We have been designing an XL H1 mount for the Flash XDR.

The mount utilizes the existing screw holes (3) on the back of the Canon XL H1.

It consists of four pieces.

1. An L-Shaped bracket, which attaches to the shoulder pad.

2. A sturdy plate, which allows the Flash XDR to be attached in multiple positions vertically, and an Anton Bauer Universal Compact Gold Mount for Anton Bauer Hytron 50 and Dionic 90 batteries. Other batteries may fit.

3. An arm, which stabilizes the mount to the camera.

In testing, I found the Canon XL H1 to be more balanced. Your mileage may vary.

The L-Shaped bracket may remain attached to your camera. The Flash XDR with the sturdy plate already attached, may be attached or removed from the XL H1 in less than one minute.

We are about to go into production on this mount.

This prototype was powder coated in a glossy finish. We are debating the glossy finish versus a matte finish. In either case, it will be powder coated as this is a very durable finish.

We welcome your comments and suggestions.

Very nice.

Will this mount also work with your upcoming Nano Flash?

Dear Michael,

Thanks.

We will have a series of mounts for the nanoFlash.

While this one will work with the nanoFlash, we will have one custom designed for the nanoFlash.

In order to keep the nanoFlash size as small as possible, we use a Hirose 4-Pin power connector instead of the 4-Pin XLR.

Well, my interest is to still use my Dionic 90 with the Nano and XL H1S.

Will the Nano-based mount for the XL cameras be similar, in a sense of battery placement?

Dear Michael,

We are open to suggestions, but I believe that this mount will work great with the nanoFlash and the Dionic 90.

However, we do plan on making a lighter "sturdy plate" for the nanoFlash.

In any case, there will be a "sturdy plate" custom designed for the nanoFlash, the rest of the mount may remain the same or we may need to redesign the upper arm.

Great, I will wait to see what you come up with before making any decisions.

Thanks!

Are you going to do this in an IDX battery mount as well?

Dear Tony,

Yes, we are committed to fully supporting the IDX batteries.

I am working with IDX at this time to work out the details.

What IDX battery would you like us to support?

its bought ;)

it looks like an old film camera..i´ll get nostalgic...

when does it come to europe?

can the XDR and the camera be powered by the same battery and how long is the Operating time with the battery in the pictures?

also cool would be, if the mount is changeable, so the XDR is making the camera longer and not higher.. controls on the XDR facing to the left..
so it can fit in a bag more easily and if, during a shoot, i want to access the device i just bring the camera forward , rest it in my right arm pointing to the floor so all the controls arent upside down..easy access.. in theory.. for Tripod use you put it back in normal Config....

probably this is not possible because of the nature of the gold mount.. but this would be cool somehow..

Dear Phillip,

In reference to powering the Canon XL H1 and the Flash XDR with an Anton Bauer battery:

The Canon Batteries do a great job of powering the XL H1 for a reasonable length of time.

The voltage that the camera needs is different than what is provided by the typical Anton Bauer battery, so a voltage converter is necessary.

The existing Anton Bauer Gold Mount for the XL H1, the QR-XLH, takes the same place as our Flash XDR mount.

While we could engineer such a device, we suggest using the Canon batteries to power the camera and the Anton Bauer battery to power the Flash XDR.

The Battery in the picture is a Hytron 50, 50 Watt-Hours, which is the same size as the Dionic 90, 90 Watt-Hours.

The Flash XDR draws 13 to 16 watts.

A 90 Watt-Hour Battery would provide approximately 5.63 hours of run time at 16 watts (90 divided by 16).

The Hytron 50's value would be 3.13 hours.

Remember these are approximate times. All provide more battery capacity than you actually need.

If there is a demand for larger Anton Bauer batteries, we could build another mount that adds more room, but we thought providing enough room for the popular Dionic 90 was a reasonable compromise.

also cool would be, if the mount is changeable, so the XDR is making the camera longer and not higher.. controls on the XDR facing to the left..
so it can fit in a bag more easily and if, during a shoot, i want to access the device i just bring the camera forward , rest it in my right arm pointing to the floor so all the controls arent upside down..easy access.. in theory.. for Tripod use you put it back in normal Config....

probably this is not possible because of the nature of the gold mount.. but this would be cool somehow..

Dear Philipp,

I am not certain what you mean by "making the camera longer and not higher? Do you want the Flash XDR to be in a horizontal position?

We have other mounts available. One that is in a U-Shape which attaches to a full-size camera's Anton Bauer Mount, provides a Anton Bauer Gold Mount to attach a battery, and mounts the Flash XDR behind the battery.

We considered making the Flash XDR, on our U-Shaped Mount face sideways. We decided on making the Flash XDR point to the rear to minimize the overall length and to ensure proper balance.

In a future firmware release, we will be signaling the status of the Flash XDR while recording via the remote control LED. We will blink the LED under certain conditions and blink it faster if the problem requires immediate attention.

The XL H1, with the mount and the Flash XDR mounted fits nicely into the Petrol Bag sold by 16x9inc, 16x9 Inc. :: Products (http://www.16x9inc.com).

I am trying to picture in my mind: "during a shoot, i want to access the device i just bring the camera forward , rest it in my right arm pointing to the floor so all the controls arent upside down..easy access.. in theory.. ".

Unless I do not understand, you can do this now with the XL H1 mount and the Flash XDR pointing to the rear.

I do not understand: "so the controls aren't upside down", sorry. The controls on the Flash XDR are right-side up when the camera is right-side up.

We are not opposed at all to have the Flash XDR facing the side, it just made it longer and heavier. We can make an L-Shaped bracket if there is sufficient demand.

Just so you know, I wanted the Flash XDR to face the side also, but while we were developing the mount I did not like the extra length and weight.

thank you very much for the answers..

yeah.. its hard to explain what i mean.. but i think you got it alright.. you know.. if the XDR is horizontal all the controls would be 90 degrees rotated..now.. if you point the camera to the floor it rotates 90 Degrees back in normal Position.. Resting the Camera like a Baby in my right arm i could access the controls with my left hand.. but then of course its possible that there isnt enough Room for me to read the Controls properly..

you have the Device.. You thought through every Deatil and whats possible and what is not..

this was just a thought...

looking forward to it...

cheers,
phil

How much does the Flash XDR, mount and Dionic 90 battery weigh?
Same question for the nanoFlash?

The XDR is easily TWICE as large as I had imagined.
I hope the nanoFlash is truly nano in scale.

Dan,

On another note, will the Flash XDR work with one of the stackable IDX batteries?

Like have the battery sandwiched between the XL mount and the XDR?

Dear Michael,

We are working on that.

We have been working with IDX to obtain the proper adapter.

The Flash XDR has screw holes in the IDX pattern on the back just for that purpose.

How much does the Flash XDR, mount and Dionic 90 battery weigh?
Same question for the nanoFlash?

The XDR is easily TWICE as large as I had imagined.
I hope the nanoFlash is truly nano in scale.

Complete details on the upcoming Nano can be found at HDV To HD-SDI Video Converters Professional Video Equipment HDMI To HD-SDI Television Studio Equipment (http://convergent-design.com/)

It is reported to fit in the palm of your hand and much, much smaller that the XDR.
But it only has half the recording time (2 CF slots vs 4; no analog XLR ... but does have HDMI in/out which the XDR does not)

Thanks, John, for the link but I'm fully aware of the URL for their web site. I've spent quite a bit of time there over the last several months and still do not know what these units and the adapters/batteries weigh or how big the units are until I see them compared to a camera or another object.

It's pretty important to me to know these things in order to make an informed buyer's decision.

Dear Tyge,

Here are the sizes:

Flash XDR:

8” (L) x 6” (W) x 2.5”(H), (203 x 152 x 63 mm), 2.7 lbs (1.3 kg)

nanoFlash

4.1” (L) x 3.7” (W) x 1.375” (H) (106x94x35mm), 1 lb. (0.4 Kg)

Here is the info on the Dionic 90 Battery:

Digital DIONIC 90 Lithium Ion Battery 14.4V 90WH
5-1/4" X 3-1/2" X 2-1/8", 1.7 lbs. ( 13.3 X 8.89 X 5.39 cm, 770g)

I obtained the above from Anton Bauer's website. I however, the Dionic 90 does not seem to weigh 1.7 pounds to me. I have not put it on an accurate scale.


I am sorry, but I do not have the exact weight of the mount at this time.

Thanks, Dan. I'm glad to see the specs on the nanoFlash are much smaller.

Dear Tyge,

Yes, the nanoFlash is smaller.

Just remember that the Flash XDR was designed with the original Canon XL H1 in mind.

The original XL H1 does not have timecode or audio embedded in the HD-SDI signal.

So the Flash XDR has very high quality, 24-bit / 48K audio circuits with Mic/Line and +48V phantom power support. All of this takes room.

In order to provide pristine quality audio circuits, we needed to add four extra power supplies.

In addition, the Flash XDR, automatically embeds the timecode and audio into the HD-SDI outputs. This is done by taking the timecode from the BNC timecode input and the audio from the XLR inputs and electronically adding it to the loop-thru outputs.

When the Flash XDR, using our new mount, is added to the XL H1, the balance of the camera is much better. It appears to me that the center of balance is directly over the shoulder pad.

There is a place for the nanoFlash, and a place for the Flash XDR. For those with an original XL H1, we highly recommend the Flash XDR over the nanoFlash.

I see that you have a XL H1a and a HV30, according to your profile. The nanoFlash is far superior for use with the HV30.

Hi,

Just one Question..

When will this mount be available in Europe?

Dear Phillip,

If you are speaking of the Flash XDR mount for the Canon XL H1, we could have one to your dealer within three weeks or less.

I rec'ed my shipment of this mounting system and put it together yesterday.

It is a sweet clean setup including the Anton Bauer mount plate, short 4-pin XLR power tap to the bottom of the XDR, and Dionic 90 battery.

With the 6X lense & Chrosiel Matte Box and 2 glass filters in, this new mount system brings the balance of the camera back to the shoulder pad aiding in handheld shots.

Machine work and finish(black matte powder coating) of the mounting is top-notch. A lot of thought and work went into this design.

I had a few questions and, as usual, Dan was very responsive.

If you have the original H1, besides balancing the overall rig, this system really cleans things up as all the cable runs (timecode, HD-SDI video, 1 or 2 audio XLR's, hirose remote trigger) are all shortened up and run to the back of the rig.

Very much recommend this solution.

Now thats pretty cool :)..

I am actually waiting for AVI-SYS (my local dealer) to give me a XDR Unit for testing...but they only have one and i am in a waiting line for this...

but its good to know the mount is available so promptly..

thanks for the quick reply...
and also the good review..

cheers and nice Sunday..

phil

Dear Phillip,

If you are speaking of the Flash XDR mount for the Canon XL H1, we could have one to your dealer within three weeks or less.


Hi Dan

Forgive me if I am wrong, but unless I have not read the posts properly, nowhere is there a price for the XL adapter nor a photo showing it mounted. Can you please advise details and also when I could obtain one? How is the HPX500 mount design going?

Hi Dan

Forgive me if I am wrong, but unless I have not read the posts properly, nowhere is there a price for the XL adapter nor a photo showing it mounted. Can you please advise details and also when I could obtain one? How is the HPX500 mount design going?

Please forgive me if I misunderstood your statement, but the very first post in this thread shows several photos of the mount on the XLH1. As for info on the HPX500, I have no info.

Dear Nic,

I hope to have some photos of the full size camera mount up today.

This is a plate that attaches to the Flash XDR. One one side are three Anton Bauer Gold Mount Studs which then allow the plate to be attached to any Anton Bauer Gold Mount.

The three studs can be attached in two positions.

The Flash XDR can also be attached in multiple positions.

Also, there is a provision for a Baby Pin, so this plate can be attached to grip gear, or used as a table top stand.