SHAPE Cinema Cage Kit for Sony a7 II, a7S II, & a7R II

Description

Get your Sony a7 II-series mirrorless camera as close as possible to a high-end cinema rig with this Cinema Cage Kit from Shape. By supplying a form-fitting cage with top handle, a quick release baseplate with 15 mm rods, a 2-stage 4 x 4" matte box, and a friction and gear follow focus Clic, users will have a customisable camera setup with all the basic tools necessary for a full-fledged video shoot. This kit retains access to all controls, ports, and slots of your camera and prevents unwanted rotation. Also, it has a variety of mounting threads and slots for connecting all of your accessories. Further improving the setup are an HDMI cable protector lock, support for the Metabone EF adapter, and compatibility with the Sony XLR-K2M XLR adapter.

Transform your a7 II series mirrorless camera into a capable video-shooting system with the Cage with 15 mm Rod System from Shape. This model starts with a form-fitting cage that provides multiple attachment points for accessories, a removable, rotatable top handle, and a quick release baseplate system with two 15 mm rods for other videomaking tools. The cage itself retains access to all controls and ports and prevents the camera from rotating. It offers multiple 1/4"-20 and 3/8"-16 threads for accessories as well as a cold shoe mount on the top. It is easily mounted to tripods and has an HDMI cable protector lock. Additionally, it has a support bracket for the Metabones EF adapter and is compatible with the Sony XLR-K2M XLR Adapter.

The SHAPE 2-Stage 4 x 4" Matte Box accepts lenses with up to a 100 mm front outside diameter. It mounts to 15 mm LWS rods and utilises a swing-away design, which lets you perform quick lens changes without having to remove the matte box from your rods. You can adjust the height of the matte box in relation to the rods, which comes in handy when your lens centre to rod centre height is slightly off from the standard.

Two rotating filter stages support the use of 4x4" filters. The matte box comes with a top flag (eyebrow), side flags, four matte box doughnuts in 66, 72, 82, and 90 mm sizes, and an elastic doughnut.

The Shape Friction & Gear Follow-Focus Clic with Adjustable Marker is designed to attach to standard 15 mm rods of shoulder support rigs and other rigs. It attaches to them via a clamp system, with simplicity. You would sit the Clic atop the rods, and then slide and close a Shape-patented lever clamp underneath the rods, and the lever locks and holds the Clic securely on the rods.

The Clic's focus mechanism also works with a clamp system, which when unlocked loosens the focus mechanism and allows it to be moved horizontally. It moves so to adjust itself closer to the lens. As it moves, its main feature -- the focus disk -- moves with it, and the focus disk is what reaches the lens. The focus disk can either be a friction wheel, as you see in the photo above, or a gear wheel. Both are present in this package, and replacing one with the other is accomplished with the help of the included Allen wrench. The friction wheel has a rubber outer surface that would press up against the lens, keep firm contact with it, and ensure accurate and slip-free focusing. The friction wheel would serve well for most lenses and is made of high-quality rubber that in cold temperatures won't get too cold to lose its grip. The gear wheel would accommodate those lenses that specifically have teeth on their focusing rings, and it would do so without any ring gears, by pressing its .8 pitch gears into the teeth.

The focus mechanism can be used on either the left or the right side of the lens, depending on the direction you place the Clic onto the rods in. And the focus disk itself can be used either in front of the focus mechanism, as you see in the photo above, or behind it, so to accommodate a wider variety of lens lengths. To move the disk to the rear, you would first just unscrew two screws from a cube-shaped gearbox that you can't see in the photo above because it sits behind the focus disk. Once the screws are off, the focus disk can just be flipped over for use with longer lens constructions.

In the photo above, the white mark disk that you see to the right of the red knob is made of highly resistant Delrin thermoplastic. It can be written on with non-permanent markers to mark up focus measurements for various predetermined shots, and it is interchangeable and thereby many predetermined measurements can be kept ready at your side. Additionally, a slide-adjustable marker made of aluminium is included to be attached beside the mark disk and to be moved and tightened into positions along the disk.

The Clic is CNC machined and made of lightweight anodised aluminium for strength and durability.

Features

Matte Box

• The matte box has a rear opening of 100 mm for lenses.
• The included anti-reflection doughnuts prevent light behind the camera from reflecting off any filters in the matte box and degrading the image. Included with the matte box are anti-reflection doughnuts for lenses with a front outside diameter of 66, 72, 82, and 90 mm. The included elastic doughnut supports lenses with a front outside diameter between 66 and 90 mm, and it is especially useful with lenses that grow and shrink as you change focus or zoom.
• The side flags incorporate a hook design as a safety feature where they attach to the matte box. This helps prevent them from falling out of the matte box should the lock-down thumbscrew loosen accidentally.
• The swing-away bracket incorporates a height adjustment, enabling you to compensate a total of 0.65"(1.65 cm) vertically. This allows you to use this matte box with a variety of camera/rod support combinations that may vary slightly from the industry standard 85 mm distance from LWS rod centre to lens port centre.

Follow Focus

• Designed to attach onto standard 15 mm rods.
• Attaches onto the rods via a patented clamp system.
• The focus mechanism moves horizontally to adjust to the lens.
• The focus mechanism can be used on the left or right side of the lens.
• A friction wheel and a gear wheel are included to interchange as the focus disk.
• The focus disk flips to the rear of the focus mechanism to accommodate longer lenses.
• A thermoplastic mark disk can be written on with non-permanent markers and is interchangeable.
• An included marker attaches beside the mark disk and slides and tightens into positions along the disk.