Battery Mounting Systems

The first step to getting a battery system on your camera rig is a mounting bracket that attaches to a rod system. We have found a couple different solutions that people like.

Bebob

Bebob COCO – This new battery plate and rod mount system was just shown at NAB. It is unique in that it has four hirose 4-pin power outputs and one PowerTap connector on it for powering cameras and accessories. There are four different models: two will work with the F3 (BE-COCO-15A, Gold Mount, and BE-COCO-15V, V-mount), while the other two will work with the AF100 (BE-COCOAF-A, Gold Mount, and BE-COCO-AF-V, V-mount).

View Factor

Contineo Battery Plate and 15mm Thin Bracket – View Factor offers this well-made yet inexpensive battery mounting plate for their DSLR cage, however it works very well for all applications. The battery plate has mounting points for various Anton Bauer QR plates and IDX V-Mount plates, and their thin bracket quickly attaches to the system for rod mounting either vertically or horizontally.

Zacuto

Zacuto Red Plate with Double Mount – Combining the Zacuto Red Plate with their Double Mount rod system makes for a battery mounting solution. The battery plate attaches to the Red Plate piece and the battery sits horizontally on top or on the bottom of the rig. This has been the most popular battery mount option for sometime now, and has the added benefit of having mounting points for Zacuto arms.

Zacuto Zwiss Plate – The new Zwiss plate is a cheese plate design combined with extra rod tie downs on top and bottom. A battery plate can be attached to either side of the plate for vertically mounting a battery on a rig. The Zwiss plate can be attached to the Ki Pro Mini for mounting it on rods as well.

Battery Plates

The next step is to choose the battery plate that works best for your camera. Different plates have options that will allow you to power your camera as well as accessories.

Anton Bauer

QR-VBG – This new plate has a dummy battery output (regulated to 7v) which will power the AF100, and it also features a PowerTap plug (12v) for powering accessories.

QRC-Dual-PT – The Dual PT features an XLR4 pin output (12v) and two PowerTap plugs for accessories. This is a perfect power option for the PMW-F3 or the Ki Pro Mini, which both take an XLR4 power input.

QR-PD-HDV – This plate features a dummy plate that will power any Sony camera that uses ‘L’ series batteries. We tested it on the upcoming Sony NXCAM FS100 and it worked great. The plate also features a PowerTap plug for accessories.

IDX

P-V257 Plate – IDX makes this plate which works with all V-mount type batteries. It features a power regulated output (7v) which can power the AF100 or NXCAM FS100 when combined with the right cable – the C-PANCAVC cable for the AF100 or the C-SONC for the FS100. The plate has one regular (12v) PowerTap for accessories.

P-V212 Plate – IDX also makes this dual PowerTap plate, one PowerTap is for regulated 12V output, and the other for unregulated battery throughput. While the regulated 12V output is not really needed, the two power outputs make it a great plate for powering the PMW-F3 and other accessories.

Switronix

Powerbase 70 VBG – Switronix makes this 70Wh battery solution for the AF100 which features a quick release plate and multiple PowerTaps. It can easily be attached to any of the plates and can be quickly removed when needed.

Plate Accessories & Cables

With these different plates you’ll need cables to power accessories. Here are a couple that will be great to have in your kit.

Anton Bauer PowerTap Multi – This takes power from one PowerTap and splits it into four, a must have for powering lots of gear.

PowerTap to XLR4 Cables – This will convert the PowerTap output into a regular XLR4 pin power plug. We have a couple different versions available including one from Switronix (SW-PT-XLR), one from Marshall (V-PAC-D-XLR) and one from Anton Bauer (PowerTap-28)

Alternative Camera Batteries

Another way to power you cameras are with these alternative camera battery solutions.

Swit S-8U62 Battery for XDCAM EX Cameras – This battery is designed to work on XDCAM EX cameras like the EX1 and EX3, it features a power output for the camera and a single PowerTap. It will also work on the PMW-F3 with a small adapter called S-7210U, which takes the power plug and converts it to XLR4.

Switronix EX-L96 – This 90 watt hour battery is also designed to work on XDCAM EX cameras, and Switronix has an adapter cable called the PT-XF3 which makes it work with the F3.

Swit VW-VBG6 Battery for AF100 – Swit now has a battery for the AF100 with a 7v DC output plug on it. This could be used to power a small monitor like the TV Logic 5.6″ or the NanoFlash.

With the growing popularity of HDSLRs, we’ve gotten a lot of questions about doing remote start/stop with these cameras. Today Switronix announced their new Flex DSLR remote, which allows for easy, one-button start/stop with cameras such as the Canon 5D and 7D. Thanks to Ross at Switronix I got to play with it last week; watch my video above to learn more about this new piece of gear. It will be available to purchase on February 8th.

There are lots of little LED lights on the market these days, and Switronix’s new TorchLEDs are a great combination of size, strength and value. They’re about the size of a fist, weigh mere ounces, are solidly built, and include a dimmer and diffusers. Check out the video to see the different models and even more features.

Abel has a couple of exclusive products that we developed with Switronix for the RED one camera. The GP-TS-RED is a dual battery adapter that mounts to the RED’s battery mount, and the GP-TS-RED2 is a a dual battery mount that completely replaces the battery mount. There are a couple of other fun items as well. The S-GP-S plate is a v-mount battery pass through, which allows space for the use of other accessories such as the IDX CAM WAVE video transmitter.

Check out the video to see how they all fit together.