In this article, we’ll take a closer look at the Smallrig camera cage for the Fuji X-H2 and X-H2S to see whether it’s a worthwhile accessory for your camera.
Note: Fuji Resource may receive a commission for items you purchase from this page, at no additional cost to you. For more information, please see our affiliate link policy.
Why Use a Camera Cage?
If you aren’t familiar with the concept of a camera cage, it’s essentially a metal exoskeleton that closely fits around the body of your camera, providing some physical protection as well as a number of mount points that you can use to attach various accessories to the camera. Although there are some universal cages that can adjust to fit multiple camera models, it’s more common to buy a cage that is specifically designed to fit a single model of camera. In this case, the cage fits the Fuji X-H2 and X-H2S only.
Video shooters are more likely to appreciate the benefits of a camera cage, because the large number of mount points makes it easy to attach an on-camera microphone, monitor, hand grip, and other video accessories to the camera. A cage can turn a simple mirrorless camera into a handheld camera rig for serious professional work.
But photographers may see benefits to a camera cage as well. The metal frame offers some protection from damage due to drops, and many cages (including this one for the X-H2 and X-H2S) include an integrated tripod plate, which is convenient and secure for shooting from a tripod.
The main downside to a camera cage is that it increases the bulk of the camera; your camera will feel noticeably heavier when the cage is attached. The fact that cages are often specific to the camera model also means that you’ll need to buy a new cage for every camera you own, which is an added expense that you may or may not find worthwhile.
Our Review of the Smallrig 3934 Cage For the Fuji X-H2 and X-H2S
We’ve used several Smallrig cages for different camera models, and while we have generally been pleased with Smallrig’s offerings, we have noticed that there is a range of quality levels for their camera cages. Each model of cage differs in its ergonomics, arrangement of mounting options, and how securely it holds the camera body in place. We’ve found that these differences greatly affect our enjoyment of using the camera with the cage–for some cameras, the cage is a pleasant addition to the experience, while on others it is a necessary evil.
Fortunately, this cage for the X-H2 and X-H2S seems to be one of Smallrig’s better designs. We’ll go into detail below about the key care-abouts.
Securing to the Camera
The Smallrig cage attaches to the X-H2 or X-H2S at three points:
- A screw that attaches to the tripod screw mount on the camera
- A second screw that protrudes into a cylindrical hole in the bottom of the camera, preventing twisting
- A small clamp that screws down into the upper-left camera strap mount
This three-point attachment system is extremely secure and prevents the camera from twisting at all within the cage, which is a welcome improvement over some of the other cages we’ve used. Although this makes it a bit more time-consuming to install or remove the cage, we greatly prefer this over a single-mount attachment method, which can often allow the camera to twist loose within the cage.
The cage includes a small installation tool that conveniently magnetizes to a cavity inside the bottom of the cage. You can install or remove the cage using only this tool, and we love that it can be stored directly on the cage.
Ergonomics
Since a camera cage has to fit around the body of the camera, it’s always going to affect the ergonomics of holding and using the camera, and usually in a negative way. The X-H2 and X-H2S cage is average in this area. On the right side of the camera by the hand grip, the cage does have a curved section that fits nicely against the camera’s grip, giving a natural feeling that doesn’t have any sharp edges and feels fairly nice to hold.
Unlike some other cameras, the X-H2 and X-H2S already have a substantial hand grip, so the cage isn’t providing real benefit here, but it doesn’t overly detract from the feeling of holding the camera. At the bottom of the camera, the cage does extend smoothly down below the hand grip, and I found that the cage does allow me to fit my pinky finger onto it to improve my grip.
The cage doesn’t interfere with any controls, with one key exception. The ISO button on the top of the camera is slightly obscured by the top of the cage, and although the button is still easily accessible from the back of the camera, it requires a bit more precision to reach your pointer finger back from the shutter button to press the ISO button. Of all buttons for the cage to interfere with, this is probably one of the worst possibilities since the current firmware on these cameras doesn’t allow you to assign ISO to a dial, but this wasn’t a dealbreaker.
Mount Points
Like most cages, this Smallrig cage has many 1/4th and 3/8th inch threaded holes for attaching accessories. We’re happy with the number and position of these mounting holes, but we’ll go into more detail about some of the cage’s other mounting options.
The left side of the cage is a NATO rail for attaching slide-on rail accessories such as a hand grip. In our opinion, this is a non-ideal location for a NATO rail. Because of the slide-on nature of NATO rail accessories, we don’t really like to use any NATO rail without spring-loaded safety pins to prevent the accessories from sliding off if the clamp comes loose. Furthermore, our most commonly-used NATO accessories are top handles and monitor mounts, items that need to go on the top of the cage rather than the side.
The top of the cage does include a few threaded screw holes on the top near the hot shoe, and this is where we ended up bolting on a small NATO safety rail for a quick-release top handle. This placement works fine, but there are so few screw holes in this location that the rail uses or covers almost all of the available mounting options on the top of the cage.
Almost all cages include a cold shoe, and this cage has its cold shoe just to the left of the EVF of the camera, tilted at approximately a 30 degree angle to allow the cage to contour better to the camera. We often find the cold shoe to be useful for mounting a microphone or wireless lav receiver, so the general location is good, but the angled mounting position makes the cold shoe useless for some accessories, such as an on-camera monitor. Even though angling the cold shoe allowed Smallrig to make the cage smaller, we would have happily accepted a slightly larger size to have the cold shoe directly upright on the top of the camera.
Finally, on the bottom of the cage, Smallrig has included an Arca-Swiss rail in addition to a number of 1/4th and 3/8th inch mounting holes. We’re very happy to have the Arca-Swiss plate built into the cage and use this feature frequently. It means you don’t need to deal with a separate tripod plate, and can also use the cage directly on gimbals such as the DJI RSC 2. We appreciate this being built in so much that we’ve purchased Arca-Swiss baseplate clamps to attach to our tripods, making it easy to secure the X-H2 and X-H2S to any of our tripods without needing to attach a tripod plate to the camera.
Should You Buy It?
In our opinion, the Smallrig 3934 cage for the X-H2 and X-H2S is a solid offering that video shooters will appreciate. While there are some things we would change about the cage, such as the cold shoe position, we generally feel that this cage is well-designed and has a functional design that is great for attaching video accessories securely to the camera.
However, we don’t think that everyone who buys one of these cameras needs the cage. Specifically, if you are primarily a photo shooter, do a lot of traveling with your camera where size is a key care-about, or don’t need to attach anything more than a simple hot shoe accessory to your camera, you likely won’t benefit from this cage. For those uses, the added bulk of the cage and negative effect on ergonomics will probably outweigh the benefits you would see from using it.
Overall, we’re happy with what Smallrig has done with this cage, and as video shooters we enjoy having it on our cameras.
You can view the Smallrig 3934 cage for the Fuji X-H2 and X-H2S here: