Scottish Company Blind Spot Gear just can't stop turning out interesting solutions to the creative problems filmmakers deal with on a day to day basis. It started out with powerful, affordable, lightweight LED lighting, but they've since expanded into spending a lot of time thinking about power, including the very cool Power Junkie they launched last year to allow filmmakers to power anything, including their phone, with the Sony NP batteries we all have too many of.
They are back at it with an interesting twist on the camera cage: the Power Cage, which puts a battery inside the physical body of a cage to not only give filmmakers more mounting points but also power for both their cameras and accessories all in one unit.
Check out their Kickstarter campaign video below:
Camera cages are all the rage since they allow cameras that aren't really designed for accessories to hold more than the standard hot shoe mount allows.
Want a microphone, and a light, on your camera? A camera cage is the solution.
Like most cages, the Power Cage is built around standard nato rail with literally dozens of 1/4" -20 threaded mounting points for attaching accessories to your heart's content. This includes a bottom rail that is compatible with the arca swiss tripod standard for quickly clamping it to a variety of small tripod heads and sliders. But the power is what makes this thing stand out.
Built around a lithium-ion battery pack, there is a DC barrel power adapter and 2 USB-A power adapters, along with a USB-C power adapter. Blind Spot also sells dummy battery adapters to allow you to directly power your camera from the Power Cage into the body of your camera, which is a huge plus.
One of the biggest frustrations many have with the popular Blackmagic Pocket camera is the battery life; while there are other battery options out there, the nice thing about this one is it can power both your Pocket Camera and potentially any other lights or microphone accessories you want to attach.
While all Kickstarter campaigns have some risk, Blind Spot has a long history of delivering on their projects, and on top of that we have gotten to play with a pre-production unit for a few days and found it very easy to use and reliable.
It's a long press to turn the battery on, which is a good thing since it will prevent accidentally turning the battery on when you don't need it and wasting power. It also takes some practice to get used to its version of power-saving sleep mode.
But the ability to power the camera, a light, and a USB powered microphone all off one cage is killer, and it didn't feel too heavy or clunky in our hands. Frankly, the Power Cage unit stood in quite well as a beefy side handle.
As a longtime Fuji fan, it was also nice to see them include Fuji in the battery options, and have an XT3 in the demo images.
Tech Specs
- 1x 7.2V DC barrel, 2x 5V USB-A,
- 1x USB-C, from 5V at 3A to 20V at 1.5A
- 45W max across all outputs
- 10,000 mHa, 37Wh battery
- 28 external facing 1/4"-20 threaded mounts on Nato rail
- ARCA-Swiss compatible baseplate
- Power Cage Battery Unit weight 326g/11oz
- Power Cage Battery Unit dimension 12x7x3 cm
Price and Availability
Earlybirds can get the Power Cage and the bracket that goes with it for $128. (However, both are also sold separately.) If you don't purchase in time for the special, you can get it for $155. Blind Spot is also offering the Complete Power Bundle, which includes the Power Cage, bracket, USB-C charger and cable, and a dummy battery for $167.
Units will begin shipping to backers in May 2020.
Check out the Kickstarter now to learn more.
Source: Kickstarter
