Hands on with Wooden Camera Director’s Monitor Cage V3

by Graham SheldonJune 1^st, 2019

Accessories manufacturer Wooden Camera has had several iterations of their popular directors monitor cage over the years and they just debuted their third version of the cage at Cine Gear 2019. We had a chance to give the new cage a try with the help of Wooden Camera President, Ryan Schorman. Details below: 

With manufactures like SmallHD adding handles to many of their Focus and Bolt lines of monitors, it is easy to lose sight of the fact that many companies (notably Convergent Design and Atomos) still need suitable rigging to make their monitors easy to handle. The new Director’s Monitor Cage v3 works with any monitor up-to 9 inches (measured diagonally) and also leaves room for several wireless video receivers behind a handy swing away back battery panel.

Wooden Camera has moved away from the wooden handles of the v2 and towards a more maneuverable carbon fiber handle design (image below) with the v3. Perhaps a name change to Carbon Fiber Camera is in the works? Either way, the new handles are a welcome change, though perhaps less stylish than their predecessors.

The single monitor version of the cage includes a wide variety of accessories such as:

• Offset Adapters
• Lots of 1/4-20 Mounting Points
• Sunshade (easily attached with a snap button system)
• Gold Mount/V-Mount Screws
• Neck Strap
• Convergent Design Mounting Screws

The Director’s Monitor Cage v3 also comes in a dual monitor configuration, but that is slightly more expensive ($599) versus the single monitor version ($299). This obviously isn’t a full field review, but at first glance, this seems like a solid option for those with older SmallHD monitors that don’t include handles and an integrated video receiver or for those using monitors that require a bit of rigging.

What do you think? Will the Director’s Monitor Cage v3 find a space in your kit? Is it worth upgrading from the v3? Comment below!