Matthews Studio Equip

This place isn’t really a store, but they have a showroom with a bunch of cool gear. I came here last week in a bind and a lady helped me out. Picked up some clamps and some tvmps. It was pretty easy and I prefer to use Matthews on set. They also give a discount to local 80.

In short: Matthew’s Studio is great and their products truly are among the best available for media production.
I’ve purchased quite a few MSE products over the last few years and all work great. Road Rags is one of my favorites even though very low cost. On the other side of the cost spectrum I own a Floatcam HD Slider.
Before I bought the Matthew’s Floatcam HD Slider from MSE, I had purchased a DC Slider (a level below the HD) from BH Photo in NYC. When I was in China, the DC had some problems and even though I had purchased from a reseller, Matthews did their best to help me as if I bought it straight through them. They shipped me parts in Yunnan Province, which is a stone’s throw from Tibet.
When I returned to LA, I went to see them and was very warmly received. They continued to help me find ways to use their equipment more effectively with my gear and even loaned me a much needed tripod for no charge when an adapter I wanted to purchase was not available.
They continually work to develop new technology — I have seen it myself in just the past few months. I like supporting companies that innovate and try to make my job easier, so if that matters to you, then I am happy to point that out.
I’ve seen their factory, and having had previous experience in the machining and manufacturing world, can say this is a very well-​run company that makes great products. Happy employees and meticulous care is taken to make everything.
If you need production gear that will work well and last, I’d recommend them without a second thought.

I made the mistake of buying a Junior Boom directly from Matthews. The boom weights 41 pounds — it a monster. But when they shipped it all they did was to wrapped it in thin plastic and a very small piece of bubble wrap inside a weak cardboard box (It was so unbelievable that I took pictures of it all). Anyway, as you can guess, the boom showed up damaged. This is there policy on their website: «Matthews Studio Equipment’s responsibility ceases upon the delivery of the shipment to the carrier. Any loss or damage occurring in transit is the responsibility of the carrier and buyers are advised to immediately notify the carrier in writing within 48 hours of any such loss.» So now because of Matthews’ irresponsible shipping practices and poor customer suport (in my case), I need to take my valuable time to go through FedEx to file a claim Yada, Yada, Yada. I my opinion, I would never buy anything from them again. And I think that anybody with business practices and support like this should not in business. My advice is to buy your boom from a different manufacture or if you really want a Matthews boom to buy it from a distributor with better business sense/​support.