaim/cinecity stuff. Not saying I hate what I got, as I do like it, but it's a little disheartening to get everything and have scratches/oil all over my purchases.

Now I'm a bit worried. My Cinematics MB came with no issues - but I haven't used it yet (as the railsystem is just to be finished). I really hope that it doesn't break in 2-3 weeks.

@jaecjaec

Ok, so the damage (broken rail clamp) was done on transport - NOT broken due to design flaw?