24Apr Smallrig Sony a7s II $68 cage Review
If you’ve been a DSLR or Mirrorless shooter for any length of time, camera cages are a way of life. Over the years, I’ve wondered between huge bulky 15mm rail setups and shoulder mount rigs, but in the last 5 years or so I’ve settled into a minimalist approach to camera rigs. That’s why Smallrig has started to dominate my camera mounting kit.
I could use something crazy like the Varavon Zeus that literally dominates the camera frame with giant handles and mounting options. However, while a huge rig gives you a lot of options for mounting, sometimes you need to take a step back and think about what you really need to mount on your camera and how you plan to use it. Do you need more than 3 cold shoe mounts? Are 3 handles the right number or can you live with one? Do you really need a set of 15mm rails in order to survive? Do you want to carry around an extra 5 to 10 pounds of weight all day? Would you want to spend more money on mounting your camera then the camera itself? If you answered no to those questions, the $68 Sony A7s II cage from Smallrig might be the one for you.
First of all, I like to keep the right side of my Sony a7s II clean and free from obstruction. The a7s II comes with a very nice hand grip, especially when compared to the original a7s, and all of your camera controls are on that side of the camera so why cover it up? The Smallrig cage works perfectly with this concept, leaving the right side of your camera open and clear.
I also don’t want my camera to be able to float or spin inside of its mount. So Smallrig has designed the a7s II cage with tabbed wings and a rubber grip that presses up against your camera and keeps it held in place.
From the base design of the Smallrig Sony a7s II cage, I’ve only made a few upgrades. First, I like to have a handle opposite the body grip for handheld shooting. With that in mind, I’ve attached the $43 Smallrig V7 handle via a $18 10cm nato rail. On top of that handle, I have a single cold shoe adapter which gives me a total of two cold shoe mounts on the handle.
To finish things up, I’ve added a single 4cm nato rail to the top of the a7s Cage. This allows me to easily switch between top grip and two-handed control of the camera.
Just make sure you mount your 4cm nato rail in the correct position. I’ve been shooting with the Sony k1m-xlr audio adapter so I needed to place the nato rail in a spot that allowed me to balance the camera, yet stay out of the way of the k1m’s smart hot shoe adapter.
Complete configuration:
- Smallrig Sony A7s II cage $68
- Smallrig V7 handle $43
- 10cm nato rail $18
- 4cm nato rail $16
- Cold shoe adapter $9
So to recap, that’s just under $160 for a rig that will get you through around 80% of your shots and it requires almost zero setup. This Smallrig configuration leaves you with a total of up to 3 cold shoe mounts if you use one of these or two if you don’t. The layout also balances nicely with a monopod attached to the rig and it is actually the configuration I received so many questions about at NAB this year.
Devin and I were able to carry this around in one hand on the showroom floor, shooting a bit of B-Roll or the occasional booth interview without slowing us down or getting in the way of the constant crowds and congestion at NAB.
While this Smallrig configuration doesn’t solve every problem out there, it likely meet most’s needs (mine included) for far less than some of the other options out there.
24Apr Win Sachtler Tripods and Litepanels Caliber Light Kit
planetMitch from planet5D here… Deejay is letting me post our latest planet5D giveaway thanks Deejay!
Click the image to visit the giveaway page!
WIN $2300+ in Vitec Videocom prizes!
2 Sachtler Ace M tripods and 1 Litepanels Caliber Kit
3 winners and $2,355 value!
2 winners will receive a Sachtler Ace M Tripod (Value $680)
1 winner will receive a Litepanels Caliber Kit (Value $995)
Visit the giveaway page for more info
You’ll have until April 29 at 9pm CDT to share on social media and every person who signs up via your unique link earns you 10 additional entries!
Good Luck!
23Apr New Lilliput Q7 1920×1080 IPS field monitor hands on
Lilliput is a company I haven’t really thought about in the last few years. They were one of the first to make an affordable 7 inch field monitor with a whopping 1024×600 resolution for under $200. Since then most of their monitors have been derivatives of the same concept. However at NAB this week, Devin and I saw the new Lilliput Q7 and Q5 field monitors and we were pretty impressed with the new design.
These two new panels feature a rather nice looking 1920×1080 screen resolution with a very a sharp IPS display. The design and build have gotten a lot better with the Q7 and Q5 field monitors vs the previous generation lilliput monitors, but they still haven’t caught up to the design and build of the higher end SmallHD 501 and 701 line. That said you can currently pick the Lilliput Q7 for $580 and we should see the Lilliput Q5 for sale in the next few months with an estimated price of $475 (according to lilliput’s booth reps).
23Apr DSLR FILM NOOB Podcast Episode 97
You can find the show notes here. You can find the show on itunes here, Soundcloud, or under the podcast tab above. You can also leave questions on reddit at r/dslr.
22Apr Saramonic UWMIC10 Bodypack Transmitter TX10 for $129
Remember that Saramonic dual channel receiver lav kit I reviewed a few months back? First of all, Saramonic has fixed the channel mixing issue. You can now isolate the two transmitters by sending the signal to the left and right channel of your camera’s input. Which means for $399 you can buy a very decent dual channel 2 lav kit with a receiver that’s the size of a transmitter pack. Second I wanted to point out that if you’ve already bought the UWMIC10 base kit (1 transmitter and 1 receiver for $269) you can now buy a second transmitter for $129.
Devin and I used this kit throughout NAB this year and it worked great. At $399 for a dual channel wireless kit, Saramonic has one of the best value to price options on the market period and now that they’ve fixed my main gripe about the receiver unit (channel mixing), this kit is now my top pick for budget filmmakers and pretty much any filmmaker really. I’m not getting rid of my Sennheiser g3 sets but with two channels in such a small package the Saramonic dual channel system is now my run and gun favorite. I was really impressed with audio quality of the kit mics and even more impressed with how it held up throughout one of the most saturated UHF locations you could be in (NAB 2016). Great stuff!
14Apr DSLR FILM NOOB Podcast Episode 96
Episode 96 of DSLR FILM NOOB podcast is up. Mitch from planet5D.com joins me to discuss the new Sony UMC-S3C, GX85, Gopro Omni, and more.
You can find the show notes here. You can find the show on itunes here, Soundcloud, or under the podcast tab above. You can also leave questions on reddit at r/dslr.
13Apr DSLR FILM NOOB Podcast Episode 95
Episode 95 of DSLR FILM NOOB podcast is up. Devin from Devocut.com joins me to discuss the SLR Magic, FS700, LED Lighting, and more.
You can find the show notes here. You can find the show on itunes here, Soundcloud, or under the podcast tab above. You can also leave questions on reddit at r/dslr.
05Apr DSLR FILM NOOB Podcast Episode 94
Episode 94 of DSLR FILM NOOB podcast is up. Mitch from planet5D.com joins me to discuss the new KineFinity Terra, Sony 50mm f1.8, RX10 III, and more.
You can find the show notes here. You can find the show on itunes here, Soundcloud, or under the podcast tab above. You can also leave questions on reddit at r/dslr.
01Apr Panasonic LX100 Wide angle adapter AG-LW4307, old but it works.
In the days of DV cameras, if you wanted a shoot with an angle any wider than the built in lens offered by the camera you had to use a Conversion Lens. With the advent of interchangeable lens cameras, this type of adapter has basically been forgotten. However, that doesn’t mean something like this isn’t useful today.
The $39 AG-LW4307 43mm adapter (above) isn’t needed for interchangeable lens cameras, but it is the perfect size for a Panasonic LX100. With this low price light weight adapter, you end up with some ultra wide angle option out of a camera that is otherwise limited to a 24mm focal length.
Here is a shot at 24mm from the Panasonic LX100. There is nothing wrong the image and it is reasonably wide, corner sharpness isn’t bad, and center sharpness is as good as you could expect from a point and shoot.
However, when you add the $39 AG-LW4307 43mm adapter, you can now see the entire bookshelf. With a 0.43x adapter at 24mm, your 35mm equivalent focal length becomes something close to an 11mm lens. Is the image even remotely sharp in the corners? Absolutely not. You won’t be using this adapter for the excellent image quality, instead, it is simply a cool effect that you can get out of an adapter that was originally meant for cameras that were manufactured 10 to 15 years ago.
It does look interesting and for $39, I can think of a few things this effect would be perfect for. It is hard to believe that I’ve been a filmmaker for over 15 years and that after all this time, I still have a use for old focal adapters like the AG-LW4307. Just something to think about, I bought this adapter for well over $200 to use with a Panasonic DV camera way back in the day. Now the AG-LW4307 43mm adapter sells for less than a 1/4 of that price.
I’ll definitely have to come up with some good excuses to bill out this adapter in the next few months. It is a cool look and I’m pretty sure it would make a very effective drunk/sick POV style image. Challenge excepted.
29Mar DSLR FILM NOOB Podcast Episode 93
Episode 93 of DSLR FILM NOOB podcast is up. Mitch from planet5D.com joins me to discuss the new Ninja Flame and Shogun Flame, Free Nik plugins, Canon XC10 frimware update, and more.
You can find the show notes here. You can find the show on itunes here, Soundcloud, or under the podcast tab above. You can also leave questions on reddit at r/dslr.
