HVL-LBP lamp, and batteries
 

I've got a couple of "cheap" 970-type batteries and my V1E runs just fine on them, but the newly purchased HVL-LBP lamp won't! Can anybody confirm that it only accepts Sony-made batteries?

A bugger:(

Hey Piotr, I got the HVL-LBP and I tried a 3rd Party battery and the unit didn't recognize it, I was only able to get it to work with original Sony batteries (fyi - the 3rd party battery was the Impact brand).

Thanks Wendell! So, it seems Sony decided to make even more money on us... What a bugger! This adds some 30% to the lamp already high price!

Yea, Sony just keeps on taking my money for all the accessories :) I also bought the bracket so I can mount the DR60 to the back of the V1U, it gives the unit a good balance if I have the HVL-LBP on at the same time.

Speaking of balance: I'm also planning to buy the bracket and put the disk at the back when I need the lamp at the same time; is it still possible to shoot hand-held with all these on the camera?

It's possible to shoot hand held but it get tiring after a while! I think the whole weight comes out to about 5 to 6lbs or so, depending what batteries you have on them. For me I have the NP970 on the V1U and the HVL-LBP, and I use a NP570 on the DR60. I'm waiting for my NP770 to come in so I can use it on the HVL-LBP to make the whole weight lighter (since the HVL-LBP can't take the NP570, only the 770 and 970 work on it). Just today I shot hand held with the Letus35 Flip and the DR60 on the bracket to balance it out. It worked great for me, the only problem is that I wish I can be more stable :)

Wendell, thank you very much for sharing invaluable information on your experience with both the HVL-LBP lamp and the HVR-DR60 drive. I enjoyed the V1 so much because on its own, it's small and lightweight enough to be handled almost like a handycam. I guess I'll have to get used to it with the drive and/or lamp on. BTW, I'll probably follow your example and be using the 770 battery on the lamp instead of the 970 - lighter and cheaper, yet still 2 hours operating time.

On the other hand, when the whole rig is on a tripod, the weight is not that important so it'd be nice to have a second (970) battery for longer events shooting - but since the lamp only accepts Sony originals, it's going to be expensive...

Again on this issue (in a new post rather that edit, as I'd like to kick the thread up as well): did the specification of the L-series batteries (NP-F970 in particular) change since they first arrived? The reason I'm asking is this:

Having problems with my HVL-LBP lamp not communicating with the cheap non-Sony's, I asked a friend to try it with his original Sony 970 which works just fine with his and my cameras, and - to my surprise - the lamp couldn't "see it", either! Suspecting the lamp was out of order, I visited a Sony retailer and tried it with a brand new Sony NP-F970; it works!

So, it seems like the specs of the Sony NP-F970 have changed over time, and the cheaper replacements are still not up to date with the newest Sony's specs, hence they don't work with the lamp in question just like older, original Sony batteries. The newest Sony battery does work, which means it's not the lamp's fault.

Can anyone confirm this?

I can't specifically confirm this but I can confirm that Sony keep changing the way their batteries and cameras communicate. I have an older 3rd party battery that runs my old D8 camera just fine and it will run the PD 150s, it will not run a Z1 but a later 3rd party 970 does. Haven't tried the battery that will run the Z1 on the V1 / DR60 but I wouldn't be surprised to find that Sony have outfoxed the clones again.

If you're looking for a nice way to mount the DR60, check this out:

http://www.bebob.de/international/box-hvr_eng.html

Thanks Bob for that info.

One anomaly I noticed (and attributed to 3rd party batteries) has been the remaining time display; when I press the special button under the LCD (with the camera switched off), it usually reports some 480 mins for a fully charged battery. However, after switching the camera on and actually having operated it for some time, this tends to go up to even some 600 mins before it ever starts to fall down; interestingly it does the same with the original, oder Sony NP-F970 I tried yesterday (the one that won't communicate with the new Sony lamp).

Do the newer Sony batteries report the remaining capacity in a more consistent manner? While showing increasing capacity can be encouraging (joking, of course), abrupt battery death withing a couple of minutes since when it still displayed 120 mins is less funny...

There's NO way for any battery to really know how much time is left in the battery. It seems to be based on some kind of running estimate based on how much power has / is being consummed. So you take two identical batteries that have been used on two different cameras and put them onto charge on the same Sony chargers. When fully charged one will report much less "time" than the other.

The displayed value starts to get closer to accurate the more you discharge it but that is easy to fool depending on what power you're making the camera use.

It's a bit like the miles to empty calculation on a car's trip computer.

I agree this is actually a quite complicated algorithm, but I thought the original Sony batteries would be more precise. I was more forgiving on a 3rd party battery reporting 600+ hours available on the camera even after an hour of work, but now I can see the originals do the same error of overestimating the remaining time. For instance an NP-F570 I use with my DR60 drive still displays 240 mins after a couple of hours working (and the picture only showing less than 1/3 capacity).

I guess if they cannot be precise, I'd rather they underestimated a bit!

Sorry for the silly question...

I have a similar on-cam lamp. Tried to use once, it turned to be very low light, plus the light was something like a circular spot. So I never used again, its in the drawer.

Anyone can explain a situation where these on-cam lamps are useful?

Zsolt,

The question isn't silly at all, simply there are good lamps and... well, not so good ones. Regarding the light volume, the HVL-LBP is a LED lamp, rated 600 lux; it's also very efficient (3 hours with the 970 battery). Also, its shape is rectangular and corresponds well with the 16:9 scene proportions.

Of course, on-cam lamps are seldom strong enough to lit big areas and at a long distance. However, this one is OK for indoor shootings; for instance at a party in a dim room it's great to brighten people's faces (it has a dimmer, so is not very obtrusive).

Piotr, do you feel the Sony light is worth the money?

I would be using it mostly for weddings. I have two v1s so I will have to buy two.

That being well over a grand I want to make the best choice of price, performance, and convenience.