I've now had my Sony FX3 for just about a year, and for the past
seven months I've had a cage for it.
So despite all my rage, it's still just a cam in a cage.
[insert Smashing Pumpkins song here]
This is the Tilta full cage for the FX3.
And even though it's called a "full cage," it actually doesn't go all the
way around the camera, but it is by far one of my favorite accessories for the
FX3 for a few very specific reasons.
It's also the first time I've used a Tilta cage and it's
super cool.
This is totally not sponsored.
I just bought this on Amazon, by the way. But I want to share it with you because
it really adds some awesome functionality to the FX3 and to the FX30 since they
are the exact same physical design.
So first and foremost, if you're unfamiliar with what a camera cage
does, it basically adds some support and mounting options to your camera.
This is my Canon EOS R in a camera cage.
And this is a more traditional design that goes all the way around
the camera, almost like a frame.
And basically, as you can kind of see, it adds a lot of
mounting options to the camera.
You can add handles, you can attach monitors, lights, microphones,
multiple things at the same time.
And the reason I really like camera cages is because it takes a lot of
pressure off of this accessory shoe.
If you're just putting a video mic or a simple monitor or something on your
accessory shoe, I don't think there's any problem with that, but sometimes,
the accessories can be really big, and I feel like that's a lot of pressure to
put on your camera's accessory shoe.
There are even handles that you can just mount directly to a camera's shoe
and then they add some nice support and some nice options to your camera.
But I always just feel like if you have a big lens on the camera,
and this is connected here, it's just,
I don't know,
it's almost like you're asking for trouble. Especially if you have
almost any of the modern cameras that actually have functionality
built into the accessory shoe.
It's not just a cold shoe, it's a hot shoe, and that's a hot button is-shoe
because if you damage it, then you can't fix anything.
Like if you want to use this Sony microphone right here,
this connects directly to the camera and then you don't need any cables.
It communicates everything through the shoe. So I never want to
damage my accessory shoe at all.
That's a good reason to use a camera cage.
But the FX3 and the FX30 have what Sony marketed as "cageless design."
So they have a whole bunch of 1/4 20 mounts on them– even though there's
only one on the bottom and not two on the bottom, which is super weird–
(passive aggressive comment complete)
So in theory, the camera is strong enough that you can mount stuff
to it without needing a cage.
But this right here, it adds a lot of really cool functionality.
This is the first time I've ever used a Tilta thing, and it is awesome.
The only downside
to quality is that the Tilta logo on the top part is
actually crooked a little bit.
It was printed on here crooked.
But I am honestly totally okay with the word "Tilta" being tilted.
The fact that my cage came with accidental wordplay right out of the box
is just a bonus to me, so that's fine.
But this is basically what you get.
You get these things here.
And they go on the FX3 or the FX30.
The reason that this full cage does not go fully around the camera is because
of the audio handle for these cameras.
So I'm using that handle right now actually on my a7SIII,
which looks a little silly and it's a little janky, but it works.
So that's how I'm recording my audio right now.
But normally the audio handle goes right on the top, screws into these holes
right here, and then you're all set.
So this cage is designed to work with and without the handle.
Whatever you want to do to get a "handle" on your situation.
First and foremost, there's something I really love about this.
My EOS R cage,
this is a SmallRig cage,
and depending on your camera, you may or may not have more than one mounting point for
the cage itself to attach to the camera.
The EOS R only has the 1/4 20 mount on the bottom, and so
that's the only place that the cage actually attaches to the camera.
But if it comes loose at all, then the camera can kinda start rattling
and twisting a little bit. Because the FX3 has all these mounts on it,
this cage takes advantage of that.
Just slip the camera right into the cage–
Oh!
And before you do that, after you've just bought your very expensive FX3
or FX30, every part of this cage that actually touches the camera body,
like the bottom and on the sides here, has a little rubber pad.
So that way it's not getting scratched or damaged, even if
there is micro movement.
But there shouldn't be that much movement because once you attach the
camera to the cage,
you just screw the screw in the bottom.
And then you have these two other 1/4 20 screws that go on either side,
and they go directly into the mounts that are on the camera body.
One of the screw heads is slightly bigger than the other because one of these
holes is slightly bigger than the other.
And that means once you have
the correct screw in the correct place,
it's perfectly flush and super secure.
And that is pretty much it.
And by the way, the little thing that I'm using to screw these things
on here comes with the cage and it just sticks on here with a magnet.
I've had this on here for seven months,
I've taken this camera everywhere in that time.
I've even gone all over New York City, in the New York subway,
and this has not fallen off.
It's on there really sturdily.
And that way you always have something to adjust this or other
tripods or whatever you need.
It's incredibly handy.
I wish more cages had that.
So that's the basics of the cage.
Nothing is blocked, none of your accessory ports or your doors are blocked at all.
It's designed really, really well, and specifically for these camera bodies.
You can access your battery right here
and you can access your memory cards right here.
You still have access to all of your buttons.
The only thing it does block, which is a bummer, is the top left tally light
on the FX3 and the FX30.
There's a little tally light right here, which is incredibly helpful.
Definitely one of my favorite features on the camera and the cage
just kind of blocks it.
I guess there wasn't a way to make a little cutout or something.
I feel like they could have made a little cutout there, but they didn't.
So now, if you're going to use this with the audio top handle,
or you want to use the accessory shoe, this is all you need to do.
If you're not going to use the hot shoe or the audio handle, then you can take
this top part and it has two screws that are just sort of permanently attached to,
and it just goes right in here.
And now you have a cold shoe slot.
You have 1/4 20 slots, and you also have a NATO rail
on the top of your camera.
So there is a cold shoe slot here,
there is also a cold shoe slot here, and this is really great because if you don't
know what a NATO rail is, NATO is NEATO.
Basically all kinds of different mounts and handles and grips and things
have NATO attachments and instead of having to deal with screws and bolts,
you basically just slide that on the rail and then there's a little
locking part and you lock it down.
It's super sturdy.
It's not going anywhere.
By the way, this is a SmallRig top handle, which is really great,
but it came with like this really funky
wood color here.
So I made a video on my second channel all about staining this to
this super cool custom color.
Kind of a pointless project, but it was a ton of fun, and now I really love it.
It's just a really nice universal way to adapt different accessories
to different camera rigs and setups.
There's also this piece, Which is sort of interesting.
This is a little foot that goes on the bottom if you use a lot of
Manfrotto tripods and tripod heads.
What this does is it goes right on the bottom of the cage.
It's got two screws, so that way it's not going to come loose or swivel.
And then this now will fit into a Manfrotto tripod head just
super easily without needing to attach another tripod plate to it.
It just clips in and out.
It's built in.
So it's incredibly versatile.
I don't leave this on here if I'm just walking around with the
camera, because it is also a point and
you know, it can hit stuff and poke things and whatnot.
Usually I only have that on if I'm doing stuff in here and I need an extra Manfrotto plate,
which were invented by the Lord of the Rings character, by the way.
When he came with the idea, people said,
"Man Frotto, that's a great idea!" But here it is, the piéce de résistance.
My favorite part of this camera cage.
I might need to "get a grip" because this grip is the absolute best!
I know this seems almost like nothing, but this is why I bought this cage.
Having a grip like this
changes things much more than I thought it would.
Even much more so than having a handle, because this does give you extra
stability when you're using the camera.
Like if I pop a lens on this does give you a little more stability than just
gripping the camera without the strap does, which is really, really nice.
It also gives you some peace of mind because the camera's not going
to fall even if you get bumped, even if you accidentally let it go,
the camera's not going to fall.
And it makes it super easy to travel with the camera, because my dilemma is
always when traveling with a camera, do I or do I not add a shoulder strap?
Because sometimes it's really nice to have the shoulder strap,
and sometimes it gets in the way.
And then there are the quick releases you can put on for
shoulder straps, which are cool.
But then you have the quick releases always dangling if you're
not using the shoulder strap.
This just kind of solves the problem.
Basically, if I'm using this camera and I'm out
in the world, the greater big world.
I just carry the camera like this and it's basically not that different
from just old school camcorder.
When you've got your camcorder, you film, stuff like that.
It feels super secure and super solid.
So this for me has been the best of both worlds and after seven months
of using this a lot, it's still holding up really, really well.
You can just take this strap out.
It's not permanently attached to this, so you can just loop it through here,
replace it with a different one if you wanted to.
If you look here,
and I'll insert some close up shots, but if you look sort of here where the
strap goes through the metal, you are dealing with metal touching kind of,
I don't know, plastic leather and fabric.
And so you can see a little bit of wear, but nothing is like torn or looking like
it's actually going to break anytime soon.
Probably something that's important to check regularly though. And if this
breaks or starts getting worn or gets damaged, you can't just buy the
strap itself directly from Tilta and it seems pretty reasonable.
It's like $10 or $15.
But looking at Tilta's website, I noticed that they don't sell the
FX3 FX30 cage with the hand strap.
At least I didn't see it anymore.
But they do still sell the cage, and they do still sell hand straps.
So it's like they just made it a separate thing now.
Looking at other places like B&H Photo and Amazon, they do–
at least at the time I'm recording this, still have listings that include the full cage that
just automatically comes with the handle.
This is so cool.
It's been so long since I've been able to use a camera this way.
There are other straps that you don't need to cage for,
they just go into your shoulder
strap mount on your camera and then down to the bottom tripod mount.
I'm not a fan of that though, because I don't like the way that they mess
with the bottom of the camera and the mounts, and just being able to set
the camera down and stuff like that.
So I like the cage because it provides a solid surface with even more
mounting options plus, tool storage. "Cool Tool Storage™"
So this has been on my camera for the past seven months, nonstop,
until I took it off to make this video.
I usually don't have this top part on the NATO rail too often because
I love using the audio handle
on the FX3, and if I'm not using the audio handle, I do love using
this Sony ECM-B1M microphone.
Honestly, cages are something I don't usually use too often
unless I have a specific need.
They do also, I should mention,
if you're someone who does a lot of vertical video,
camera cages do make it easy to mount your camera vertically.
That can be important. But I usually don't put my camera in a cage unless
I have a specific need for it.
But this one right here,
it also doesn't really add much bulk other than the handle itself.
It doesn't really add much bulk or anything to the FX3, so it's
kind of like, so many benefits,
pretty much no drawbacks other than covering up the tally light.
And then awesome features and flexibility, which is absolutely fantastic.
And speaking of things that are absolutely fantastic, thank you to everyone
who helps support my channel through Patreon and YouTube Channel Memberships.
And if you want to know more about the Sony FX3, check out
my full review right here,
or the video for that really cool microphone, the Sony ECM-B1M,
that's exactly what it's called, right here.