The KEY to my CINEMA RIG | Canon R6 Mark II x Falcam Quick Release Camera Cage
Today we’re talking about the Falcam Quick Release Camera Cage System for the Canon R6 Mark II.
This has been the key to my cinema rig for the past 8 months. The camera cage never leaves my body, for 2 reasons. 1. it protects my camera and looks cool, and 2. whenever I want to fully rig it it, I simply slide on the handles, put on my monitor, and I’m ready in less than 1 minute.
That quick release system is exactly why I bought this cage. I put off building a cinema rig because I dreaded over all the time it took to assemble and disassemble. So when I saw the David Manning review of Falcam Quick Release Cage System, I was hooked. So I want to show you how I built my cinema rig around this cage system, and whether or not I think this was a good purchase. If you are interested in any part of my cinema rig I will leave links to all the products at the bottom of this blog. Now let’s dive into my cinema rig build.
What’s in my Cinema Rig?
I like to have one side handle, a top handle, and monitor mount. For my monitor I use this 7 inch feelworld monitor Lut7. Then I have the Smallrig V Mount Quick Release Battery Plate with the Smallrig 99w V Mount Battery. And voila, I got this professional looking cinema rig. Only thing missing is a matte box, expect a video from me when I find the right one.
Pros and Cons of this Setup
Falcam Quick Release Cage Kit:
Pros:
Speed and Ease of the Quick Release System. It really is as simple as holding the button and sliding these pieces on and off. I’ve only had to tighten the camera cage screw on once these past 8 months, but otherwise that thing is on solid and feels sturdy and secure.
Strong Build Quality. It is made out of some sort of aluminum alloy. So it’s very sturdy and feels high quality to hold. Because of it’s sturdiness it also is great for protection on your camera. I haven’t dropped it yet but I have had it tip over forward but nothing happened.
Versatile Kit. This kit is extremely customizable. I bought the camera kit and it comes with everything you need. The body cage, two side handles, an adjustable magic arm, a top handle, and the monitor mount. So this is the configuration I like but you can fully customize it to what feels best for you.
Cons:
Expensive. The Falcam Quick Release Kit is $440. And the most comparable kit from smallrig is $270 . But it is missing another side handle and monitor mount. But even with those two added it wouldn’t be the cost of the Falcam Quick Release kit.
Feel World Monitor
Pros
Large screen size. I really appreciate having a 7 inch monitor. It makes framing a shot easier cause you can see every little detail. It also impresses clients because of how large it is on the camera.
2000 nits of Brightness. I appreciate how bright this monitor is because I can use this outside in direct sunlight with no problems. That’s always been my issue with 1000 nit monitors. Without a sunhood those are impossible to use outdoors, and I shoot outdoors pretty often.
LUT support. The monitor has LUT support. You can import 50 LUTS directly onto the monitor and view them on your image in real time. This makes filming much more enjoyable because I can see the final image on the screen instead of staring at the flat log image.
Bonus Features. It has some other features that I appreciate like false color, zebras, grid lines, aspect ratio overlays, etc.. I don’t use those too often but they are there and have been useful
Cons:
Large Size. Lugging around the 7 inch monitor is a bit much. Especially if I am just trying to be more lowkey in a run and gun situation. And with this monitor there is no subtlety. So sometimes I do wish I had a 5 inch monitor with the same 2000 nits of brightness.
Port Positions. The biggest qualm I have this monitor is the placement of the ports. I like using a Vmount with the monitor but the power is n the bottom right next to the monitor mounting position. So trying to plug in power becomes difficult because it gets in the way of the monitor mount. So I have to do this trick of adjusting the mount to make it work, but it won’t work with the smallrig monitor mount, which is what I had before the Falcam Cage Kit.
SmallRig V-Mount Battery & Quick Release Plate
Pros:
Easy Setup. Once again, the quick release system makes it very easy to install and remove the vmount plate and adjust it to how you like. I usually adjust it to help balance the rig.
Multiple Ports. The battery has a ton of options for pluggin in power. I use the Dtap for my monitor, but you have USB-A port and a USB-C port to charge any accessories you have like the RODE Wireless Pros or the VideoMic NTG. And if I need to power the camera body I use the DC in battery adapter.
Easy to charge. On the topic of ports, that USB-C port is bi-directional. So you actually can charge the battery with that. That’s perfect because pretty much all my devices use USB-C to charge so I can charge these really quick using my macbook charger.
Cons:
Arca Swiss Compatibility Issues. So it’s not like the arca swiss plate on the cage doesn’t work. In fact it fits perfectly into my arca swiss tripods just fine. But it doesn’t fit with the Smallrig V mount Quick Release Plate. So I have to use the provided Smallrig Arca Swiss adapter, and that thing gets loose EVERY TIME I use it with the Falcam Cage. So it’s only that incompatability that really upsets me when using this cage with the smallrig vmount battery plate.
Final Verdict
So this is my rig, and it’s not perfect but it’s not because of the Falcam Quick Release Cage Kit. It’s the peripherals that could use some adjusting but for now this works so well and I honestly love using this setup when it’s fully rigged out.
For anyone looking for a great starting point for their camera rig, the Falcam Quick Release Kit is a fantastic base to build from. I really can’t stress enough how amazing it feels to be able to quickly assemble and disassemble your setup, NO TIGHTENING or LOOSENING. If you want to get anything I shared about in this video, don’t forget to check out the links are below. I do get a small commission if you use them, but at no extra cost to you. It simply helps support me. Thank you so much and take care!
Falcam Quick Release Cage Kit v2
