I heard from a little birdy, that this camera will not be a 7.2 volt camera thus unable to use the same Sony battery at the Z1U. Anyone else heard anything on this topic??

Scott Keyworth

Sorry, I meant the XDCam EX - I changed title thread

Scott Keyworth

haven't heard anything but from the pics I've seen it certainly looks like the battery is the same as the other small form factor Sony use. That would be a nice thing - I'm sure we ALL have a bunch of them not to mention the much more pleasing price point.
Time will tell.
Don

I have been told from my dealer who went to NAB (and Sydney) that it was a different series battery. Not compatable with our NP's.

Vaughan

If what you say Vaughn holds true that's going to hurt my pockets getting this cam ready for contracted events I have scheduled :(

Even if it is the L-series battery, it would have to be a new model; the V1 is rated 6.8W and the EX is 10W - with the 970, it'd mean to max working time of the EX wold not be long enough!

OK - looks like here is the answer:

http://www.creativevideo.co.uk/public/view_details.php?productID=4244

Sorry, guys!

Oh well. Still want one.

Wow, good find Piotr, I'm impressed!

Bad news, but good photo though!

Vaughan

See they've also got the cards listed as an option.

No price listed yet though!

Vaughan

I'll just bet that they have to have a new charger as well ;-(

Ah, you gotta love it!

Don

A very interesting concept - 14.4V for a handheld camera. It's a pity that Sony do not seem to have included a D-Tap to power an attached fill-in light (like PAG or Anton Bauer) directly off the camera battery just like the shoulder mounted cameras. I hate having battery belts or dangling batteries over my shoulder. I was already thinking of buying Hawk-Woods innovative DV battery system and power converter (http://www.hawkwoods.com/) to power up a 12V lamp from a 8.4V battery but now I have to re-think everything.

Does anybody know how to adapt this small factor form battery to power an additional light? Some of the V-mount or snap on type of batteries have a D-Tap connector for such use. Is there any connector that attaches to a BP-U60 and ends up with a female D-Tap?

Brian

The power tap idea is a great one. I really hate all the cords I need to connect the light to a belt pack as well. I would rather use the "tap"

I can't glide with the light on as it stands now. The Sony led light looks HUGE.

Mike

Mike I'm thinking of buying something like the Hawk-Woods VL-CA2X - http://www.hawkwoods.com/ - I can use the existing V-lock batteries that I have and I can power a 35watt lamp from the power-con (D-Tap) and also give power to the the camera if needs be from the Hirose output. The only problem is finding a way how to attach this unit to the underside of the camera - possibly using the tripod mount screw. By this way the extra added weight of the battery would be positioned underneath the camera.

Brian

I have seen something similar but not this brand. I need to keep the weight to a reasonable amount or my arm will fall off :)

Sorry to highjack the thread a little but what light do you use with this system? I really like the idea.

Mike

At the moment I'm using a PAG 12V light with a 20W lamp connected with a D-Tap to my shoulder mounted Sony DSR-300 (and very conveniently switches on and off with the trigger button). Since the EX might not be as low light as the DSR-300 I'm anticipating that I might be using a 35W lamp. I've done some more research and I think I shall be buying the Hark-Woods VL-CF2 and modify it to attach to the tripod screw at the bottom of the camera. I shall then use my existing 105W/hr batteries. By this way I shall have about 3 hours of portable light (if I use a 35W lamp) whilst I would be adding just 1Kg extra to the camera. Since this 1 Kg is evenly spread at the bottom it should not be much of a problem......I hope!

Brian

But how will you mount your camera to the tripod??

Good question. Since I do a lot of event videos and loads of weddings, I do not need a tripod. If I do need to do tripod work then most probably the on-camera light would not be necessary as I would be depending on the available light, hence I can remove the V-plate from underneath the camera. This set-up would be needed when filming weddings/events in dim light conditions and where one needs to be hand held to be as candid as possible.

Switches on and off when you hit start/stop?

Very nice. Will put that on my wish list for the holidays :)

Mike

Hm,
if I get the camera it'll get rails and a matte box, so, longer rails (or Zacuto's system) and a AB battery out the back will be very cool indeed. Their big bricks should run the camera and a Z90 Zylight for a very long time.

I hang a V-Mount adaptor for a HD100 off the back of my little JVC 301 (smaller than a PD170) without any problem. In fact the added length lets you rest the battery against your sholder as you hand hold for extended times which helps a lot.

IDX need to make this same adaptor for this camera but it should be cheaper as it would only be a physical adaptor, no voltage changes required (the above needs to convert 14.4 to 7.2v).

Although I bet Sony have some electronics in the new batteries the camera won't work without which any adaptor will need to trick the camera into thinking it it is a genuine Sony battery......

My long term solution would be to get a the lowest capacity cheapest battery for this camera (or an old one with dying cells) and hack it to a V-Mount plate.

If the run time on these new batteries is good it may not be a problem though. Lets see (roughly):

10W @ 14.4v = .7A (700mA) current draw
3800mAH / 700 = 5.4 hours

Even if we get a good 4 hours off a single battery we arn't doing too bad (unless the batteries are US$400 each....). I am sure the camera will come with a charger so you won't have to buy one of those.

According to the .pdf file the PMW-EX1 comes with the BP-U30 battery which will only run the camera 2 hours. The BP-U60 sold separably.

The .pdf is to big to attach. Here is a link.
http://www.sony.com.au/objects/PDF/PDWEX1_Brochure.pdf

Scott Keyworth