Wooden Camera DSLR 15mm Base Review
Wooden Camera’s DSLR Base adds support for 15mm rods to the Quick Cage, allowing you to build the perfect rig for your shoot.
The Quick Cage may be the core of your camera rig, but 15mm rods are essential for using other tools like matte boxes, follow focuses, lens supports, shoulder pads, and hand grips.
Wooden Camera sent over the DSLR Base for the Quick Cage and it was put straight to work in a variety of conditions. Simply put, if you use the Quick Cage, the DSLR Base is the best way to add rods to your rig.
Custom Built
One of the key benefits of the DSLR Base is that it is custom-built for the Quick Cage (small and medium models).
This means that installation is straightforward and that important details like maintaining the proper rod height for your camera are accounted for.
Simple Installation
Installing the DSLR Base on the Quick Cage is quick and simple. In fact, installation only requires two bolts and takes about a minute.
Simply line up the DSLR Base’s vertical posts under the appropriate holes on the Quick Cage’s baseplate and tighten down the bolts. The bolts self-align in the baseplate’s precisely-sized holes, ensuring that the DSLR Base is perfectly centered under the cage.
A minute later, your Quick Cage is ready to be expanded according to the needs of any project.
Height Adjustable
The DSLR Base’s height is adjustable to accommodate a wide variety of DSLR-sized cameras, including the Panasonic GH4. Accessories such as matte boxes are built according to specific standards, so positioning the rods at the proper rod height is essential for compatibility with your camera.
Standard 15mm rod height is 85mm from the center of the lens.
Adjusting the height of the DSLR base’s rod clamp is easy– loosen a single bolt in the center of the clamp, slide the clamp up or down along the vertical posts, and tighten the bolt to lock it in place.
Important: Make sure to tighten the rod clamp securely after adjusting its height to ensure that the clamp is firmly attached to the vertical posts.
Quick Release
The Quick Cage’s convenient QR functionality is retained even with the DSLR 15mm base attached. This means that the camera can be easily detached from the rest of the rig, making it easy to grab a quick handheld shot.
Solid Rod Clamp
Height adjustment and QR functionality is nice, but let’s not forget that the main purpose of the DSLR Base is to attach 15mm rods– if this didn’t work well, then nothing else matters.
Fortunately, the DSLR Base’s 15mm rod clamp is top-notch.
Some rod clamps use a single knob to release both rods simultaneously. While a single knob may seem convenient, you end up juggling both rods even when you only need to adjust one.
The DSLR Base has an independent clamp for each rod, allowing you to adjust one rod without affecting the other.
Each rod clamp also features a ratcheting knob. This allows you to reorient the knob to get a better grip, making it possible adjust the clamp even in tight spaces.
15mm rods from different manufacturers can vary slightly in diameter, which can cause compatibility problems for some rod clamps. Thankfully, all rods we’ve thrown at the DSLR Base– from Gini to Berkey System to Zacuto– have worked perfectly.
Tripod Mounting Plate
When you attach the DSLR Base to the Quick Cage, you lose access to the mounting points on the cage’s baseplate. Fortunately, the DSLR Base’s own baseplate features a plethora of standard threaded mounting points (1/4″-20 and 3/8″-16) for using your rig on a tripod.
The baseplate’s center column of mounting points makes it possible to attach a tripod’s QR plate using two bolts, thus maintaining solid anti-twist functionality from the camera to the tripod.
The Right 15mm Base for the Quick Cage
Wooden Camera’s attention to standards means that some third-party rod clamps are likely compatible with the mounting points on the Quick Cage’s baseplate.
However, if you don’t have time to waste matching up parts from different manufacturers, the DSLR Base’s custom-built compatibility, height adjustment, and solid build quality makes it the right 15mm rods base for the Quick Cage.
The DSLR Base just works. Bolt it on and use the Quick Cage to build the right rig for your shoot.
Related
- Wooden Camera DSLR 15mm Base
- Wooden Camera Small Quick Cage
- Wooden Camera NATO Handle Plus Kit (70mm)
- Panasonic GH4
- Matthew Duclos: 15mm Rod Standards Explained — Everything you wanted to know about rod standards for camera rigs.
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