I had a case of flare the other day.

Not good flare, not creative flare, just the damaging global veiling flare you really do not want.

I was not even sure at first, but placing my hand just in front of the lens revealed a great deal of lost contrast, in a situation that was already perilously close to unworkable.

My hood was removed to mount a larger thread filter, ironically giving me a larger surface to catch stray light at the expense of the only tool able to help.. I fixed it by moving back into the room further and applying the 2.7x tele-converter option in the G9, but my working distance then became problematic (10ft mic cable at full stretch foced me to use a new extension that turned out to be sub par*, providing a crackly connection to the camera so I spent the entirety of two interviews holding the cable in by hand.

The problem was highlighted when the very impressive K & F varible ND arrived. Really nice, but I do not have a hood option for it (the proper one cannot accommodate the handy turning tab).

Mat box?

The Smallrig one (3575 mini lite) is appealing, but I have to shell out half its value again to get the 62mm thread adapter meaning I would have 8 useless ones for one I would use exclusively (no 46mm in the kit). I thought stepping rings would work, but the filter thread is on the adapter, so I would have to step up the box adapter ring, then step down the adapter ring to the filter size, which may not work at all. The other feature of the box is a slider to take filters……….$300+ filters.

$140 for a hood laden with accessories I would not use and only shading one angle? No thanks.

Smallrig do make a flexible shade arm (3199) for about $40, which would do the job, but may also just be in the way a lot. Things can get busy on a rig with monitors, mics and lights, without adding a flexi arm.

I have ordered a 62mm screw in hood and a 62-67 step ring for an old 67mm metal hood I have. Either will work well enough and be a whole lot smaller than a mat box.

They do look the business though.

This brings to mind another realisation. The monitor I felt I needed seems to have become, a bit like the mat box idea, just something I pull out for big jobs, more to aid the client than myself.

The Pana screen is busy and small, but for most jobs is plenty. Eye detect AF works well for interviews and the EM1x with touch AF is likely going to be my on the move camera. I did use the monitor the other day when a particular person and environment made AF too twitchy, but only once and the extra process of setting it up is uninviting for small jobs.

*yep several lessons there (1) check new stuff (2) bring everything (3) predict possible scenarios. More cables have since been ordered from the brand my first one came from, measuring 3 to 25ft.