Anton Bauer Dionic 90 & XDCam 350

[Brian Ladue]

Are these batteries compatible with the XDCam 350?

[Greg Boston]

I use one on my 350. That being said, there has been some talk in an earlier thread that Anton Bauer recommends the Hytron series batteries for this camera, especially if running an onboard light.

It seems a bit strange to me that Sony would endorse their BPGL-95 which is a 95 watt hour lithium-ion battery, but AB doesn't recommend their 90 watt hour lithium-ion battery.

To date, I haven't had any problems powering the camera from the Dionic 90 but the standard disclaimer applies...your mileage may vary.

Of course, it goes without saying that you have to buy the v-mount to ab adapter.

-gb-

[Brian Ladue]

Anyone use the IDX E-10 Endura Lithium-Ion Stackable V-Mount Battery 14.4V 98Wh?

[Don Bloom]

The main reason AB promotes the Hytron series for that camera is simple. POWER! The camera pulls 32 watts which in iteself with a Dionic 90 gives about 3 hours of run time BUT add a light and BAM! You get clobbered. I talked to someone at AB a long time ago and I was told (I think it's also on the AB website) that whatever size bulb you're using in the light if you take 30% of the wattage that's the power draw. It seems to be true as when I run my AB Ultralight on the DSR250 with a 35W bulb the draw seems to be about 10W plus the camera so about 22W-with theJVC5000 the cam draws 20W and the light 10 so it's a 30 watt draw and obviously the battery doesn't last as long. When I used the Hytron120s I could add another hour or more to the battery time BUT at 5.5 pounds for me it was quite a load. So I switched to the Dionics and haven't looked back. The new Hytron 140s which AB has now made available to everyone (used to be only for broadcast stations) still "only" weigh in at 5.5 lbs so you gain 20W over the old 120s for the same weight. They have also come back out with the 100s and dumped the 120s, BUT the 100s still weigh the same so for not much more money you get 40 more watts. Anyway the price of the Dionics has come down so unless your running a 100W light why not get 6 dionics and go with that. Oh yeah, they only weigh 1.7 pounds and when you're an little od guy like me, that's a big difference.
Oh yeah 1 more thing. After a whle there's a better of blowing out a Dionic than a Hytron-LiOn compared to NiMH
Anyway choosing a battery system is almost as painful as choosing a camera :-)
Good Luck,
Don

[Greg Boston]

Good points, Don. I do find with the F350 that having the UL dimmer, light, and softbox puts the camera in a front heavy condition with just the Dionic 90 so I usually put the Titan 70 in line which pushes the battery weight further back. Also gives me the ability to seamlessly go AC to battery and back to AC.

-gb-

[Matthew Ernest Adams]

If you're really hooked on Lion batteries (and I am when it comes to AA and 9V), go with the Dionic 160. The 90 will work fine, but you'll find yourself replacing it twice as often because of the overdraw placed on the cells.

[Greg Boston]

Originally Posted by Matthew Ernest Adams

The 90 will work fine, but you'll find yourself replacing it twice as often because of the overdraw placed on the cells.

I'm getting pretty good run time with the 90. Also, the firmware update for the camera has reduced power consumption somewhat. I would consider a 160 but that's a lot of $$ that I can put to use elsewhere at the moment.

-gb-

[Don Bloom]

hey Greg,
good idea with the T70. I used to have a T60 as a backup charger (I use the 2704 intellicharger-it's smarter than I am so it wouldn't work on the camera
;-o) and I never thought about doing that. That is definately a drawback to using the Dionic 90s. they are light but do throw off the weight distribution of the cams. I taken to throwing and extra wireless receiver on the back of the 1 wireless receiver thats always there just for the weight. Too bad I got rid of the T60 :-(
Oh well,
Don

[Alister Chapman]

I have used the IDX-E10 batteries and they seemed to be fine, if a little light when used singly. I stacked a couple together to get the balance better. The F350/F330 in my view needs a reasonable amount of weight on the rear to balance well.

[Simon Wyndham]

Although overall power was one reason AB is hesitant about the Dionic 90 with the XD, the main reason is the startup power spike when the camera starts recording. This goes much, much, much higher I believe than the overall camera power draw rating, and it is this that can cause problems if you are powering something else off the camera.

AB told me that it is best to have a mix of batteries. The Dionic 90's are good for quick shoots where the camera alone is drawing the power. But they said it might be better to have a mix of Dionics and Hytrons. Perhaps two of each.

[Greg Penetrante]

I use the 90 watt batteries from ************. So far I'm getting about 2.5 hours of runtime with a Lectro wireless hanging off the back and Vidled on top (used intermittently).

[Greg Boston]

Greg, I edited your post and being that you are new to DVINFO, you're probably not aware that we give our site sponsors exclusivity in 'where to buy' type postings.

This is because they are hand-picked by Chris Hurd and they have demonstrated great customer service and fair prices before being accepted as a site sponsor.

Thanks for your understanding. Of course you are free to make any recommendation you wish via private mail to another member.

regards,

Greg Boston

[Simon Wyndham]

Does that apply to overseas companies? For example, if someone in the UK wants to buy a camera it would be no use being directed to a US company.

[Greg Boston]

Originally Posted by Simon Wyndham

Does that apply to overseas companies? For example, if someone in the UK wants to buy a camera it would be no use being directed to a US company.

That subject has come up a few times amongst the moderators and Chris. Last I knew, he was working on getting some sponsorship from your side of the pond, Simon. So with that said, we have been more lax about letting European vendor recommendations slide through.

If you have any recommendations, by all means drop Chris an email. There's quite a few Europeans here on DVINFO and from the UK in particular so it would be good to have reputable dealers from your end.

-gb-

[Chris Hurd]

I can always use some good recommendations for potential non-USA sponsors. I'm planning to eventually customize the ad feed to show US ads to US visitors, UK ads to UK visitors, etc.