5D Mark III form fitting cage

B

Brian@202020

Veteran
Now that RAW is possible with the 5D3 I'm debating on picking one up to add to my arsenal of camera's and gear. I've used one several times but never owned one. I am looking for a cage for adding accessories, but I want the 5D3 cage to be a small form fitting cage like the ReWo GH2 cage to keep the size down. Does such a cage exist?
 
Most of the decent cages will be in that range. I like my CPM carbon-fiber rig, but it was more than $500. The light weight makes it worth it, though. You could get their basic Cubed Cage 1.0 for under $300 if you already have your own rails.

Make sure you get the one with four vertical rails unless you're shooting on a camera with a flip-out screen.
 
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I second the Wooden Camera option. I have a bunch of their accessories/rigs for my Red One & Scarlet. Everything is grade-A. I'm ordering the medium cage for my 5D3.
 
David W. Jones said:
Maybe it's just me, but I'm not a huge fan of all this cage stuff. But to be honest, I don't really need it for what I do, which is mainly shoot TV commercials. I simply use this little add on when I want to attach something... http://www.shapewlb.com/en/product/...lobalitemindex=4&aidcategorie=44&sort=PrixASC

Or I'll mount it to my rails.
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A shoe-mount top handle is totally what I'm looking for, but I keep thinking (and hearing) that it's not secure enough. Have you tried mounting an EVF on it?
 
aly324 said:
A shoe-mount top handle is totally what I'm looking for, but I keep thinking (and hearing) that it's not secure enough. Have you tried mounting an EVF on it?
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I have mounted an iPad as a prompter, and a 7" monitor. I wouldn't push it with the weight as I prefer mounting heavy items to my rail mounts. But from what I can tell the hot shoe is tied into the Magnesium body of the camera.
 
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I've been looking around and found a few interesting options that have recently come to market:

Skier LiteCage for 5D3 - $350
I have one of their O-Ring rigs and it's great for rigs with heavy lenses (it allows you to adjust the fulcrum point over the lens). It's not so great when you're not using a heavy rig. This new rig looks like it addresses that need. It seems smart to me. I like the offset options for monitors, and the clever little cold shoe for an extra mic (getting it away from the main handle). My only issue with it seems pretty particular to the 5D and probably wouldn't be able to be adapted to future camera bodies.

Sunrise HSR-610 Cage - $150
A simple design that gets the rods above the camera. I like that it hugs the shape of the camera, though that makes it useless for other cameras. I have a SmallHD HDMI protector and it looks like it would clear this cage. I'd probably replace the bolts, and I wonder if I could use a different grip (is that a 15mm hole in the top bracket?). I haven't been able to find this for sale anywhere else, except on one of those AliExpress (or similar) sites where you buy in bulk. I had Google translate it for me and the two comments were positive.

SmallRig DSLR Cage Kit - $219
A fairly blatant knock off of Wooden Camera's excellent design. I have purchased bits and pieces from their sister company CoolLCD, and they've been fine. Theoretically, you could swap out the side bar to accommodate bigger or smaller cameras (though only a taller bar is available at the moment). I like that the baseplate is compatible with Manfrotto 501PL. It's unfortunate that the cold shoe isn't engaged by the top plate for a second point of contact, though you might be able to rig something up. Here's a promo video for this one:

 
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Investing in a $500 custom cage at this point in the game is probably a mistake. The 5D Mark III is pretty far along in it's life cycle. It would be far wiser to invest in universal elements as your camera will likely change within two years.
 
@yoclay

True, but with ML raw the 5D may continue to be relevant for a while yet. It's always nice to have some lower-cost options.
 
Looking around a little more, I found a some more info on the "Sunrise" cage I mentioned in the post above. It turns out that it is fairly common (search for "5D cage" on eBay or AliExpress) but it goes by many different names. I found this image, which shows the cage from two new angles:

Cage_zpsf1404784.jpg


Even if it is somewhat form-fitting, it looks like it is jammed up against the handle side. I am not sure if it's enough to block the CF card door, but I'll be steering clear of this one.
 
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I use this setup and it works pretty good. I don't do shoulder filming it is to awkward for me and I feel it isn't smooth enough. I use this setup for hand held and the shots are pretty smooth because of the balance. Less than $200 for the package. The reason why I keep the handle and back pad on is that I can set the camera on the ground safely and the back pad helps with the weight balance.

 
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