jlames
Well-known member
OK, I promissed you all a report on the new IDX batteries and here it is. We were at Edwards AFB in North Los Angeles Country (think space shuttle landing) shooting on location with a generator and IDXs attached. Ambient temerature was 76 and the generator put out a typical 110 converted current equavalent to a standard 20amp household duplex wall outlet. Finally, they were new, out of the box batteries which charged per the manufacturer's recommendation overnight.
As most know, the JVC pulls considerably more power with the LCD out than when it is closed and we had a chance to test both with four of the six cameras sporting 7" OH monitors plugged into another battery source and 2 cameras using the small LCD flipper. . . and the difference was noticable. Without the LCD, the E7s lasted 4 hours and 20 minutes with probably another 1-3 minutes or so in reserve. The E10 lasted 5 hours 50 minutes with again about 1-3 minutes to spare. We have no way of knowing the exact time because we didn't exhaust the batteries during shooting b ut the remainder is a good estimate. With the monitors out, however, the E7's time dropped to 3 hours 47 minutes and the E10 went down to 4 hours and 20 minutes so the monitor seems to be pulling an additionl 6 watts of power although JVC doesn't separate out these specs.
Recharging with the charger was overnight so we have no way of knowing what the actual times were but polugging them in at 1:30am and pulling them off at 6:30 means that somewhere between 5 minutes and 5 hours was recharge time with a standard charger. A quick time charger is available at an exctra cost butr we only had the standard for testing.
One caveat however that might be a real downside for shooters using the light that attaches to the hot-shoe. The battery plate connects to the JVC's rear just like conventional batteries and is secured to the top of the camera with two small screws. An optional side plate is available that then attaches to the right side of the battery plate with two thumb screws, one top and one bottom, so that a wireless receiver can be attached to the camera and secured to this plate. The problem is that the outlet into which the light's power cord attacthes is on the side of the battery mounting plate and with the side plate and two screws attached, the battery plate's receptacle is covered up That mewans that if you want to use the optional hot shoe light and it's plugged into the battery mounting plate, you can't use the side wireless receiver plate. One of those, "What were you tinking" deals. We contacted IDX and they assured us that the system worked but, well, five of us with a collective IQ of 165 (which means each of us averages 33!!!) couldn't figure out how.
So, when all is said and done, the IDX batteries are a huge improvement over the stock units and, for field use, work great...especially when you consider the fact that they are free with the IDX/JVC deal in place until February 28th. We use Anton Bauer as well on other equipment simply because they out-perform the original power equipment on most cameras likje IDX did on these. We can't judge the Antons against the IDX fairly but they seem apples-to-apples to us so the bottom line is that if IDX keeps doing deals with companies like JVC, I for one will continue to buy additional batteries for our IDX-equipped units from IDX which means our Anon-Bauer equipped cameras will remain Anton Bauer and our new equipment will make the move to IDX. Pretty smart move on IDX's part I'd say considering that since we already have IDX on our JVCs now, when we need peripheral powered units for those cameras, we'll have to order from IDX which we don't mind becuase of the performance.
Hope this helps some of you. I know I appreciate hearing from real-world tests so I don't make the 92 MPG City 164 MPG highway mistake in the camera department.
As most know, the JVC pulls considerably more power with the LCD out than when it is closed and we had a chance to test both with four of the six cameras sporting 7" OH monitors plugged into another battery source and 2 cameras using the small LCD flipper. . . and the difference was noticable. Without the LCD, the E7s lasted 4 hours and 20 minutes with probably another 1-3 minutes or so in reserve. The E10 lasted 5 hours 50 minutes with again about 1-3 minutes to spare. We have no way of knowing the exact time because we didn't exhaust the batteries during shooting b ut the remainder is a good estimate. With the monitors out, however, the E7's time dropped to 3 hours 47 minutes and the E10 went down to 4 hours and 20 minutes so the monitor seems to be pulling an additionl 6 watts of power although JVC doesn't separate out these specs.
Recharging with the charger was overnight so we have no way of knowing what the actual times were but polugging them in at 1:30am and pulling them off at 6:30 means that somewhere between 5 minutes and 5 hours was recharge time with a standard charger. A quick time charger is available at an exctra cost butr we only had the standard for testing.
One caveat however that might be a real downside for shooters using the light that attaches to the hot-shoe. The battery plate connects to the JVC's rear just like conventional batteries and is secured to the top of the camera with two small screws. An optional side plate is available that then attaches to the right side of the battery plate with two thumb screws, one top and one bottom, so that a wireless receiver can be attached to the camera and secured to this plate. The problem is that the outlet into which the light's power cord attacthes is on the side of the battery mounting plate and with the side plate and two screws attached, the battery plate's receptacle is covered up That mewans that if you want to use the optional hot shoe light and it's plugged into the battery mounting plate, you can't use the side wireless receiver plate. One of those, "What were you tinking" deals. We contacted IDX and they assured us that the system worked but, well, five of us with a collective IQ of 165 (which means each of us averages 33!!!) couldn't figure out how.
So, when all is said and done, the IDX batteries are a huge improvement over the stock units and, for field use, work great...especially when you consider the fact that they are free with the IDX/JVC deal in place until February 28th. We use Anton Bauer as well on other equipment simply because they out-perform the original power equipment on most cameras likje IDX did on these. We can't judge the Antons against the IDX fairly but they seem apples-to-apples to us so the bottom line is that if IDX keeps doing deals with companies like JVC, I for one will continue to buy additional batteries for our IDX-equipped units from IDX which means our Anon-Bauer equipped cameras will remain Anton Bauer and our new equipment will make the move to IDX. Pretty smart move on IDX's part I'd say considering that since we already have IDX on our JVCs now, when we need peripheral powered units for those cameras, we'll have to order from IDX which we don't mind becuase of the performance.
Hope this helps some of you. I know I appreciate hearing from real-world tests so I don't make the 92 MPG City 164 MPG highway mistake in the camera department.
