Canon XL1 & XL1S Batteries / Battery Options

I just got back from Trinidad Carnival and I must say that the Lenmar battery I finally purchased (from Pro Tape) worked fantastic! I truly got 6 full hours and then some before having to recharge! I highly recommend it.

Gilbert Labossiere

I bought 2 off brand batteries that claimed more amp/hrs than the standard battery that Canon includes with the camera. I was working last night and the two off brand batteries went to 1/2 full when I put them on the camera. All were full charged before the event.

I purchased one from batteries.com and another from Fryes. I am assuming that that most off brand batts are manufactured by one factory and different labels are applied. Does anyone know if lithium Ion batteries age and if the off brand are using aged cells. The off brand batteries are not that cheap but less than the Canon batteries.

The Canon battery which I used during the second half of the concert only dropped one segment on the fuel indicator. (35 mins continous recording aprox.) I have to assume that Canon is using better quality cells or the manufacurer Canon is using is using higher quality cells.

Has anyone had any other experience with off brand batteries. Of have you noticed similar behavior from Canon batteries.

[Chris Hurd]

Do a search here for Lenmar. everal of us have these bats and they work quite well... so far. Hope this helps,

One of the units is a Lenar and it was the first one that showed the half empty behavior.

I'm not sure but it sounds as if you may have gotten a lemon. I bought a Lenmar for my XL1s last month and I used it to film and all day event (approx. 6 hours) non stop!

Needless to say I am a Lenmar fan.

Good Luck.

Gilbert Labossiere

Pro Tape in Houston is a great place for tape and Misc. production supplies. Stuff like gaft tape and gell. Brad Bassit is a really nice guy and will get stuff to you ASAP.

[Chris Hurd]

That's just fine... Pro-Tape is Pro-Tape, whether it's Austin or Houston or wherever. It's all Craig Berlin which is a very good thing.

[Robert Knecht Schmidt]

http://www01.bhphotovideo.com/default.sph/FrameWork.class?FNC=ProductActivator__Aproductlist_html___227259___POBP945___REG___CatID=0___SID=ECC 6F25A4D0

Has anybody had any experience with this Power-2000 battery for the XL1? The B&H listing (linked above) claimes a whopping 6000 milliamp-hour charge life. In comparison, the BP-945 made by Canon claims only 4500 milliamp-hour life and is 50% more expensive.

In another thread, some folks gave positive testimonial for the Lenmar batteries, but Lenmar doesn't seem to make a BP-945 equivalent.

So is this Power-2000 the real deal, or too good to be true?

[Ken Tanaka]

I don't know, but they sure look good to me, Robert.

[Chris Hurd]

Lenmar does indeed make a BP945 equivalent. It's at least a BP941 equivalent, yet it easily out-lasts my Canon BP945.

[Robert Knecht Schmidt]

And while we're on the subject, Chris, where does one provision his Black Gang coffee?

[Chris Hurd]

Hi Robert,

Thanks for joining us here, by the way -- I hope to see you again sometime soon, my next trip west out your way will happen later in the summer.

Black Gang coffee, it'll spin your rotor! Generally it's not how you procure it but how you cook it and with whom you drink it. Black Gang coffee is not so much a brand of coffee as it is a kind of experience... best brewed around 0430 deep down in the engine room, with good friends, away from the topsiders and far from officer's country.

Go to the Announcements forum, find the thread "Many thanks to all -- 1,000 posts in two months" and down the screen a ways you'll find Mike Butler and myself discussing fond memories of Black Gang coffee, which might clear this up for you a bit.

;-)

For even more details, you'll have to read Richard McKenna's "Sand Pebbles" cover to cover. Black Gang coffee is explained fairly early on, but you won't be able to put the book down until it's completely finished. Hope this helps,

[Willard Hill]

Hi Robert,

I have been using this battery and a bp-945 since mid-Febrauary on a XL-s. I haven't done any formal testing, but have done quite a bit of wildlife taping with the camera, some of it in fairly cold weather. I usually top the batteries off at night so I don't know how long a charge will last, but I can say that I have never used more than half of the charge in the Power 2000 battery while the bp-945 will soon drop to that level. In short I feel the Power 2000 is a much longer lasting battery, but of course it is also physically much larger and protrudes quite a distance from the side of the camera but that doesn't really bother me.
Will

[Robert Knecht Schmidt]

Will:

Thanks a lot for your feedback. I guess I'll be investing in a Power-2000 battery or two.

Chris Hurd:

Don't bother looking me up in L.A. ... I finished off my MS at USC last summer and moved back home to Cleveland. Trying to start my career as a filmmaker. Have been putting together a little XL1s rig to work on the small pet projects I've always wanted to do. Which explains my gradual reinvolvement in the Canopus and DVinfo.net boards. I'll always remember the breakfasts shared with you and Mike Downey... although getting a receipt for my Storm system out of that guy has been an improbably ongoing project!

[Chris Hurd]

Thanks Robert,

You can find Black Gang coffee anywhere in the world, even Cleveland... it's how you make it.

If we started a Canopus forum or a PC-based NLE forum here, would you care to visit? Things have changed since that breakfast.