GH4 Best Cage for the GH4 with locking device for it's HDMI connector.

I like WC cage but ended up with Swedish Chameleon's one...and will not turn back. I feel the SC to be more compact and easy to carry around (I know most people don't care about carrying around cages....but I do :)). The tree cold shoes on the to are also extremely handy and solid and allow me to swap extension much quicker that with screws (e.s. I use the edelkrone monitor holder and it's so quick and solid that I can't think anything better.). That bit of extra room over the flash is also very appreciated to have a better view/access to controls and to wrap up some cable (the Honu GH3 cage....OMG! if you secure the camera in the cage and what to change something...good luck! the locking dial of the gh4 makes it even more dramatic). For run&gun people that use loupes, SC cage offer a perfect extension for a magnetic one that works just perfectly.


Imho I see only one big issue with SC cage where the WC is actually better. The SC cage is GH3/4 ONLY... so you buy for that camera and that's it (let's hope GH5 is gonna be the same shape!). WC cage is more universal from that point of view.


About the WC cage I have to say that that rear plate can be an issue and that it's hugely overpriced like all Wooden Camera stuff. It's just too much. The SC cage is already expensive for my taste and it's almost half the price of WC.


Personally I think that whoever have a chance to try the Swedish Chameleon's cage will find more user friendly than the bulky Wooden Camera one.
 
Bern Caughey said:
Even though my shoulder rig is relatively compact, & lightweight, there was just too much flex to the Honu. Under load Wooden Camera's half-cage has some flex, but much less.
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Gotta question. What part of the rig had the flex? Was it in whatever extension you had for shoulder rest or was it in the Honu cage itself. And how much "load" do you put on it?

I have one but all I've put on it was a Rode VideoMic and a second system audio recorder, and the Honu seemed as solid as a steel beam. So far I've just used it handheld but for me I see it best used on a tripod.

I also use the GearBox GB-1 cage from PNC. It's fairly wide spaced grips are very good for stabilizing in handheld use. I've got a Manfrotto 577 quick release adapter on the top side of the bottom plate so any camera I put a 501PL adapter plate on slides in and out quickly and easily.

But I also like the way the Honu cage "locks" in the GH3/4.
 
The flex I referred to would only be an issue when using a top handle to carry a full shoulder rig & brick battery.

Just last week I strongly suggested a friend pickup the Honu kit for it's HDMI support. He runs a 5.6" monitor off the top of his GH4 & been snapping the micro-HDMI cables, so it's only a matter of time till he breaks the port.
 
MastroMicio said:
About the WC cage I have to say that that rear plate can be an issue and that it's hugely overpriced like all Wooden Camera stuff. It's just too much. The SC cage is already expensive for my taste and it's almost half the price of WC.

Personally I think that whoever have a chance to try the Swedish Chameleon's cage will find more user friendly than the bulky Wooden Camera one.
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As a stand alone product the Wooden Camera cage may seem a bit much, but taken as a system it makes much more sense.

The cage attaches to the baseplate via an industry standard ARRI dovetail that unlike most other quick release systems will not twist no matter the load. It can also be used without the baseplate & is compatible with innumerous other ARRI-sized dovetails.

http://woodencamera.com/cart.php?m=...h=Y&search=Dovetail&sort=16&asc=asc&viewAll=1

One of the main reasons I picked up the Wooden Camera Quick Kit was for use with different cameras. It takes no time to switch between a GH & BlackMagic Pocket. Should any client insist on the 5D3 all I need to do is dust off the cobwebs & swap out a longer threaded rod.

The Swedish Cameleon GH3/4 cage does look good but seems to not offer a HDMI cable support/lock. Have you tried Wooden Camera's? I wish it was shorter but at least it works.

http://woodencamera.com/Cable-Clamp.html
 
Sorry for the crappy pics.

But here are a few shots of the inexpensive Honu cage in use on a green screen shoot.
 

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Wooden Camera showed a mockup of their cage for the GH4, & YAGH, during Cine Gear. It's mostly made up of existing items but the mockup's baseplate was only 3D printed.

And while this version uses Studio Standard spaced rods, & a ARRI compatible dovetail, there is a simpler configuration utilizing just LWS spaced rods.

Sorry for the poor quality cell phone pics. Couldn't clearly see the screen in this setting.

jjmc6r.jpg
 
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Ordered a Varavon cage last week, got it for US$250 off eBay, hopefully will be here by the end of the week so will give an update when it arrives. Also grabbed a bunch of bits and pieces from CoolCD for adding rods, audio recorder, mic receivers etc to give me a few more options. Yep the HDMI clamp could be interesting... we will see.
 
Bern Caughey said:
Read in another thread that an updated Honu is coming to market soon.

http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthrea...orie-s&p=1986447185&viewfull=1#post1986447185

After a bit of a trawling I saw the manufacturer tweeted:

"fhugen (@fhugen) tweeted at 5:52pm - 9 Jun 14:

@Rabelista Sorry for the delay, the Cage is currently being redesigned and will be available within 1-2 weeks. thank you for your patience."
Click to expand...

The PNC website shows the Honu cage is unavailable due to upgrade coming out in mid-June.

http://pncstore.theshoppad.com/#/product/fhugen-gh3-video-cage
 
Well the Varavon arrived and it is neat and compact with a nice leather strap to grip your hand, but HDMI clamp, I don't think so! There is a clamp on the left which might work with a right angle HDMI cable provided the offsets are correct. but outside of that... well I tend to shy away from sharp bends in cables and putting that amount of force bending against a micro HDMI I feel will end up in tears!

cable-clamp.JPG

The next issue I found was the on-off switch, it might be easy for oriental fingers but hands that need XL Gloves... oh dear, it's a mighty big problem turning off. I have to poke my little pinky in from the front to push the switch. Yep it's there sitting under the little bridge bit of aluminium to the right of the useful mount I added from CoolCD.com, wow have they got some handy bits and pieces and superbly made for bargain prices.
cage-accessory.JPG

The Varavon cage has an arca swiss wedge plate on the base, it doesn't come off but it does have a couple of screws holes for fitting other wedgeplates so rigging rails is straight forward, again I used CoolCD stuff for the setup with Manfrotto wedgeplates and this gives me heaps of movement for balancing big lenses
cage-tripod-connections.JPGrigged-1.JPG it's the nikkor 80-400 which gives me 160-800 equivalent which is handy for wildlife work.

Other than these two winges, the cage is good and solid and when added to CoolCD gear (there I go again, but credit where credit is due) I am pretty happy with how the rig is coming together. The handle (not shown) has a heap of drillings for mounting and when I work out the HDMI clamp mounting adapting a CoolCD HDMI clamp, everything should be good. A 'Frankenstein' rig, you bet but who cares if it works!

Oh and the white stuff... pollen!! Glad the camera is w'proofed!!
 
HughS said:
... and when I work out the HDMI clamp mounting adapting a CoolCD HDMI clamp, everything should be good.
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Hadn't heard about the SmallRig (Coolcd) HDMI Locks. Nice find!

http://www.coollcd.com/hdmi-lock_c946

Just ordered two versions. Hoping the first will replace Wooden Camera's overly long clamp on the DSLR Quick Cage.

http://woodencamera.com/Cable-Clamp.html

http://www.coollcd.com/smallrig-hdmi-lock-1412_p1412.html

And the second will be for a more minimalist setup for travel.

http://www.amazon.com/Smallrig-Hdmi-Protector-Dslr-Cameras/dp/B00FIVSR1U

SmallRig has added numerous items & some may be interested in their Cage, though it be good if they offered a slightly smaller version too.

http://www.coollcd.com/smallrig-dslr-cage-kit-medium_p1298.html
 
Yeah, I was trawling the net looking for various bits and pieces and king of 'fell over them' since then I have placed two orders for a variety of bits and pieces. They arrived in Aus a few days later and the quality was just superb. Now they have become my first go-to site for any tricky little add-on.

To put it simply anyone who has a cage rig needs to know about them as they seem to have just about anything one needs for customisation.
 
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