KiPro Mini and Anton Bouer for the F3 question

Douglas Villalba

Douglas Villalba

Well-known member
I have narrowed it down first to the F3 over the FS100. Now I narrowed down to the lens.

I want to power it with the Anton Bower mount of batteries. (My Panasonic monitor uses them).

I also want to get the KiPro mini and power it from the same AB kit.

My question is really on the little details that usually get left behind. You get your UPS package and you are missing a little cable that connects the whole everything together and you are schedule to shoot the next day.

1. What do you need to mount the KP mini to the rails?

2. How do you mount the AB battery to the KP mini?

3. How do you power the camera and KP mini? Can you also power the monitor from the AB Battery?

I don't mind off brands as long as they are reliable.

Thank you all for your input on this and all my previous threads. It has been incredibly helpful in making my decisions for my particular needs.
 
Doug,

consider Switronics 90's.

http://store.zacuto.com/Switronix-3-Stud-Battery-Kit.html

I have been using them for 6 months and its been great!

The switronics have a PTap built into the battery, so with the AB mounting plate you get 2 taps to pull power from. OR you can get an Anton Bauer PTap splitter.

http://divisioncamera.com/product.tpl?id=75280

I use one of these.

I power the F3, with a 12" Ptap to 4pin female XLR cable, The Ki Pro with the same Cable as the F3, and the Small HD DP4, and DP6 as an AC monitor and operators eyepiece. Small HD sells the appropriate cables. All four power taps get filled up, and the battery last about 2.5 hours, and charges faster than it gets discharged.
 
+1 on the Swits. I'm a convert--I have the L96's and the 90's, looking at the 130's next. Just love 'em.
 
Anton has just come out with a vertical cheese plate/battery mount. As for powering, you can just power camera from the 4 pin cable out of battery plate then use a D-tap to 4 pin female to power the aka mini. Mini will mount to opposite side of battery. Zacuto and Red Rock micro make a vertical cheese plate with 15mm rod support as well. All make a nice aja/ batt brick sandwich. Aja also makes a plate with rod support you just add battery plate and dtap to 4 pin.
 
TimurCivan said:
Doug,

consider Switronics 90's.

http://store.zacuto.com/Switronix-3-Stud-Battery-Kit.html

I have been using them for 6 months and its been great!

The switronics have a PTap built into the battery, so with the AB mounting plate you get 2 taps to pull power from. OR you can get an Anton Bauer PTap splitter.

http://divisioncamera.com/product.tpl?id=75280

I use one of these.

I power the F3, with a 12" Ptap to 4pin female XLR cable, The Ki Pro with the same Cable as the F3, and the Small HD DP4, and DP6 as an AC monitor and operators eyepiece. Small HD sells the appropriate cables. All four power taps get filled up, and the battery last about 2.5 hours, and charges faster than it gets discharged.
Click to expand...
Great tip Timur. I can get the dual charger and extra battery for the price of the AB kit.

JDDalllas said:
Anton has just come out with a vertical cheese plate/battery mount. As for powering, you can just power camera from the 4 pin cable out of battery plate then use a D-tap to 4 pin female to power the aka mini. Mini will mount to opposite side of battery. Zacuto and Red Rock micro make a vertical cheese plate with 15mm rod support as well. All make a nice aja/ batt brick sandwich. Aja also makes a plate with rod support you just add battery plate and dtap to 4 pin.
Click to expand...
I was thinking of the Zacuto plate. Will I need one to hold the AB adapter and another one to sandwich the KP mini? or would one work to hold both?
starcentral said:
For off-board, any thoughts between aja, nano flash, pix240, blackmagic...
Click to expand...
The Pix is not out, The Nano is too expensive and the BM is not good for a feature. I liked the Samurai, but it is not out either.
I got an awesome price KiPro mini from my local dealer anyway.
 
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Doug, I'm really liking that pix240 for the simple fact it has a nice screen built in. Granted only 5" but that can be useful.
 
+1 on the SWIT batteries. I use them with good success. When running F3, KiPro and monitor don't expect a long run time, but it's decent. (probably 30-40 minutes).
 
That's what I'm gathering. I read the review on BHphoto and the reviewer said "Zwiss Plate has hidden surprises" and he meant he could mount a recorder on one side and batteries on another.

BHphoto reviewer said:
I used this plate to mount an AJA Ki Pro Mini to rails, and to mount an Anton Bauer battery holder to the other side. What a pleasant surprise to find that the Zwiss plate was already drilled and tapped to match the screw holes on the Anton Bauer QRC-Dual PT! I found some slightly longer bolts, and voila the plate was attached!
Click to expand...
 
Hi Douglas,

Once you are into either an Anton Bauer or a V-lock battery system for a couple of years you will develop an inventory of cable, adapters and probably two or more battery plate scenarios. Once you are into what I call the Anton Bauer eco-system, you will embrace it.

There are a number of rails mountable battery brackets now. In fact the selection has more than doubled in the past year so your timing is good.

First off you have to make a decision whether or not to mount your battery first off to the KiPro Mini or not. I looked into the Ki Pro Mini at one time so I went through the process. I also own a few different battery mounting solutions some of which are pretty expensive so you can benefit from my experience.

Lay of the land first.

The battery plate mounting solutions range from the low $100 range to the plus $500 range with Zacuto at both ends of the spectrum now.

Redrock has a good one as well that is quite popular and Anton Bauer came out with one specifically for the F3 although it would be complementary to any 4 pin XLR powered camera that uses a rails device.

With almost all the mounting solutions you have to factor in the Anton Bauer gold plate itself which costs anywhere from $100 to $225 depending on which model you get. Most are between $100 and $125.

Mounting Plates

Zacuto's

Zwiss Plate at $149 advantage has a place for top mounting rails and one of the cheapest

Redrock similar to the Zwiss, not sure of the price... around $200

Anton Bauer about $300 which can go from 15mm rail spacing to studio spacing. Same form factor as the Redrock and hte Zwiss Plate

Zacuto Double Mount and Red Plate which is somewhere in the $300 to $400 range allows for a lot of accessory mounting and the battery is horizontally mounted which could be a benefit in terms of ballast but probably not.

Berkey System has an interesting approach where you buy the rails adapter and the plate separately. Not sure on price but in the relative price range of others.

I guess you have to decide whether you want flexibility or not with battery mounting... at least initially. You will have to buy a rails mount for the Ki Pro Mini anyway so the extra plate for the A/B gold mount is around $75 so it is the cheapest route. but you will always have to mount the KiPro Mini on the back of the camera. If you go the other route then your camera package will not be as compact. as you will have to horizontally stack the Ki Pro Mini and then the battery hanger with the batt.

One thing that should be clarified as some of the posts can be confusing. There are two companies with similar names that sell similar products and that is SWIT and Switronix. Two different companies. People should be clear on that.

The recommendation to go with 90 watt hour batteries with the F3 if you are using accessories of any sort is a sound one. Any smaller and you will get frustrated.

Timur recommended what is called a Anton Bauer MultiTap. That is the unit with four stacked female A/B connectors. Fantastic units. Get one now and you will want one or two more sooner or later. This is REALLY important... Put either industrial velcro or strong tape around the outside of these MultiTaps as the ends splay out so it is easy to put a D-Tap connector in the wrong with in either of the most outside connectors in the MultiTap head. Some people mark A/B connectors with white out or florescent tape so they don't stick them in the wrong way and fry gear. I use a headlamp and always slot some calm time to get my plugs done up and cable management sorted. I've seen more than a few people fry gear sticking a plug in backwards.

Switronix makes a very reasonably priced adapter going from a D-Tap to a 4 pin XLR that has an inline femaie D-Tap incorporated. Made with 18 gauge cable so you can put a lot of juice through it. Here is a link to one.

Due to copyright, there are 3 naming conventions for Anton Bauer Powertap connectors. You will often here them referred to as either D-Tap or P-Tap or Powertap connectors.

Good luck and don't forget to pick up enough industrial strip velcro and velcro ties to keep all the cables and gak manageable.

One more thing... The Gold Plates. You will want to get the compact ones and probably the ones with the fastening screws that mount from the TOP. Read that again and make sure you verify whether or not with your mounting solution that you choose if you have to attach the plate from the top or underneath. This will be a showstopper if you don't get this right.
 
starcentral said:
That's what I'm gathering. I read the review on BHphoto and the reviewer said "Zwiss Plate has hidden surprises" and he meant he could mount a recorder on one side and batteries on another.
Click to expand...

Yeah, the Zwiss plate is incredibly versitile. Hadn't thought about mounting the Ki Pro on one side and the A/B plate on the other. The one thing I would be worried about is the thinness of the rails mount point. You will have an awful lot of torque on a small surface area. A Dionic 90 battery and the Ki Pro is going to be in the 4 pound range (guessing) with inertial forces at play I would approach this one cautiously. Could be fine though.

BTW the Anton Bauer QRC-Dual PT mentioned in the review although handy with the 2 female D-Tap connectors on the side of Gold Mount Plate (usually only one), you are paying quite a premium for this convenience. That plate is around $250 which incorporates the XLR and 2 female D-Taps whereas a standard compact plate is $100. You can get a plate with an XLR connector for about $150. Saw them on B&H a few months ago.
 
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Andrew Stone said:
Hi Douglas,

Once you are into either an Anton Bauer or a V-lock battery system for a couple of years you will develop an inventory of cable, adapters and probably two or more battery plate scenarios. Once you are into what I call the Anton Bauer eco-system, you will embrace it.

There are a number of rails mountable battery brackets now. In fact the selection has more than doubled in the past year so your timing is good.

First off you have to make a decision whether or not to mount your battery first off to the KiPro Mini or not. I looked into the Ki Pro Mini at one time so I went through the process. I also own a few different battery mounting solutions some of which are pretty expensive so you can benefit from my experience.

Lay of the land first.

The battery plate mounting solutions range from the low $100 range to the plus $500 range with Zacuto at both ends of the spectrum now.

Redrock has a good one as well that is quite popular and Anton Bauer came out with one specifically for the F3 although it would be complementary to any 4 pin XLR powered camera that uses a rails device.

With almost all the mounting solutions you have to factor in the Anton Bauer gold plate itself which costs anywhere from $100 to $225 depending on which model you get. Most are between $100 and $125.

Mounting Plates

Zacuto's

Zwiss Plate at $149 advantage has a place for top mounting rails and one of the cheapest

Redrock similar to the Zwiss, not sure of the price... around $200

Anton Bauer about $300 which can go from 15mm rail spacing to studio spacing. Same form factor as the Redrock and hte Zwiss Plate

Zacuto Double Mount and Red Plate which is somewhere in the $300 to $400 range allows for a lot of accessory mounting and the battery is horizontally mounted which could be a benefit in terms of ballast but probably not.

Berkey System has an interesting approach where you buy the rails adapter and the plate separately. Not sure on price but in the relative price range of others.

I guess you have to decide whether you want flexibility or not with battery mounting... at least initially. You will have to buy a rails mount for the Ki Pro Mini anyway so the extra plate for the A/B gold mount is around $75 so it is the cheapest route. but you will always have to mount the KiPro Mini on the back of the camera. If you go the other route then your camera package will not be as compact. as you will have to horizontally stack the Ki Pro Mini and then the battery hanger with the batt.

One thing that should be clarified as some of the posts can be confusing. There are two companies with similar names that sell similar products and that is SWIT and Switronix. Two different companies. People should be clear on that.

The recommendation to go with 90 watt hour batteries with the F3 if you are using accessories of any sort is a sound one. Any smaller and you will get frustrated.

Timur recommended what is called a Anton Bauer MultiTap. That is the unit with four stacked female A/B connectors. Fantastic units. Get one now and you will want one or two more sooner or later. This is REALLY important... Put either industrial velcro or strong tape around the outside of these MultiTaps as the ends splay out so it is easy to put a D-Tap connector in the wrong with in either of the most outside connectors in the MultiTap head. Some people mark A/B connectors with white out or florescent tape so they don't stick them in the wrong way and fry gear. I use a headlamp and always slot some calm time to get my plugs done up and cable management sorted. I've seen more than a few people fry gear sticking a plug in backwards.

Switronix makes a very reasonably priced adapter going from a D-Tap to a 4 pin XLR that has an inline femaie D-Tap incorporated. Made with 18 gauge cable so you can put a lot of juice through it. Here is a link to one.

Due to copyright, there are 3 naming conventions for Anton Bauer Powertap connectors. You will often here them referred to as either D-Tap or P-Tap or Powertap connectors.

Good luck and don't forget to pick up enough industrial strip velcro and velcro ties to keep all the cables and gak manageable.

One more thing... The Gold Plates. You will want to get the compact ones and probably the ones with the fastening screws that mount from the TOP. Read that again and make sure you verify whether or not with your mounting solution that you choose if you have to attach the plate from the top or underneath. This will be a showstopper if you don't get this right.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the detail information Andrew.
I thought that SWIT and Swittronic was the same.
Is there a link that shows the mounting plates with KiPro mini?
 
Douglas Villalba said:
Is there a link that shows the mounting plates with KiPro mini?
Click to expand...

The plates on B & H give you a good sense although it is not attached... Pretty sure you would have to buy 2 plates. One for the rails attachment and the other for the A/B batt plate.

Douglas if you haven't done so you should read up on the limitations of the Ki Pro Mini. Some features were not implemented when released and they were a bit slow in dealing with them. Check into frame rates and the eject issue.
 
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I have seen it and I like the Zacito $141 My question still is if I need one or two? It doesn't look secure enough to hold so mush vertically with just one plate.
 
If you go with AJA plates, you need two plates and the AJA plate to 15mm rod mount... have a look at this video for a handy illustration: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pPQpe3TZiQ&feature=results_main&playnext=1&list=PL0EBCDFB9AFEE1162

If you go with the Zacuto Zwiss plate, because the mounts to 15mm rails are underneath you are not taking up space on either side of the plate (like on the AJA plates + AJA mount) so you can actually mount your Anton on one side, and your Ki Pro mini on the other.

2x of these for $75 http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...INIPLATE_R0_Universal_Mounting_Plate_for.html plus 1x of these at $150 http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/761763-REG/AJA_KIMINIRDNPLT_R0_Rod_Accessory_Plate_for.html (Grand total $300)

- OR -

1x of these for $141 and your done: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/765292-REG/Zacuto_Z_ZWP_Z_ZWP_Zwiss_Plate.html

In Andy's video at 3:18 he talks about the mounting brackets and cage he made using all AJA parts...
 
AJA provides information on the website regarding the mounting plates for the product along with detailed schematics, etc.

Those can be found at the following addresses:
http://www.aja.com/pdf/Ki_Pro_Mini_Mounting_Options.pdf

http://www.aja.com/pdf/Ki_Pro_Mini_MountingPlate.pdf

(Note: keep in mind that battery plate mounting requires the use of 4-48 screws, not the screws that ship with Anton Bauer battery plates)

Anton Bauer makes a battery plate that has one fixed 4 pin XLR power connector and then dual PowerTap outlets (this avoids the need for mult-tap cubes, etc. in most cases since you could power the Ki Pro Mini, the camera and a monitor with this configuration).

The Zacuto Zwiss plate is also a good mounting alternative for the reasons listed and was designed to accommodate the Ki Pro Mini with dedicated tap points for the 1/4-20 threads at each corner of the Ki Pro Mini.

Hope this is helpful,
Jon Thorn
Senior Product Manager
AJA Video Systems, Inc.
 
Andrew Stone said:
...you will have an awful lot of torque on a small surface area. A Dionic 90 battery and the Ki Pro is going to be in the 4 pound range (guessing) with inertial forces at play I would approach this one cautiously. Could be fine though.

BTW the Anton Bauer QRC-Dual PT mentioned in the review although handy with the 2 female D-Tap connectors on the side of Gold Mount Plate (usually only one), you are paying quite a premium for this convenience. That plate is around $250 which incorporates the XLR and 2 female D-Taps whereas a standard compact plate is $100. You can get a plate with an XLR connector for about $150. Saw them on B&H a few months ago.
Click to expand...

Hey didn't see this until now, the single Zwiss plate "could" be risky based on shooting conditions, but for $282 you can still buy two of them to sandwich your Ki pro, and not lose any real estate on either side. On the other hand you need longer rods to extend to both plates, whereas with the AJA mount & AJA plate it can kind of hang off past the end of your rods....
 
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