I got the products I ordered pretty quick from Pro-tape. The guy on the phone did not quote me a price for the Panasonic DV head cleaner I ordered so I thought I was getting it for $13.35 as is advertised on their site. Instead I was charged $15.30. I did not notice this until I got my invoice with the product. The guy also quoted me "just under $9" for the 3 day select shipping. In reality shipping was $13.50. So I ended up paying a lot more that I thought.

If you are dealing with Pro-tape, make ABSOLUTELY SURE that you get the final price on everything. But it would probably be better if you just went with someone else who is competant at taking phone orders and also offers ALL of their product on their web site. I will not buy from Pro-Tape again. Period.

Joe, you definitely want to bring this to Pro-tape's attention. I doubt if they want to lose a customer over a $6 misunderstanding. They know you can go somewhere else, unlike Frezzi, where if you want a genuine Frezzi light you gotta buy the Frezzi light.

Speaking of which, Graphics Guy, guess what arrived just today. Yep...I'm finally in possession of the elusive Frezzi Mini-fill. Placed the order at the end of October, got it today.

Dang...that was an ordeal.

Joe, I'll make sure that Craig Berlin at Pro-Tape is aware of this mix-up. Sounds like it was the fault of the counter help... they're usually struggling UT students working part-time. Craig and his right-hand man, Larry Quick, have been on the road as much as I have been recently with the trade shows. I'll see if I can get Craig in here for a follow-up.

Thanks Chris, that would be great.

Works Great!
 

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

Off Brand Batteries
 

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.

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.

Lemon?
 

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
 

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.

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.

Power-2000 battery: any good?
 

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?

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

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

Black Gang
 

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

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,

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

Batteries/Black Gang
 

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!

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.

Glad you got the Frezzi, zchildress, I still haven't got any closer to getting barn doors for mine. Prolly will call B&H when I get around to it.

Hey, on that 6-hour battery, how long must that puppy take to recharge? It takes long enough for my 2-hour to top up with the wimpy little charger Canon gives you.

Can I charge this battery in the Canon charger and will it give me the usuall indications ie (one blink - nearly empty, three blinks - nearly charged)

thanks
Keith

Keith -- yes you can and yes it does -- this is how I'm charging my own LenMar by the way.

Battery Options
 

www.aspenelectronics.com, mentioned in another thread, offer a 12V to 8V battery converter that will allow XL1/GL1 cameras to be powered by 12V batteries while at the same time providing 12V pass-through to power other camera mounted accessories. Item number is XL7A. Check the New Products page.

Hi Ed,

If one could find a source for Canon batteries (before they put the batteries in) anyone on the forum could build one of these adapters for next to nothing. There is no rocket science in this. Aspen Electronics charge US 125. The components I doubt would cost more than US25.

Chris H should we look at providing a circuit for the Watchdog.

Regards
Andrew

Howdy from Texas,

Here's my take on it. The type of shooter who would most likely benefit from being able to use a pro NP-style 12v brick battery is a professional shooter, i.e. one who does it for money. $125 should represent no more than two hours of billable work... for some of us, just one hour or even less.

You could conceivably go to the trouble of locating the battery housing, buying the connectors, obtaining the circuitry and cobbling up such an adapter on your workbench, but how much time and trouble does that represent? Would it be worth that kind of slice out of your life when you could be shooting (and billing) instead.

I was in the Canon booth at NAB when Aspen brought that adapter over for us to look at. The Aspen guy asked my friend Mike Mount of Canon USA, "what would you pay for that?" Mike responded, "about $125." The Aspen guy said, "that's exactly what it costs." Personally I think $125 is a more than reasonable price for that adapter.

I would rather charge a couple of billable shooting hours to make $125, order it and have it here in the next day or two than spend my free time building one. But that's just my own nature I guess. I suppose my point is, if this is something you really need, just buy it; otherwise do without it. Perhaps I've finally succumbed to consumerism but life is just too short to be meddling with work-arounds just to get over a measly hundred bucks.

Very sorry but that's my opinion, much respect to anybody who actually *does* build their own, and if you come up with the circuitry then yes I'll put it on the website. Frankly I'm just happy that Aspen even bothered with making this available and as I said for a piece of pro gear, $125 is next to nothing.

Hi Chris,

no need to apologise for your opinion. You are right, sometimes it is not worth the effort, spend the money.

I am the "problem". Firstly I love tinkering in my workshop making things and secondly with our currency being so weak US 125 is a lot more money in S.A. than in US.

I am nearly finshed with my "steadicam", almost entirely made from machined aluminium. Initial testing looks good. Hoping to have it complete by July.

Cheers
Andrew

I thought this particular adapter might be of interest because I remember several months ago, someone was trying to figure out how to power camera, light, lcd, wireless etc. all from one battery. This item might be just what they were looking for. Some of the batteries offered by this company also have ports for accessories built into the battery housing. (At least I think that's what I read)

I know its not the most economical solution but the Anton Bauer setup is very nice. It gives you the option to run several different types of batteries and it also has a 12v power tap so you can power your on-camera light as well. The biggest improvment was how stable the camera became after putting the AB rig on it, without he OIS, the stability has improved 10 fold! With the OIS on its hard to tell you arent shooting from a tripod. I also like their 3 year warrany for the batteries, if for any reason they dont last as long as they did new, send 'em in.

Chris

Anyone tried these (ZGC) batteries?
 

Hey gang...

Anyone ever used these batteries? Are they as good
as those 7,5 - 10 hour lenmar (?) batteries?

http://www.zgc.com/html/expedition_batteries.html

Does ZGC also ship overseas? I'm thinking of buying
a package from them with all sort of stuff in it.

Thanks!

Hi Rob,

I remember seeing these batteries when I purchased equipment from ZGC several months ago. I never asked, but from reading the information on them and considering the price, I suspect they are not rechargable. Note the "long shelf life" and "disposable" wording in the description. I also noted that ZGC does not offer a charger for these batteries. Again, I may be totally wrong about this. Wouldn't be the first time.

Additional information can be found at:

http://www.automatedmedia.com/index.html

battery charger left on
 

Im not sure if this is a silly question but it says nothing in the manual about it.
how long can you leave a battery charging for after the red light
stops flicking and glows?.
say I switch the charger on and disappear for 6/9 hours and come back and the battery will be fully charged is there any damage to either the battery or charger. Or perhaps if I switch it on over night.
I might just be a little over anxious
thanks

Howdy from Texas,

Nothing to worry about. You won't hurt these lithium-ion batteries if you leave 'em on the charger all day. The old lead-acid style batteries would suffer, but not these. I wouldn't leave them sitting on the charger for several days or anything, but I wouldn't worry about anything less than 48 hours or so. Hope this helps,

Chris is correct. I've been leaving batteries on all night (because I'm too tired to get up from sleeping!) for years now and the same batteries are still going strong!

The Expedition batteries can be recharged, but the solar chargers are extremely expensive. ZGC chose to market the batteries as long-running alternative batteries to Canon's that can be used for projects out in remote and very cold areas for camera operators without a huge budget. -- You're on top of a mountain in the snow somewhere, you've got a Portabrace Polar Bear cover on your camera, but that extra Canon battery in your pack just froze up. With the Expedition battery you've got hours of running time on one battery that's good to go in extreme cold. Once spent, you can toss it (in an appropriate receptacle, of course) and not worry about toxicity issues.

Yes! ZGC ships overseas all the time.

I've got two batteries and want to know if I'm hurting them by using one battery over and over while the other one is just sitting in the bag or getting the occasional top-off charge? Is there any point in rotating them? Will the one battery die sooner (because it's used a lot) and the other one stay "like-new?"

Batteries do have rated number of recharge cycles. I would recommend rotating them for best results and longevity.

easy question on backup battery CR2025
 

I have just borrowed this camera video and the battery cr2025 is missing, i get the sign for the little battery normal but as well when i try to put a dv tape it doen't want to reconize it and i have the icon telling me that there is no tape in the view finder, normal? if i get this battery it should be fine? thanks for your help

Hi Geronimo,

this 2025 is to ensure the camera remembers all the basic camera settings and program info it had when it left the factory.

As to if it sorts out your problem? I'm sure it will. Whether you like it or not you gotta have one. I always keep a spare in my camera box.

Regards
Andrew

Be sure to push the tape transport in first and let it go down before closing the tape compartment door. Don't close the door and let it push the transport.

If that dosen't work I'd get the tape transport checked, it sounds like something is amiss.