Since the Fujinon lens I am expecting delivery of is missing its lens hood , I was thinking of purchasing a low cost Matte Box ( but at least with the facility to drop in graduated filters ...

Most of them attach to 15mm bars which attach to the underside of the camera . Since I already have the Sony VCT 15 ( I think it is ) plate which I can use to mount the camera onto my tripod , I'd prefer something which still allows this to be used , but preferably would allow the matte box to stay with the camera if I was using it handheld .

Is there anything which allows this , or does the rail system have to be mounted between the tripod plate and the tripod head ?

Oh , and it needs to not cost a small fortune !

The Cokin modular bellows would probably fit the bill, if they are still available, self supporting and have an integrated filter holder. No French flags, but due to the bellows construction the front can be angled a bit. I find it particularly useful for some vintage lenses. They just need a lens adaptor and one hood can be adapted to many different sizes of lens. Lee filters do similar ones.

Hi Dave , great minds and all that !

While I have a fair few Cokin filters , modular hoods and other bits , they are all the smaller A system which wouldn't look at my video lenses .

However , I had a rummage up in the attic and found the remnants of my Lee filter system from my medium format days .

While I don't have an 82mm adaptor ring to suit the Canon lens I have on the camera just now , I've ordered a used one for a few pounds . That will allow me to fit my Lee filter holder onto the front of the lens , and I've also ordered a 100mm x 150mm grey grad , which should be one of the most useful filters . If this works out I'll get a tobacco grad and a blue grad , which I think are the most useful colours . I have a few 100x100 mm ND filters and colour correction filters , the former should still be useful , along with a circular polariser , which I would need to order .

While I have a Lee bellows type lens hood , I think it will be a bit narrow once mounted on the front of the filter holder so , having looked carefully at several of the less expensive matte boxes , I've ordered a Fotga DP3000 matte box ( link below ) , which I'm confident I can modify to mount onto the front of my Lee filter holder .

FOTGA DP3000 Professional Matte Box Sunshade +Filter Trays for 15mm Rod DSLR Rig | eBay (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/191193755372)

I've also noted , looking at the front shoe mount on my camera that there are two holes , approx 6mm diameter, in the front edge which might allow for the fitting of a rail system ; since the matte box comes with a couple of rails , I can look at this too .

My Fujinon lens has landed in the UK , and is en route to me , so I'll see how I get on with it and decide whether to use it or the Canon lens off my other camera .

The matte box arrived today .

Since I already posted about it elsewhere in reply to another poster's enquiry , I'll link to the other thread rather than duplicate posts .

http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/open-dv-discussion/533810-first-matte-box.html#post1934197