Car charger for the dvx
 

I have 2 batterys and they seem to go pretty fast when i'm out shooting. Does anyone know where i can get a car charger for my batterys. Does b&H have them?

I would recommend an alternative.. buying a car adapter to 120volt AC. Then you can plug anything into it. You can find them for about $30, so its well worth it.

In case you dont have any idea what im talking about, here is some info.

http://www.xantrex.com/products/product.asp?did=146

you can buy them at most places, like radioshack or even walmart.

thats cool but there isn't a charger for these batterys that i can just plug into my car. There has to be, sony has them, why wouldn't panasonic?

yes, I am sure someone out there makes them.. I wonder how many people would be interested in theres.

This is what you want:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=279826&is=REG

It's the Lenmar Mach 1 rapid battery charger. It charges batteries about twice as fast as the Panasonic charger does, and it has interchangeable plates so you can use the same unit to charge Panasonic, Sony, Canon, JVC, or other types of batteries. It can be plugged into the wall, and it also includes a car adapter cord so you can charge batteries from your car.

The nicest thing is that you can now charge two batteries at once, or use your DVX on AC power while the Lenmar charges a battery.

I got mine off ebay, new in the box for about $35 or so. Highly recommended!

wow that thing looks cool.

I've seen a home/car rapid charger sold under a few different names but it's always the exact same unit. I've bought two so far (as I've given them away when I sold a cam)... anyway, my most recent incarnation is supposedly a Memorex, but either way it looks just like the others and it was $50 at Circuit City. Easy to find and adapts to pretty much any battery. Probably not quite as fast as the Lenmar, but not too far off. (Maybe just as quick... it is twice as fast as a stock charger.) Car plug is in the box.

Oh yeah, those DC/AC car adapters are DEFINITELY a good idea. I have two of them! I have a Xantrex 1000w that's permanently mounted and connected directly to the battery. Then I ALSO have a Vector (AutoZone) that was only $40 that plugs into any cigarrette lighter and it does 150w no problem. Turn your vehicle into a location shooter by bringing a couple (or more!) location lights! You can park your car off cam and run extension cords back to it and have wacky-perfect lighting in a place where it would never have been possible! I suggest you invest in a couple of fluorescents for this... fresnels will suck your battery dry quickly beyond 300w.

Bring lights? No, man, that's what headlights are for! :)

Basically you're talking about using your car as a ready-made generator, and I'd imagine that just about any car (other than a diesel perhaps) is going to be significantly quieter than any generator. I've got a small inverter in my car already (combined with the 7" LCD monitor for the back-up-view camera and the DVD/MP3 player, it's a portable camping/tailgating theater) but I'm going to upgrade it to a 1000W once I get my fluorescent lights.

The car becomes the transportation vehicle, the in-the-field generator, and the playback theater... pretty cool!

Yeah Barry! I like your thinking. That's what I'm talking about. Actually if you get the best battery you can (around $100... "deep cycle") then you can run a couple fluorescents for a long time between starting the car back up to recharge the battery. You could probably go an HOUR or more between starting. So then it's a LOT quieter then a generator. 100% quieter.

PLEASE NOTE: When using Inverters "Turn off the Camera Prior To Disconnect" as there are some units that do not like to be cut off cold turkey. We had a DVX100 almost go out if where not for the quick thinking cameraman who power down the camera just when the Gaffers pulled the plug.

I know that the companies say you can do a hot swap yet there have been cameras burned on the sets.

For what it is worth, I bought the Panasonic CGR-B/814 5300mAh belt-pack Li-ion battery as a spare backup battery for a 24P DV short I shot this Summer with the DVX100. That battery packs a punch for quite some time and it was not expensive at all.

The cool thing is that it comes with a "dummy battery" - It works right out of the box with the DVX100 - which you could perhaps adapt to another battery system if you are good with electronics.

- don