A proper cage for the Krasnogorsk-3
A machined aluminium cage for the K-3.
It includes a custom base plate, side plate, video tap mount, and an optional top plate.
How it goes together.
- Side plateThe spine. Everything else bolts to it.
- Base plateBolts under the camera. Locking pins stop the spin.
- Top plateAdd onMounting point for a top handle. The hook clamps the cage from both ends.
- Video Tap StrapTwo piece clamp. Holds a CCTV tap in one fixed position.
- K3 ToolA steel multitool with a big flathead for camera screws, small flathead for the cage and CCTV camera adjustments, hex for set screws.
Base plate
The K3 spins on a tripod head. Locking pins take that out. It sits where you put it and stays there.
The stock tripod hole also isn't centered on the lens. This one has holes that are, so a lens support or follow focus lines up with the optical axis.
Sold on its own, or as part of the cage.
Side plate
A grid of tapped holes down the side of the camera. Battery plate, wireless transmitter, cable management. It all mounts here.
1/4-20 and 3/8-16 throughout, so it takes hardware you already have.
Video Tap Strap
On a film camera only the operator sees the shot. The director, the client, the focus puller are all taking your word for it until the film comes back.
A video tap fixes that. A small CCTV camera looks into the eyepiece and sends the image to a monitor, so the room can watch the take live.
Anyone who's tried this on a K3 has improvised something. This is a two piece clamp that mounts to the side plate and holds the tap in one position.
CCTV camera not included. There's a how-to in The K3 Library.
Top plateAdd on
Adds a mounting point on top of the camera. That's how you get a top handle on a K3, and somewhere to hang a monitor.
Carrying by a handle puts load on the camera in a way a tripod doesn't, so the top plate comes with a hook that wraps around and clamps the cage from both ends. Set screws with rubber tips, so nothing marks the body.
And if you'd rather not drill into your camera, this gets you there without it. No modification needed.
With the top plate the cage is $650. Without it, $550.
How it got here
Everything available for rigging a K3 was janky. Tape, improvised brackets, parts meant for other cameras.
Mine came from Max at @k3super16, who's more or less keeping this camera alive on his own. If you're buying a K3, buy it from him. He strips them completely, cleans, replaces worn parts, re-greases, reassembles, so what you get runs like new. Shooting one made it obvious what was still missing.
Dozens of prototypes after that. 3D printed first, then cut on Joey's machine at home. Bodies vary more than you'd expect, so a plate that fits one doesn't necessarily fit the next. That's most of why it took so long.
The first version was shaped around my camera, which Max had set up without an ISO dial and with a handle already drilled. Posting it made clear most people have original bodies. The dial opening and the top plate both came out of that, and the top plate is also how you get a handle without drilling anything.
Still iterating.
A pilot's sister married a cinematographer, and thus a cage was born.
Doug
Doug's a cinematographer in Atlanta. He shoots commercials and documentaries, directs some of them, and shoots a lot of film. Super 8, 16mm, 35mm, whatever he can get his hands on. He wanted a cage for his K3, couldn't find a good one, and that's how this started. His work is at dougs-pictures.com.
Joey
Joey's a commercial airline pilot. When he's not flying he's making parts on the CNC in his shop at home. He built every prototype, took the design through a lot of revisions, and drew the files we manufacture from.
Get in touch
Message @k3_cage on Instagram, or email info@k3cage.com.
Happy to talk about the cage, the video tap, or the K3 in general. Whether you're buying or not.
Shipping quoted by DM