Battery Megasource
 

Have a look a batterymegasource.com, they've got all kinds of stuff at superb prices compared with UK high street.

I've bought from them four times now and things have always reached Luton in three or four days. It's all unbranded, made in China etc but performs fine; eg. the spare XL1 3600mAh bat gives about 15 mins more shooting time than the 3000mAh original.

I occasionally borrow IDX Endura batterys. Adaptor on the rear. On for a shoo for 5 hours, still had 40% left! Need more power, just attach another battery onto the battery. The larger batteries also give the camera better balance.
The thing about the IDX v-mounts are that they go directly onto Sony broadcast cameras as well. I need to get them myself. nice.

XL1 adaptor
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=242078&is=REG

battery & charger
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=231387&is=REG

Record Time on 7.2V BP-945 Battery
 

How long can one expect in record time using the 7.2V BP-945 Li-Ion battery?

I just shot a soccer match yesterday using this battery. The camera was turned on for around 2 hours. Actual recording was for a full 60-minute tape. After I finished, the battery indicator was on 50%. So I assume you can safely shoot more than 2 hours with it.

Thanks....
I have been shooting wedding via A/C power source...but am concerned about pwoer glitches and lost of mobility being tied to a cord.

I use two 945s on the CH910 when recording auto races. The camera is always on for at least four hours, sometimes five and I normally record at least three hours with lots of zooming. Then next day I use the same batteries to rewind and capture all tapes. (single pass scan and capture with no stop/rewind/start during the capture) All this is done without recharging. These batteries are two years old now and they can still record the entire event but might give up sometime during capture of the last tape.

When using the CH910 you don't get a "fuel guage" in the viewfinder, only the flashing red battery message when power gets low. With another battery ready, you can take one off the CH910 and replace it on-the-fly and the record or capture process is not interrupted. (might be hard to change one while recording unless you have an assistant though)

Battery falls off
 

Anyone else had the same problem with the battery on the XL1 falling off because the stop under the battery does not not seem the extend out enough to give the battery support.. Any quick fixes out there or is this one for the pros at the shop?

Thanks

Consider a professional battery solution which mounts on the rear of the camera via the MA100 or MA200 accessory bracket, such as Anton Bauer, IDX or Aspen.

Some brands of batteries fit better (higher quality moldings) than others. If you're using a third party battery, you might try the Canon brand. Also, the locking components on both the battery and the camera locking mechanism are plastic. To the best of my knowledge all cameras in this prosumer category use plastic components, so this is nothing out of the ordinary. The plastic wears and over time and use requires replacement.

Has the spring on the battery retainer/release button lost its spring, or is the projection that locks the battery in the 'up' position worn down?

As an interim measure try wedge a piece of something about 1/4" thick under the inserted battery to prevent its slipping down and out. Maybe tape it to the battery to hold the wedge in place.

Thanks,
Yes, the spring has lost its spring. I guess after time we all seem to do that. I will try wedging something under it untill I get a pro battery. That is the next item on my list.
Thanks muchly

Small pieces of velcro can help too. You don't want to be dropping your battery as it can be severely damaged.

got a 7.2V 6000mAh battery pack, will it really go 8 hrs?
 

bp-945 is only 4500mAh by comparison and runs for how long? i dunno i haven't used it. i just recently got an XL1s and was duped (?) by salesguy to buy 2 battery packs. it was advertised as 8 hrs. will it really do that long during normal usage?

I doubt it'll do 8 hours, but anything over 2 hours is good---probably do 5.5 hours or so. For example, all my 2-hour batteries actually only do about 1.2 hours---with using the LCD, a tad less.

IMHO a battery that outlasts a tape is a great to have. Easy to change batter when tape is changed.

Battery runtime will depend on your shooting technique and modes, whether AF and OIS is on or off, how much zooming you do, etc. As a rough approximation I would say divide the MAH rating by 2000 for a reasonable safe guess of the reliable "camcorder on (in any mode) time" you can get from a battery, and you may get more from a fresh, young battery. And as batteries age, the on time figure drops.

I generally do about 4 hours of recording (not counting time for setup and framing, I should have said 4 tapes) with a 5500 mAh third party no-name battery with my XL1

as of now i have 5 sony 80min tapes, 2 maxell 60min, 2, 6k mAh battery packs and the standard one. hopefully that'll keep me company for a full day's shoot =D. if i become paranoid i can always get 2 more battery packs and let them charge while i'm shooting. i suppose i never really wanna be left w/o power! =D. am i really paranoid or is this normal for all you guys =D.

don i thought lithium ions were supposed to take care of battery 'memory' problems?

Power-2000 BP-945 Lithium-Ion Battery
 

Anyone have experience with the Power-2000 BP-945 Lithium-Ion Battery Pack (7.2v, 6000mAh) - replacement for Canon BP-945 Camcorder Battery?

Has a good price...just wondering about reliability. I purchased a couple of other of these types of batteries, a generic brand offered at B&H about a year ago, and now one is dead and the other only holds about half its charge. I should've gone with a better brand, so I'm checking before I buy this time.
_

Well I've had mine for about 16 months and it's still going strong. Haven't noticed any premature expiration or anything.

Aaron

The Power 2000's are my main battery. I have about six of them, all going strong after 18-24 months. I highly recommend them.

Thanks, guys. I'll order a few then.

It is not an issue of the so called "memory effect" seen with NiCD and with NiMH to a somewhat lesser extent. It is just the battery gradually wearing out ver time after many charge/dischearge cycles.

i jjust got 2 of them. hopefully they'll still work in a few years =D

It also depends on what functions you are using on the camera.
Auto functions are power hungry. Especially the autofocus and
zooming with the servo's.

My limited experience has shown me that if you're going downhill with the wind at your back and the moons are all lined up just right, you get about half of what they profess you'll get : )
Randy

Dual Battery Question
 

Anybody know if the dual battery adapter drains both batteries simultaneously? or sequentially?

Thanks

I believe I read in the manual (maybe the sheet that came with the CH910) that it draws from both batteries simultaneously. My experience using the adapter for many hours of recording would indicate that is the case.

When using the adapter to charge two batteries, they are charged sequentially.

Right, I knew they charged sequentially, but I wasn't sure about the discharge.

Thanks

CANON Batteries VS. Anton Bauer Batteries
 

I very new gig to Xl1s, planning to get best power solution for my Xl-1s ; Opinions and comment on this 2 packages;-

MA-200, Canon CH-910 with 2 x Bp945 batteries (est. 6 hours for 2 batts)
Anton Bauer, 2x ProFormer Batteries, Titan Twin Charger and QR-XL1C Gold-Mount
(est. 6 hours for 2 batts)


Any Suggestions? Which package more worth for long term investment?
How about battery run time?

Canon batteries
 

Good luck getting anything like 6 hours out of 2 x 945's.
I have CH 910 & 2 x 945's & would be lucky to get even 3 hours from the 2 of them. Canon are a long way behind in battery technology. Friend has a PD100 & shoots literally for a day on one of his batteries. PC

the difference....
 

is more than the cost on the two systems...the anton bauers are much more expensive. However the ab system will give better shoulder balance due to added weight and the ma-200 is a nice shoulder support. In addition you can mount the ab system on the ma base and use the pull out bars for a wireless and as we all know light is very important especially on these cams, the ab system plate has the powertap and you can mount real lighting options using onboard power (they will drain batterys real quick however) frezzi, ab ultralights....

the difference is one will give you more options but at a much bigger pricetag. I do love my ab system and use both at times you might conisder the plate and batteries from bh (check their used for even bigger batts the proformers are small) and get a charger off ebay.

M

My experience with Canon batteries has been much better than Pete's. I record auto races which requires a good deal of zooming in and out. Using the CH910 and two 945s, the camera is generally powered on for about four hours with a total recording time of about 3 hours. These same two batteries are then used to capture the entire 3 hours and normally they still have some, but not much, power left.

These batteries are over two years old and recently I'm noticing they can still record three hours, but usually can't do the full capture, but they have been recharged many, many times.

Considering I had terrible luck with battery life on a previous Canon camera, I was very pleased with the XL1S.

Having said that, and notwithstanding the cost, there are some real advantages to alternate power sources as mentioned above and in other posts on this board.

From another post.
 

Anton Bauer.

We went with the Anton Bauer TrimPacs for a longer run time while being able to power an AB UltraLight 2 on the XL without having to use a separate battery.

Check out some pics at: http://home.mindspring.com/~ricks-pics/

The added weight on the back does help balance the camera a little better. As another SP kinda guy, it has taken quite a bit of getting use to when dealing with these cams.

__________________________________
Aproximate, continuous record time with the TrimPac and no light...4 hours.

With a 25watt bulb burning in the UL2...1 1/2 hours.

RB

Waterproof Housing
 

Rick
Interesting photos, I have a question re the last shot of the XL1S in the EWA Marine protective housing. How waterproof is it? I would love to be able to go out amongst the surfers and film, but the cost of a hard marine case prevents me, is this waterproof housing just splash proof or is it more? Also where does one enquire as to purchasing said housing?

Regards

Jed

It is a good idea to have charger somewhere where you can stash your spent packs and recharge them. I have my assistant run the spent pack down to the car to recharge them. Canon also makes a dual-pack charger to.

If the shoot is really that important, purchasing another spare pack certainly seem in order. There are other battery options that can give you longer runtime too.

[No longer live in San Antonio, back @ home now]

Any comment on Canon CH910 dual charger coz i just got 1 from canon...personnally i dont like the plastic holder attach to MA-200..seen weak...

does anyone know how about how long a GL2 would operate on one of the Power-2000 6000 mah batteries using the LCD screen? The ebay stores selling a different brand of 6000mah battery claim about 8 hours. Is that about right?

No, 8 hrs. is far too optimistic. It really depends on how much you're playing with the zoom, how much time you're actually running the tape transport. In general, I'd say 3-4 hrs. is more realistic. The Power 2000 batteries are excellent BP-945 replacements, but they're not quite that inexhaustible.

Hi Jed,
 

Sorry it took so long to reply...been kind nuts here.

We really use the EWA for Haz-Mat work so the camera is protected and can be decontaminated easily.

The EWA bag is completely waterproof to 30 feet. It should do very well as a surf or splash housing.

It is pretty clumsy to use as an underwater housing. We use Gates Deepwater housings for our underwater work.

It is also rather expensive at about $800.00 US for one.

Go to http://www.ewa-marine.de/english/index.htm , for their website. They may have a dealer listing there.

RB

Extra batteries
 

Hey guys I need to pick up a couple of batteries. I would normally order a couple of BP-945's off of BHphoto, but I need them this weekend.

Locally I found a store that has BP-422 which says it has 3.3 hours of capacity as opposed to the BP-945's 3.5 hours.

Is this a good buy? Or am I going to find out that it lasts for an hour?