Anton Bauer Battery - The official "ALL DAY" power block
 

Not that you ever need to get an Anton Bauer battery, because you can simply buy 3-hour 6000mAh BP-945 batteries for $14 bucks at www.power101.com.

However, if you got the money....and do not feel like switching batteries every 3 to 4 hours. The Anton Bauer battery solution is for you.

The Canon XL-H1 uses 7.8 watts (or less) to operate and comes with the rear mount accessory chassis with each camera that is sold.
Anton Bauer sells a gold mount converter unit that is designed for the Canon XL cameras: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/cont...ughType=search (fits perfectly)
If you couple that with a Varizoom gold mount 88wH battery: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/cont...ughType=search
Then you can effectively run your HD camera for about 11.5 straight recording hours in HDV mode!

Now, who on earth will do that? Not many. I mean 95% of the XL-H1 users will stop the camera, put it on standby now and then, eat lunch and let the camera rest, etc... Not many people will have it recording HD footage for 11.5 hours straight. Knowing that, then it's safe to assume that this battery option can run your XL-H1 camera for 2 full days of normal shooting without ever needing to recharge.

How cool is that?

- ShannonRawls.com

Good find, thanks Shannon

For those of you who like the "V-MOUNT" style batteries, you can go that route as well:

Just pick up the V-Mount adapter by IDX: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/cont...ughType=search
and grab a V-Mount Lithium Ion Battery: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/cont...ughType=search

Going this route will give you 9 hours & 15 minutes of continuous HDV recording but will save you $105 bucks.

- ShannonRawls.com

Thanks for the info, Shannon! Is it still possible to mount a wireless audio receiver with the AB setup?

Absolutely.

Just add a mount on the Back of the battery. or add a mount on the back of the receiver. Remember, these mounts are stackable. here's an example of what I mean with photos:

http://www.shining.com/products/totalsolution/pckt1256/

That's a DTE recorder and not a receiver, but it's the same principal. Anton Bauer even makes a AC charger that can fit on the camera as well. Just plug an extension cord directly to the camera. Just do the same with your wireless receiver setup.*smile*

I currently use Audio Technica U100's, but I have just purchased a couple of those Azden 200UPR's to see how well they fair up. They have two UHF receivers in one box, and that's useful for what I need.

- ShannonRawls.com

I've used the Anton Bauer batteries on my XL1 for a couple years now. With Hytron 50 batteries it makes a real difference in the balance of it for hand held shooting.

Shannon, hello and a big thank-you for giving us a good info on the H1 and related stuff. FYI I am also a producer buying my own gear to make doc shooting easier and more immediate.
My question is, are those el-cheapo batteries for real? Seems too good to be true!

Amazing isn't it. But yes, they cost $14 bucks and they each will run the camera about 3 hours. *pinky promise*

- ShannonRawls.com

Hope it's all legit. I just ordered 3. Strange, it said "4 left" so tried ordering 4. It said "we only have 3" when I placed the order. Okay...redid it with 3 and checked out. Went right back to the site and it says "3 left" and went through and it was going to let me get 3 more. Hmm...hope it's legit.

Thanks, if so!

KW

They were out of stock of the BP-945's 2 days ago. So you're lucky.

I ordered 3 from power101.com and have them here with me. All work excellently on my XL-H1 sand charged fine in the charger.

I also have 4 of their big batteries for my Sony Z1U and they all worked excellently for me in 2005. I never beeded more then 2 batteries for a full days shoot.

- ShannonRawls.com

I bought 12 of the BP-945 type Power101 batteries a year ago.

Yes, they are legit. I do obtain reasonable run times from the batteries, but I have not actually measured it. I usually replace the battery when it reports about 50% just to be safe.

Power101 does charge a lot for shipping, so the real cost of the batteries is about $20 or more depending on how may you purchase. Obviously, you can purchase many for the price of one Canon battery.

Power101 states that these are 5500mah, but I have other after-market batteries that state a lower rating but actually perform a little better.

In any case, they are a good find and a good battery.

If you need really long run times, use the Canon car adapter and a 12 or 24v car or golf car battery setup. While this is not very portable, it should run the camera for weeks.

One reason to go the Anton Bauer or IDX route is that most accessories run on 12v (onboard monitors, wireless receivers--OK, those can run on 9 volt batteries but accept 12v happily). A smart goal is to have a single battery running everything that a series of different chemistry batteries all over your rig that need to be attended to. As expensive as the A/B's are, there's a tremendous advantage to changing out a single battery as needed.

Another reason to go A-B if you're in the middle of n-where. I mean like Nepal for 3 weeks and only the batteries on your person. I'd rather carry 4 AB's (actually I own PAGs) than 21 little batteries.

If you put a light on the accessory shoe you need the raw power.