What is a camera cage? It is a metal, protective piece of gear which allows you to attach accessories, usually with 1/4-20 screws and cold shoe mounts. The trick with most affordable cages is that they are purpose built for a specific camera model. This gets expensive when you go to upgrade your camera because then you often also have to buy a new cage. The Varavon Zeus Uni solves that problem quite effectively with a design that adapts to your camera. Let’s have a look!
Varavon Armor II Camera Cage for GH4, a7S, NX1
We reviewed the Varavon Armor GH4K camera cage in late 2014 and found it to be a more ergonomic cage than the Fhugen Honu 2.0 cage. I stopped by Varavon’s booth at NAB back in April and was interested to see a couple of prototypes with updates to the original Armor cages. So here we take a closer look at the Armor II for the Panasonic GH4 and GH3. There are also versions specifically designed for Sony a7S, Samsung NX1, and the Canon 5DIII and 7DII.
The updates include a new 15mm carbon fiber rod with an interesting mount (as well as two additional mount points on the cage’s handle) that allows you to mount a follow focus, a shoulder stock for an ultra compact and lightweight should rig, or to attach additional accessories. Gone is the HDMI retaining clamp (which didn’t work all that well anyway) and the pro rotating handle.
Overall, this is a nice, thoughtful update from Varavon to the Armor cage that makes it an even better camera cage for mirrorless and DLSR shooters.
Varavon Armor GH4K Bundle Special
Speaking of the Armor cage from Varavon, looks like they have a little bundle deal going where you get the pro cage plus an external battery for the GH4.
Varavon Armor GH4K Pro Camera Cage
Let's me attach all my stuff and then it stays out of my way. Varavon has been producing some surprisingly quality gear in the last little while. Their Armor GH4K Pro camera cage was not the first cage dedicated to the GH4 (and GH3) to market, but in my tests, strikes a very good balance between price, quality, and features.
The unibody aluminum cage is very thoughtfully laid out with cutouts for all the critical controls and doors, includes an HDMI and mic cable retaining systems, and stays out of the way so you can focus on shooting.
Yes, I like it and am happy to make it my new cage for my Panasonic GH4.