No one is checking my math! That should be 100*7.1/8.1 = 87% (OK, it's tecnically a typo, not a math error).

A.J.

NP1 Batteries to power XL2?
 

Hello all.

I need to invest in an NP-1 battery for a camera stabilizer and was wondering if these batteries can power an XL2 (and for how long). If that's the case, I have no problem doing so as the batteries can serve double duty as I was planning on getting a longer life battery anyhow.

If I can use the NP1s, what'll I need to use them to power the XL2.

Thanks!
Sal

The NP1 batteries are 12-13V, while the XL-1/XL2 cameras use 7-8V. You need to use a DC voltage converter to "step down" the voltage.
HTH
Alex Dolgin

It is true, that reducing the load current from a battery increases its effective capacity somewhat. There are graphs provided by the cell vendors, showing the difference depending on the load current. Changing the current from 1 A to .5 A might increase the the effective capacity by 10-20% at most. BUT - it is in theory. Practically there is no way to benefit from it as there is absolutely no way to parallel the batteries using direct connection. If a charged battery wired directly to a discharged one, the discharged battery would start sucking in a lot of uncontrolled current from a charged one, causing irreversible damage to itself, and possibly to the charged one. The only way to parallel them is by using 2 diodes in "Y" configuration, as the diodes would prevent the current back flow. But using the diodes would cause other unpleasant effects, as they would have voltage drop on them, and heating losses as a result. Most probably the Canon dual battery piece has a low loss switch (solid state), that selects a battery at a time.
As far as Li-Ion cells aging, they loose about 10%/year regardless of use. In addition to that, they age as they are being used. Discharging them outside normal use would only wear them down faster. A new battery has a certain cycle life to it, say 500 full discharge cycles. If it is discharged 50% every time, it would deliver 1000 shallow cycles. So adding extra discharge to them would just reduce its usefull service life.
HTH
Alex

Ok, now this is a experimental fact: I put one of my seven year old BP-930 batteries to the camcorder and in max there is not enough power after 15 minutes of recording. But, if I put two of such batteries to the CH-910 dual holder, I can power the camcorder to record a full 60 minute tape. I guess we do not have enough information to fully understand the reason.

You've probably thought of this already but what happens if you put the other (second) battery on the camera by itself? Even though it may be of the same age as the other it is entirely possible that it is in much better shape the its partner. Certainly a new 930 should allow you to pull a whole tape if you are a little judicious about going into power saving mode between shots.

A.J.

A.J., no, none of the old batteries run alone more than 15 minutes.

O.K. Add me to the ranks of the mystified. Perhaps as the battery ages its internal impedance rises to the point where it IS significant?

A.J.

Alex:

Thanks for the reply. Any recommendations on a converter? Have you seen this done before?

Is there an adapter that can go from the NP1 to the plug in battery adapter for the XL2?

Sal

We make the 7.2 v DC converters, check out http://dolgin.net/DCConverter.htm
The NP1 cable is available from Frezzi http://frezzi.com/trick;e.htm
part 9679.
HTH
Alex

Battery Bracket for rear of XL2
 

I am shooting a wedding this coming weekend and I want to run two wireless mic recievers on my XL2 (Sennheiser G2s). I will record in 12 bit. 1 mic I can attach to the Accessory Shoe and the XLR cable in the rear left channel. The other I want to attach to the rear battery bracket where the three screw holes are and the cable into the rear right. I took the screws from my MA200 and attempted to attach the reciever using the screws but the gap for the base of the reciever is to narrow as it hits the bracket. I do not want to tape it on as I want it to fit securely to the rear bracket. Anyone had any success with this?? or have any ideas??

Thanks

Chris Day
Perth, Western Australia

I used the belt clip from the g2 on the battery adaptor bracket, and it seemed ok.You remove the shoe adaptor, and snap in the belt clip.
Bruce Yarock

Charging batteries overseas
 

Does anyone know if you can get voltage adaptors to charge canon batteries overseas? I have a pal XL2 and will need to charge the battery in Japan, so I need a plug that will fit my batttery charger and convert the voltage accordingly.
thanks in advance.

OK I decided not to delete this as I'm having difficulties.

When it comes to charging batteries do I need to be concerned about frequency? I will be staying in the Kansai region (Kyoto, Osaka) which uses 60hz. So in addition to buying a transformer do I need a frequency converter also?

Usually transformers will convert the voltage from 220V to 110V and 50Hz to 60Hz or vice versa, as well as prrovide all the different plug adapters you'll need, wherever you're travelling. Check out the different travelling voltage converters, it is usually stated on the box. They are designed to handle whatever electrical system you throw at them.

The charger supplied in the US, the CA-920 is ¨universal" i.e. 100~240VAC 50/60 Hz. I expect the PAL units come with the same charger but a different cord with the appropriate plug for the country in which it is sold. If I'm right then all you need is the appropriate adapter. Japan is 60Hz and if I remember correctly the plugs are the same as the US.

thanks :)

Only half of Japan is 60hz (Osaka, Kyoto, Nagoya), that being the western half. Eastern part is 50hz (Tokyo etc)

But it seems this doesn't really matter with chargers, which is neat.

Anton Bauer used Proformer batteries okay for XL2?
 

On the Anton Bauer website, it doesn't specifically recommend the ProPac batteries for the XL1. Obviously the ProPacs are different but I believe they are pretty similar to the ProFormer. The ProFormers lack a battery runtime bar I believe, but could there be any other reason they would not work with the XL1?

thanks,

Oliver

Good question. I thought we had a member here who is a representative for AB. I'll see if I can dig up his contact info and ask him to reply.

I'm using the IDX system, which fits in a similar adapter as the AB batteries.

I have lots of power, and there is even a tap to power a light or a teleprompter or even an on camera monitor

DBK

proformers
 

They are fine I use them on mine. Almost all of the logic series batteries are fine and the really nice part is the counterbalance they will give you. You might keep a eye open on ebay and pick up a trimpac if you get a chance; lasts longer and just a bit heavier which is almost the perfect counterbalance and the ability for a real light on the xl1s/2 with the battery plate is a big plus. Just as a further reassurance when BH sold the earlier XL1 A/b kits with charger/plate/batteries the batteries they gave were the proformer...

M

.
 

great, thanks for the feedback guys. very helpful.

Oliver Power

XL2 Battery Brick
 

Anyone have any suggestions on the best power setup for the XL2 that will also help balance the camera? I'm looking for a brick type of battery that might also provide power to a light, too.

I've been to Anton's site. It's a horrible site to navigate! Anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks.

Kevin

The CH-910 might help you out. There's also a thread about it:
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthrea...threadid=35622

Anton does make a Gold mount for the XL2, and people are using it. But there is a big price difference. For around $500, you can buy either:
CH-910 and ten+- hours of Power2000 batteries, or
An Anton Bauer charger

I'm not knocking AB, as I'm sure they are great and I wish I had some Dionics but you have to pay for the greatness.

Anyone using Anton Bauer batteries?
 

I'm curious as to how much balance the Anton Bauer setups afford the XL2, bricks or regular sized.

I'm using the Anton Bauer Dionic 90 mounted to the QR-XL1C Gold Mount Plate. It is not real heavy, but it adds a nice balance to the camera. I called AB to check the compatibility of the older brick batteries and they talked me into swapping out to the Dionic series. I had to replace my older charger, but it seems to be a very nice setup.

<<<-- Originally posted by David M. Geary : I'm using the Anton Bauer Dionic 90 mounted to the QR-XL1C Gold Mount Plate. It is not real heavy, but it adds a nice balance to the camera. I called AB to check the compatibility of the older brick batteries and they talked me into swapping out to the Dionic series. I had to replace my older charger, but it seems to be a very nice setup. -->>>

With your setup, how balanced would you say it is compared to a traditional shoulder-mounted camera?

It depends on the lens - the 16x manual is heavy compared to the 3x lens. With the adapter and the AB battery, the camera is very stable and the balance is improved over the factory setup, however I would not say it is better than an ENG style shoulder mount camera. Since you can move the viewfinder forward now, it does allow you fine tune the camera's balance. The biggest improvement with the AB batteries is the amount of recording time it gives you. I have yet to deplete them while shooting, so I do not know how much run time I can get, but the AB website says you can get 11 1/4hrs runtime. That's huge.

With some additional machining, you could make something like the Anton Bauer Stasis (where the battery is extended back and down the user's shoulder) which would help tremendously to balance the system for handheld use.

First off: I might change over to IDX batteries because they offer even more running time and they are more common in the TV world I shoot in (Belgium).

I use the AB Hytron 50s (2 of them) with my XL2. Im very happy with them. Balance did improve a lot, as does the running time. Balance is still not what it could be, compared with Sony ENG cameras I'm used to, but it's closer than anything in this range. But what it really does is add 'inertia'. This means, when you do quick pans or dutch moves on the shoulder, the added weight of the camera helps you do this because it 'works against you'. This really sounds strange, but once you feel the difference between a heavy camera on the shoulder, and a much lighter one, you'll know what I mean.

And most of all: running time. I have also an Ultralight 2 from AB, fed from the same batteries. No extra batteries or cables to feed both camera and light, a great combo! I can say I get almost 6 hours out one battery. That's without using the light. When I use the light a lot (doing interviews and such in ENG situations), I can go for about 2-3 hours (with a 25W light). With another battery at hand, this is more than sufficient.

And to give a 'sneek peek behind the scens of the pros' ;-) , I can tell you, almost no modern TV crew (with DigiBeta, BetaSX, DVCAM, DVCPro, ...) hase more than two batteries with them: one on the camera, one in the backpack, and a charger in the car (on 12V). That's all.

I also plan to get me a CitiDisk DV harddisk recorder, which can also be fed from the same AB batteries: camera, light and harddisk from one battery. You only need a mounting plate from the manufacturer of the CitiDisk, Shining Technologies.

Greetz and best off luck! I would recommend them!

We have an AB setup for our XL2 and it was one of the necessary purchases for us. I can't recommend it enough. Beyond the obvious advantages of runtime and camera weight, there are other marked advantages on the set:

- ability to visually check batteries actual level
- compatibility with other production equipment (monitors, steadicams, jib) which commonly use AB batteries
- using the charger, check batteries condition
- durability!

As for the weight and balance question, we're using Hytron 50s, and them combined with the 16x manual lens is a easily usable setup on the shoulder, whereas I would consider the 16x manual with standard Canon batteries, pretty much unusable or at least difficult, on the shoulder.

I do also recommend IDX, my old ENG package had IDXs and I loved them. But we went with AB because its more of a standard on sets, therefore you can swap or use your batteries with any other gear you rent (at least here in the Los Angeles area).

good luck!

Oliver

Thanks for all the replies. Is it safe to say that the balance with AB batteries is markedly better than a "normal" XL2 setup? Are you still using your arm to support most of the camera's weight?

Yes on both questions!

Balance is (much) better, but your arm still takes most of the weight.

To give you an idea: I can easily shoot all day with this setup and I'm not a powerlifter.

What about with a brick? I'm assuming that would do more for balance than a smaller sized AB battery...?

I used AB Gold Mount and Dionic 90 on my XL2. Balance is pretty good too. I second all the above comments about 11 hours runtime and advantage of AB. You also can use AB video light simultaneously with the Dionic 90 powering both the camera and 25 watts bulb at the same time.

Also, you can also achieve the same relative effect if you use Canon's CH910E and 2 Canon LiOn batteries (the big ones). This setup also gives you an advantage that AB can't - namely, operate from mains - by plugging the power cord into CH910E charger. However, the AB video light can't be used in this config. You win some, lose some.

TS

I may be mistaken, but I don't think you can power the camera from mains with the CH-910. I have this setup and I use it on my backup XL1s, my memory tells me it is powered via battery only. It does do a nice job with the big Lion's and you can pick up generics (6000ma) from B&H for approx. $60-$80 ea. The charger runs $140 so you can get the same backup time for around $300 which is $150 cheaper than the AB battery alone. One drawback is the mount design is basically a clip on and it does rattle a little if moved.

You are right. The mains is only for charging - I didn't know that until your post - and that prompted me to test it out. Which means, even with batteries in place, if mains power is supplied, the camera don't get power at all. To feed the camera, you have to turn off the mains supply. Yeeps!

Looks like my AB Dionic 90 and Gold Mount adaptor is now going in for good - 90 AH versus 6 AH for Canon LiON is a vast difference in power.

On a different note - I noticed the battery consumption is a lot higher if you turn off and on the camera while shooting versus leaving it on in between scenes - provided it don't exceed 5 minutes (camera turned off itself automatically once on 5 minutes idle time).

TS

I found out about the mains the hard way, but I have never had time to test it to make sure it was not just my charger. I was planning on shooting a wedding for my wife's cousin in a very remote town in Rajasthan, India. I did not have time to recharge my batteries the night before, so I packed the CH-910 and a voltage adapter and planned on using an available extension cord. I could not get it to work, and only had enough battery power for about 1hr (approx. 12 hrs short of the weddings duration) I felt bad at first, but I had a much better time at the wedding with my camera in it's bag. When I got back from India, my first purchase was the Anton Bauer Dionic 90 and a new Titan charger.

Titan charger - did you get the dual slot version or single slot? The single slot is interesting - because you can actually power up the camera from AC - or so, that's what the brochure says.

I use dual Dionic 90 batteries and one dual 2722 charger. And the QR-XL-1C adaptor for Gold Mount. Looks like (thanks to you and this post) my CH910E is going to be out of camera "for good". Can now dedicate the Canon LiON batteries to power my LCD panel :-).

TS

It was a toss up, but I went with the Titan twin. Your correct, the Titan 70 will also power via mains which was very tempting. I also have an AB Proformer battery that I use to power my 7" Panasonic LCD via an AB Gold Mount adapter so I went with the Twin. If I used one of the Nebtek adapters to power my LCD with the Canon batteries I may have opted for the Titan 70 (which is actually cheaper). I use the CH-910 and two BP-945's with my XL1s now and I leave the AB Dionic 90 mounted to the QR-XL-1C on my XL2.