Anyone use Batteries that didn't tell percentage left?

[James Mulholland]

Hi everyone,

I have a short film lined up in January (and wouldn't you know its all out doors), So i bought a battery belt clip (cheapest option i could find). What I wanted to ask if it seems the Red Bricks and Switronix batteries are the only ones that communicate with the camera for battery percentages

I'll be getting batteries in the next week but I don't think these batteries communicate with the camera so was wondering has anyone used batteries that didn't and how did you get around not knowing what was left? just change battery every hour? (if I wanted to do this is would need at least 3 batteries I imagine).

I only have 600euro budget for batteries left which would get me 3 130w batteries and a charger.

Thanks

James

 

[Philip Reinhold]

I only have 600euro budget for batteries left which would get me 3 130w batteries and a charger.

Thanks

James

Try to get more then only 3 batteries 126wh+ for your short. If you have a shooting day without a power-socket you´ll need 6 to 8 of them... 600eu is not enough to buy useable batteries, maybe rent them.
The bebob hot-swap adapter is only 150 bucks more then your battery-belt clip... but makes your life 10 times easier and a much better invest. They starts to blinking red when your battery is empty and you don´t have to reboot your camera for a battery change. So you won´t need a special red-data battery.

 

[James Mulholland]

oh I might need more? I'll give more specifics and then if thats the case I'll look into trying to get more. Basically it is a 3 night shoot (shooting every-night for only 6 hours max) so I was hoping that 3 130w batteries with a 2 channel charger would get me by? have all three fully charged before shoot then when first one runs out put it on the charger etc etc? Also the camera will be bare bones, basically the camera, Zeiss superspeed, SSD mag and a monitor (monitor will have its own battery running it), Follow focus, Shoulder rig. I was hoping to take the money from this job and then could get another 2x batteries (possibly Red Bricks).

I'll look into the Bebob now thanks for that, I can also enquire about renting them but not 100 percent sure if somewhere in Ireland will just rent the batteries. Thanks for your help.

 

[ericyoung]

Basically you need a battery solution where the charger(s) you have can charge batteries faster than your camera uses them if used continuously. That can mean more batteries than you think, and/or more than one charger.

A lot of chargers are sequential chargers where only one attached battery charges at a time. But there are also simultaneous chargers that end up being slower because the charge rate is lower. Multiple sequential or simultaneous chargers are beneficial to have some redundancy in case a charger dies, and to allow overnight charging without having to wake up to swap batteries over.

It is often also faster to swap batteries out before they are fully discharged - say when they go down to 30 or 40%, as fully discharged batteries start off on a slow charge to begin with.

Note the Red charger is a sequential charger and is not quite fast enough to keep up with a Red One camera in continuous use. For a continuous 8hr day, I'd say a minimum of 5 Red Bricks (preferably 6) and 2 Red Chargers would be needed. So it may be better to hire them. Fewer batteries would be on the edge, and you never want to be in the position of not being able to shoot because you've run out of batteries.

If your batteries don't show percentage, then just make a note of how long one battery lasts before the camera shuts off during prep, then make sure you change batteries well before the time is up. But +1 on the Bebob - not cheap, but very useful.

 

[Philip Reinhold]

Maybe it will work, maybe not. But maybe is also a fuck up sometimes. ;-)
Like, maybe your night-shoot will go longer then only 6h...
If you´ve a power socket for your charger you can give it a try. If it is a paid job for a client i won´t give it a try. I would just try to rent a couble of more of them. In my experience i´ve run more then 8 batteries on a winter- day on a Epic and alexa. You can work power-saving with keep the camera off if you don´t use it... but remember that the r1 always needs a couple of minutes to start and its still better for the camera electronics to keep warm (on) on cold winter nights. Warm- Cold - Warm in short- periods isn´t that good for your new camera.

 

[Christopher Mills]

my thoughts: rent a Battery block from a camera house with the right cable.. better yet, rent 2.
Also use your battery clip, tucked into a small purse or pouch, under your coat.. keep the spares inside someone's coat, so that they are not out in the cold..
Any batteries left out in cold will lose charge, and strand you.
but absolutely.. spend some rental money to make sure you can shoot all night.
I like the Anton Bauer cine blocks...
http://www.shootblue.tv/products/cine-vclx-ca-block-battery-kit
They are what we use on a dolly or stationary shot.. an xlr-4 to red lemo cable should be available... make sure its the right one (4pin v 6pin) for your camera

 

[Victor Lazaro]

When the battery doesn't shows a %age, it shows a voltage. Check to see what is the minimum voltage your camera can operate under and make sure to always change the battery before it reaches it. Anton Bauer batteries have a LCD screen on them that tells you the charge of each individual battery.

3 batteries is definitely not enough and you will be stranded, waiting for a battery to be half full to shoot again. Director is angry, actor is tired and crew gets cranky: your rep goes down, and all this because of empty batteries.
rent extra batteries, or ask the production to punch in and purchase more batteries for you (like paying you up front)

 

[ericyoung]

When the battery doesn't shows a %age, it shows a voltage ...

Epic and Scarlet show voltage, but Red Ones only say "DC" if battery does not send percentage data.

 

[James Mulholland]

ok cool guys I will definitely look into renting more batteries but heard word today that our shoots would only be from 6pm to 10pm for 3 nights as we could only get the location like that. Thanks god there is no sound recording in this as its all voice over. But I'lm planning to have at least 5 batteries and two chargers for it now if either by rental or buy more.

Thanks for all your help.

 

[Alex Mandarino]

man.. I wouldn't go out without 6 batteries and 2 chargers. Those things run fast really fast. If you don't have the bobob avaliable use your brain. Before an important shot check your battery power left. If it's low, well change it before any problems.

I'm always checking batteries since they don't display any data. I look the battery meter on the left and if it is going to red bar time to change. It is about 15%. Since the chargers take a long time, I use 2 of them while I still have 4 batteries charged. I've got only 3 batteries and a charger, none of them are Red. They work fine, but for big jobs I'm always renting double...

 

[Peter Strietmann]

I agree with Christopher, rent 2 anton bauer blocks (http://www.shootblue.tv/products/cin...ck-battery-kit). While productions always claim the hours will be short, it is rarely the case.

Also keep a couple of redvolts around so you can have one in the handle for hot swapping.