SMALLRIG Quick Release Cage for Sony A7R V/A7 IV/A7S III/A7R IV/A1, Camera Cage with Patented HawkLock Style Cold Shoe/NATO Rail/Quick Release Plate for Arca, Full Access & Anti-Scratch Design - 4481

Great cage I can say for Sony a7r.Fits well, comfy in use and easy to remote it.Anti scratch design is well.Price for it I think is great.So surely I can recommend this product to all.

Smallrig quick release cage is very good quality. It has a great finish and the build quality is just brilliant, there are holes exactly where you need them and they are in the right spaces. It’s a really snug fit, and I am sure happy to use this.

I have been delaying the writing of this review as I am a big time photographer/videographer and I have very high expectations from my equipment. I wanted to be able to provide a thorough and significant review that would help you, the reader, to make a decision as to which cage system you may want to buy into. With that being said, I was given the oppurtunity to review this SmallRig HawkLock cage.To begin, it should be noted that I am (now) formerly a Tilta user, my cage accessories are all Tilta as well. In the attached photos, I wanted to provide you with context to other cage systems. My Tilta cage is the black cage in the photos and the silver cage is the SmallRig.WOW WOW WOW, I am so impressed by the design of this cage. I was expecting to go back to Tilta after putting this cage through the paces, but it never happened. This cage is now my forever cage.What I like:The cage itself is very light and the sides of the cage are thin. My previous experience in cages are bulky, rigid and will make your hands sore at the end of the day. This is not the case with the SmallRig HawkLock. The cage itself is like warm hug between your camera and your palm. It feels natural, is easy to grip, and the cage is completely unnoticeable when hand holding my camera. If you note the photos, there is a soft leather like material that grips your palm, this material feels exactly like the material that is around the grip of my camera.The cage is noticeably thinner and lighter than the Tilta cage. This had concerned me, because I abuse the cage and rely on the cage to protect my camera, as a secondary feature, as I move it around, bang it into walls and get rough when shooting. Having an exterior skeleton is very beneficial for run-and-gun shooting where you grab the camera, sling it over your shoulder and take off. As you can tell from my photos, the Tilta has sustained damage over the last couple of years from this kind of abuse. It turns out, that the thinner, lighter and smaller frame of the SmallRig is quite astounding in taking abuse. Is has survived a three foot drop off a sofa, and it was mistakenly ran into a brick wall at a shoot. Unexpectedly, these scratches do not show up on the SmallRig like they do with their Tilta counterpart which uses a black paint (or anodization). The SmallRig is capable of protecting your camera, it has it's spot in the fighting ring.The SmallRig has some really well designed features that I haven't seen with a cage yet. This included two additional screws that you use to mount the cage to the camera. One goes into the left eyelit (that holds your neck strap) and the other goes in front of the battery. I found these instructions confusing so I posted a photos of where the screw goes through the eyelit into the cage. This is on the 13th photo of this review. I have an Alpha 1 camera, so I had to unscrew that silver tab and flip it around. Once it was in place I put the screw through the eyelit and into the frame. Than I secured/tightened the screw on that silver tab. Now its IMPORTANT to note, that with this frame you need to remove the neck strap eyelits from both sides of the camera, but the screw only goes through the left eyelit. To do this, your going tro grab the eyelit and use your thumb to push the black clips through the triangle and the cover will pop right off. Next, the eyelit is going to open up like a spring, from here you just rotate the eyelit until it unhooks from your camera body. You need to do this on both sides of the camera to mount the cage. When you receive the cage, on the bottom (as seen on the 7th photo) there is a screw with a pin at the tip that holds your camera in place by using the pin well made for the optional Sony vertical grip. Simply unscrew the screw from the holder and screw it in the little hole next to where you just removed the screw. Due to this cage having three holding points on the camera, it is by far the sturdiest cage I have ever used. Other cages rely on foam stickers to close gaps and add stability but the design of this cage is outstanding comparatively.I really love how the top of the cage sits flush with the hotshoe, for me I use a lightning trigger during the monsoon seasons. In the past I had to use a remote cable because the front part of the lightning trigger would hit the tilta. With the SmallRig, this issue is a thing of the past, all hotshoe accessories will fit in and clear the cage.This cage has lots of mounting points for your accessories. Not as many as the tilta, but you are trading superior design and comfort for a few mounting points. The expandable top plate and NATO rail is a very welcome design. Overall, I was able to fit all my equipment with the SmallRig that I can on my Tilta. This included V-Mount, Rails, Top Handle, Monitor, and more.THIS CAGE HAS A ARCASWISAS RAIL BUILT INTO IT. In the past I have had to add plates to the bottom of the cage for traditional tripods, and I had to remove the plates to mount to fluid heads. This is no longer a problem, with this cage you can directly snap your camera into your photo tripod AND still screw it into a fluid head when you need it. It has cut down on some frustrating moments when I have previously had to rush mounting a plate to "get the moment". This feature alone, is well worth the purchase of this cage.The alan wrench tool is magnetic and dificult to dislodge. As you see in the attached photos, I have already lost the Tilta key, the SmallRig key is difficult to get out of the cage due to it's magnetic adherence, I would be surprised if you could lose it.What I don't like:I love this cage, but I hate that there is this little door contraption I have to move out to remove the battery. It's very irritating when you are trying to remove the battery and realize you can't because you have to move that little door piece. They really should have bent the frame around teh battery door, or just taken that piece out altogether.Overall:The cage is perfect in every way (until you remove the battery), and I am very grateful I received this product. I am now a SmallRig believer and this cage will not be coming off my camera anytime soon.

Remplis sa fonction, facile à installer

Purtroppo questo sistema hawklock non è così stabile come me lo aspettavo… ho comprato anche l’adattatore coldshoe dello stesso sistema per lasciarlo su un microfono da agganciare e sganciare rapidamente, ma una volta inserito nel cage rimane un po’ ballerino

Der SMALLRIG Cage für die Sony Alpha 7 IV, SIII, R IV oder A1-Kameras (4481)kommt gut verpackt im Karton an. Dabei ist das magnetisch am Cage angebrachte Werkzeug, das man zum montieren und verstellen benötigt.Die Verarbeitung finde ich wie bei SMALLRIG erwartet bestens, keinerlei zu scharfe Kanten und alles (bis auf Gummierungen) aus stabilem Metall. Macht einen sehr hochwertigen und robusten Eindruck.Montage an der Alpha 7 IVDer Cage wird mit Hilfe der unteren Schraube ins Stativgewinde der Kamera fixiert. Dazu kann man den mitgelieferten Werkzeug benutzen, der sich auch magnetisch unten am Cage verankern lässt.An der Seite sind zwei kleine Elemente, die man je nach Kameramodell anbringen muss oder nicht.Beim, Anbringen des Cages sollte man jedenfalls achten, dass man nicht das Kameragehäuse oder ein eventuell moniertes Objektiv beim durchschieben am Metall zerkratzt. Besser (auf jeden fall bei größeren Objektiven) diese erst nachher anbringen.Möglichkeiten vom Cage:Unten befindet sich eine Arca kompatible Verankerung für Stativköpfe, Gimbals etc… bei meinem DJI Gimbal brauche ich allerdings dazu noch eine zusätzliche Platte, die Smallrig auch anbietet, denn die Originale von DJI passt nur für deren hauseigene Schnellwechselplatten.Der Cage selbst verfügt über eine Cold Shoe-Befestigung an der Seite oben.Des weiteren sind sehr viele Gewindebohrungen am ganzen Cage verfügbar -so kann man sehr einfach diverses Zubehör anschrauben. Hier bietet Smallrig einiges an.An der Unterseite vom Cage sind auch genügend Gewinde vorhanden, um weiterhin z.B. spezielle Befestigungen oder Schnellwechselplatten anzubringen.Der Blitz/Zubehör-Schuh der Kamera ist weiterhin durch die Form des Cages zugänglich.Die Bedienender und Knöpfe finde ich auch einigermaßen gut zugänglich.NATO Rail:An der aus Fotografen-Sich linken Seite gibt es eine NATO-Rail (H21),da kann man z.B. einen Seitengriff einfach anbringen, wie auch Smallrig mehrere Modelle anbietet.Gurt-Befestigung:Der Cage verfügt rechts über eine Öffnung, wo man eine Handschlaufe oder einen Kameragurt einfädeln kann.Ein Ersatz, weil ja die Öffnung zur Befestigung von Gurt/Schlaufe der Kamera wegen der Befestigung am Cage nicht zugänglich ist.Auch z.B. Peak Design-Anker kann man anbringen, um das System auch damit nutzen zu können -ich verwende gerne eine Handschlaufe davon. Sehr praktisch, denn !KameragriffDer Griff der Kamera wird durch den Cage natürlich auch etwas vergrößert bzw. erhöhtGleichzeitig kommt man unten noch einwandfrei ans Akku&Speicherkarten-Fach, fürs Akkufach der Sony-Kameras muss man aber einen Teil zur Seite klappen.Fazit:Insgesamt ein praktischer Cage mir vielseitiger Erweiterbarkeit.Die Verarbeitung scheint mir bestens.Eine ideale Grundausrüstung zum Videofilmen mit diversen Sony-Alpha Modellen, die man dann mit diversen Monitor-Verankerungen, Mikrofon-Haltern, LED-Panels etc. erweitern kann. Auch für mich als Einsteiger in dem Bereich ein sehr einfach zu bedienendes und überzeugendes Produkt.Auch der Kameragriff wird dadurch etwas erhöht.

I got this for my Sony A7RIV, partly for some protection and partly to support a custom flash setup. It works great for both of those roles.The first thing you'll notice is the attractive satin finish and solid build quality. The details are even more impressive. The cage is thoughtfully designed to be out of the way of the camera controls, doors and ports. It even has a hinged section to allow the battery door to open. There is even a magnetized spot on the bottom for the included fastening tool (combined screwdriver blade and hex key).There are threaded holes all over for attaching whatever you like. There are also two cold shoes on the top, which is where I will my own adapter to set a flash head closer to the subject area for macro photography. Without the cage, it would put too much stress on the camera's hot shoe.While not really being designed for it, the cage does add some small defense to the body against scrapes and dings.Overall, I'm very pleased with this accessory. I plan to keep it on my rig all the time now.