Batteries for XL2

[Michel Brewer]

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

[Oliver Power]

great, thanks for the feedback guys. very helpful.

Oliver Power

[Kevin Wild]

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

[Jeff Miller]

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.

[Bill Edmunds]

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

[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.

[Bill Edmunds]

<<<-- 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?

[David M. Geary]

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.

[Charles Papert]

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.

[Jan De Wever]

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!

[Oliver Power]

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

[Bill Edmunds]

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?

[Jan De Wever]

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.

[Bill Edmunds]

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

[TingSern Wong]

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