XDR & Canon XL-H1 Advice Please

[David G. Burt]

I'm considering buying a Flash XDR for use with my Canon XL-H1. How can I connect power to the XDR unit outdoors with the XL-H1, do I have to use a seperate battery for the XDR or is there a way of diverting power from the XL-H1 to the XDR. Also waht's the best way to mount the XDR on the XL-H1

[Michael Palermo]

Hi David,
I don't think there is anyway to use the internal Canon battery to power the XDR. If you were using an anton bauer battery setup you could use a tap to power the XDR.

In my opinion the XDR is a little bulky to mount to a camera and hand hold, but people have done it. I would make a belt setup and wear the XDR for hand held shooting.

[Dan Keaton]

Dear David,

The Canon XL H1 does not have a power tap. So, the standard battery is usually not used to power extra gear, such as an on-camera light, or the Flash XDR/nanoFlash.

External batteries, such as Anton Bauer/IDX/etc can be setup to power the XL H1 and an external device such as an on-camera light or Flash XDR/nanoFlash.

You can use one external battery to power both, or continue to use the Canon battery to power the XL H1 and another battery to power the Flash XDR / nanoFlash.

[Paul Cronin]

Hi Dan,

I received a email from Mike last night saying my XDR Flash will ship in the next day. Just checking to see if I am purchasing the proper CF cards and battery for my EX1 since I know Mike is at a trade show.

Cards:
From mydigitaldiscount
Transend
32GB 133x for up to 100Mbps.
48GB?
Also what cards if I shoot 160Mbps?

FW800 reader Lexar

Battery:
Anton Bauer
Elipz for Sony
7.2 VDC 75 watt hour Lithium Ion.
What cable?
or
Anaton Bauer IDX?
I will not run the camera off the same battery and battery life is important. I go through both the long life Sony batteries most days I shoot.

[Dan Keaton]

Dear Paul,

You have your choice of the Transcend 133x (write speed) 32 GB card, for all speeds up to and including 100 Megabit per second.

The Transcend 300x (read and write speed) 16 GB card is required for any speeds over 100 Megabit per second.

This is a classic trade off:

The 133x card gives you twice the recording time, but to preserve all of your options, the 300x card is best. Since the Flash XDR switches to the next card seamlessly, the difference in card capacity is not a big deal for many users.

Personally, I wanted to be able to use all of the flexibility that the Flash XDR gives you, for the options that we support now, and in the future.

The 16 GB 300x card does cost more (and it is half the capacity), but I feel that there are significant advantages to having at least some of these cards.

If you are going to record I-Frame only, and you want the highest quality options, then the 16 GB 300x card is a must.

Remember, we do have the law of diminishing returns. The 50 Mbps options look great, and the 100 Mbps Long-GOP has proven almost visually indistingushable from uncompressed. (I could have left out the "almost", but I wanted to be very conservative.

My choice: Four of the Transcend 16 GB 300x cards.

A mix of cards, such as a number of 32 GB cards and a number of 16 GB cards also makes sense for some. If you are loading multiple cards into the Flash XDR, I recommend that you use the same speed cards (but under certain specific conditions this is not an absolute requirement).

We work (and test) our Transcend cards far harder than any average user and we have yet to have the first glitch or failure.

Please remember that the only cards that we support are the Transcend 32 GB 133x and the Transcend 16 GB 300x. This may change in the future if we find cards that pass out tests.

[Dan Keaton]

Dear Paul,

We will be building battery cables to support the popular battery options.

This includes the D-Tap batteries. We will be building these soon. This will be a male D-Tap to Neutrik Black/Gold 4-pin xlr cable.

I have been researching which cable to use for these cables. I found a flexible, strong cable, that is rated down to -50 degrees celisus. I ordered the cable today.

We are working with Anton Bauer so that we can build appropriate cables for the Elipz batteries. As soon as they can provide the connector, we will build the cable.

For the nanoFlash, the the power connector is a four-pin Hirose. We have the parts and cable in stock to build these cables.

Certain professional cameras have a 4-pin Hirose connector for a power tap. We are set up to build those cables also.

We are also building an "Audio Pigtail" for the two-channel audio output of the Flash XDR. There is a 5-pin Neutrik connector on the Flash XDR for audio out. The "Audio Pigtail" plugs into the Flash XDR, then splits to two standard 3-pin Neutrik Black/Gold XLR connectors.
We are using premium GAC cable for this assembly.

These are being built as we speak.

[Dan Keaton]

Dear Paul,

We are also building very high quality true 75-Ohm HD-SDI BNC to BNC cables using Canare cables and connectors.

These are color coded and have boots to protect the cable and connector. We build these in a variety of lengths and colors.

We are open to suggestions, but we are currently recommending the following color scheme.

HD-SDI Output from Camera to Flash XDR / nanoFlash: Yellow Boots on the cable.

HD-SDI Output from Flash XDR to monitor to other device: Red Boots.

For cameras like the Canon XL H1 (original), Timecode from camera to Flash XDR : Blue Boots.

We can use other colors, such as Black and Green.

Even the best quality BNC connectors, from the best manufacturers, have a limited life. The rated life of a top-notch BNC connector is around 1000 mating cycles.

Since an active production could easily connector and disconnect many times in one day, we have a solution to the connector life problem.

We are building short, color-coded, HD-SDI and timecode cables so that one end can be semi-permanently attached to the camera or device. Then another one will be semi-permanently attached to the Flash XDR / nanoFlash. Then when the devices need to be separated, the two short cables will be disconnected in the middle.

This solution allows one to mate and disconnect without placing any wear on an expensive camera or Flash XDR / nanoFlash. If the connectors that are mated and disconnected do show wear, one can easily replace just the inexpensive cables without having to send the device in for repair.

We will be building these in various lengths to support different cameras and mounting options.

[Paul Cronin]

Dan thank you for the detailed response. I know what to order now for cards and will do that tomorrow.

Sounds like I have to wait on your battery cables. I will not be using the XDR in a studio but 2% of the time so the battery is needed for me to get to work with the unit. Which battery will depend on which cable you can build the quickest so I can use the XDR on my next job. Currently I do not have a battery pack only use camera batteries so I am open to a nice option.

I like your thoughts on the HD-SDI cable connections. I am ready to buy a HD-SDI cable to hook up while camera and XDR is on my rails yellow boots 18"long. And a HD-SDI output Red boots to hook up to a monitor 48". Also a audio out cable 48".

We should talk on the phone tomorrow so we can get this in the works. You can get my number off my site I am in the office all day editing. Not sure where to call you?

[Dan Keaton]

Dear Paul,

I have sent you a private message with my telephone numbers.

[Paul Cronin]

Got it Dan sent you one back and will call after a client leaves.

[Nic van Oudtshoorn]

Originally Posted by Dan Keaton

Dear Paul,

We are also building very high quality true 75-Ohm HD-SDI BNC to BNC cables using Canare cables and connectors.

These are color coded and have boots to protect the cable and connector. We build these in a variety of lengths and colors.

We are open to suggestions, but we are currently recommending the following color scheme.

HD-SDI Output from Camera to Flash XDR / nanoFlash: Yellow Boots on the cable.

HD-SDI Output from Flash XDR to monitor to other device: Red Boots.

For cameras like the Canon XL H1 (original), Timecode from camera to Flash XDR : Blue Boots.

We can use other colors, such as Black and Green.

Even the best quality BNC connectors, from the best manufacturers, have a limited life. The rated life of a top-notch BNC connector is around 1000 mating cycles.

Since an active production could easily connector and disconnect many times in one day, we have a solution to the connector life problem.

We are building short, color-coded, HD-SDI and timecode cables so that one end can be semi-permanently attached to the camera or device. Then another one will be semi-permanently attached to the Flash XDR / nanoFlash. Then when the devices need to be separated, the two short cables will be disconnected in the middle.

This solution allows one to mate and disconnect without placing any wear on an expensive camera or Flash XDR / nanoFlash. If the connectors that are mated and disconnected do show wear, one can easily replace just the inexpensive cables without having to send the device in for repair.

We will be building these in various lengths to support different cameras and mounting options.

Any idea when these cables will be available (I use an original XL-H1 so will need SDI and also TC) and what the cost will be? I would like to order them asap.

[Paul Cronin]

Nic I would check with Dan he is building and delivering cables now. He built my Audio, HD-SDI, and XLR-D-Tap cables and delivered last week. The cables are very nice and to my specifications at a very competitive price.

[Dan Keaton]

Dear Nic,

We custom build these cables to order, or we may have the cables that you need in stock.

We can build the cables in the length you desire, with the boot color you desire, red, blue, green, and black.

We can sometimes ship the same business day, sometimes the next day. Some cables are very time consuming to build, so they may take longer.

For the HD-SDI cables as well has the Timecode cables, the pricing is as follows:

(All of these use True 75 Ohm Canare HD-SDI cable and True 75 Ohm connectors.)

Any cable up to 1 foot is $12.00.
2' $13.00
3' $14.00
4' $15.00
5' $16.00
6' $17.00
7' $18.00
8' $19.00
9' $20.00
10' $21.00
25' $36.00

The per foot cost for longer cables, is less.

We will be happy to quote prices on longer cables.

We prefer to build cables at least 9 inches long. Shorter cables are difficult to build and the cable boots take up some length. On very short cables, with cable boots, the flexibility is limited. We can build cables without boots, if desired.

For some it is appropriate to use two cables instead of one, with a barrel connector in between. This minimizes wear on your camera's and Flash XDR's connectors. The barrel connector (also Canare true 75 ohm) is $3.00).

However, as Jeff Silverman has pointed out, this may not be for everyone. For example, if you have a tight camera case and there is no room for the cable to remain attached, then this is not a great idea.

Personally, I recommend it as it is usually expensive and time-consuming to send a device in for service because a connector became unreliable (loose connection) over many connect/disconnect cycles. The best connectors are rate for around 1000 cycles.

We started making these cables as a solution for one of the major networks. They were tired of the major expense of replacing BNC connectors on their cameras and other devices.

The Audio Pigtail cable, one 5-Pin Male Neutrik Black/Gold XLR to two 3-Pin Female Neutrik Black/Gold XLR connectors with 20" Gotham Audio Cable is $29.00. We have these in stock at 20" and 26". The 26" cable is $30.00.

Other lengths are custom built to your order.

We also build power cables.

The Anton Bauer Male D-Tap to Female 4-Pin XLR (Neutrik Black/Gold, using a special low-temperature flexible, extreme duty, 18" long cable is $35.00. Other lengths are available.

This special cable is rated for -68 degree F or -50 degrees Celsius.

We also build cables for professional cameras that have a Hirose 4-Pin Female power outlet.

Our stocked cable is a Hirose 4-Pin Male connector to a 4-Pin Neutrik Black/Gold in 18" length, $45.00. Other lengths are available.

Please note that the Hirose cable assembly does not use the extreme low-temperature rated cable, due to the small size of the connector. However, we could make these with the special cable if desired.

The Shipping Cost is the actual cost of shipping.

Nic, we will be happy to supply the cables you need.