Let's talk batteries for the AF100...

Rick Burnett

Rick Burnett

Section Moderator
While I have already ordered my AF100, what I am still not clear on is batteries. I'm trying to get a head start on what I will need to power the camera based on my usage of my 7D and its batteries.

Currently, I use two Canon batteries for my 7D and they pretty much last me one whole day of shooting. I am good at turning my camera off when I am not shooting which saves a lot of battery power. I'd say, I average about 4 hours of use with turning the battery off. I've never left it on completely to know how long it takes.

The questions I have:

(1) Does the AF100 come with a battery and if so, how long lasting is it if the camera is running full time, and if I turn the camera on and off, what kind of length of time should I see.

(2) What other battery options are there, even if larger and heavier, from Panasonic, and what kind of time would I expect out of them.

(3) How long does it take to charge each of the battery types.

(4) Does the AF100 have some sort of standby mode?

(5) Does the AF100 come with an external charger?

I had read that the AF100 uses the same batteries as some of the other Panasonic cameras, so I imagine some people have more insight into these questions. I've searched around, but haven't seen much.

We do have an HVX200 but I've never been thrilled with the battery life on it. I realize since the camera is not done, a lot of this information is not final, but I'd like to probably go ahead and order some batteries now.

I really appreciate the information.

Rick
 
grimepoch said:
We do have an HVX200 but I've never been thrilled with the battery life on it.
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This is not based on any scientific evidence or the like, but I common sense tells me the AF100 is going to be sucking power along the lines of your HVX rather then the small amount the 7D needs.
 
We power our HVX's with Anton Bauer 'Elipz 10K' batteries, and will be getting the appropriate adapter to fit our AF100's when they arrive.

Typically one of our HVX's will use two of these during a production day (12-14 hours) always on with both evf and sidescreen. To fully re-charge takes about 5 hours, but you can get 80% charge in a couple of hours if you're running tight.

I've taken these to shoots with extreme temps (Everest base Camp, Iceland, Northern Sasketchewan) where daytime temps were -45ºc with wind and extreme chill and they last way longer than the stock Panasonic batteries.

G.
 
basing on 150, a big battery could last 4-5 hrs
the small one 2-3

but based o released specs, it could be longer
 
Thanks everyone for the information so far. I do realize this is a bit of a difficult question to answer, as I imagine it depends on a lot of factors, and some we cannot even guess yet. For instance, phantom power on the mics, how much power lens will use through something like the birger mount went available. Frame rate. EVF and LCD on or off, HD-SDI port, recording or not, how much zooming you do, etc.

So far, what I have found is that it looks like AF100 is rated at 7.2V @ 12.5 Watts (http://pro-av.panasonic.net/en/sales_o/news_info/news100913/100913.html).

HVX200 14W (as reported by B&H)
HMC150 9.8W (as reported by Panasonic when recording)

For the 7D, I cannot find a definitive number, but the manual has 1h 20 mins on one battery which is (7.2V @ 1800mAh). Wow, we really do a good job of turning the camera off with those numbers!!

So my understanding then is that if the battery lasted for 1.33 hours, then the current used is 1350mA or 9.72W during video mode (using 7.2V as the voltage).

So if I do the reverse math for the 5800mAh battery that panasonic offers, that says the current is 1736mA and I'd see about 3.34 hours

Obviously, I realize there are A LOT of variables here, moreso on the AF100, but this is telling me if I use the AF100 in a similar fashion to how I used my 7D, I should get WAY better battery performance per charged battery than I was used to dealing with before.

Is the 5800 mAh battery the one that comes with the AF100? If so, I would be inclined to order one more. Also, is there a double battery charger?
 
i'll know more this week, but the AF100 so far seems to be very power efficient. With the big battery attached, the prototype was telling me it had over 7 hours of continuous battery life. Doesn't make sense to me, so it might be an issue with the prototype, but I'm checking out the PL line soon so I should have a better idea.
 
Power Consumption specs from B&H:
The AF100 12.5w
HMC150 9.8w
HVX200A 14w

They're all much lower than I would have thought...
 
Hey Barry,

Thanks for checking on that. I'm also not surprised on the 7D power usage. It gets HOT when it's running.

Rick
 
If it's like the 150.. then we'll be really in great shape, I've got a really long record time as I usually don't use the zoom servo and I try to conserve by using the Viewfinder instead of the LCD. The 150 style batteries are really so great, much better than the DVX style batteries due to the read out info and they don't do that dreaded drop off to a blinking red bar like the DVX batteries did....

I think that 7 hours might be a good estimate, especially if you aren't also using phantom power...
 
7 hours does indeed appear to be nonsense, caused by the incomplete prototype. The official estimate I heard today is about four hours from the big battery.
 
will the big battery come with the af101 though, i got the tiny battery with the hmc151 & felt a little agrieved to have to immediately go searching for a larger battery to be able to shoot for any length of time. If Im going to spend £4k on the af101 i feel i deserve to at least get a decent battery with it
 
ade4all said:
will the big battery come with the af101 though, i got the tiny battery with the hmc151 & felt a little agrieved to have to immediately go searching for a larger battery to be able to shoot for any length of time. If Im going to spend £4k on the af101 i feel i deserve to at least get a decent battery with it
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Strange this sense of entitlement… Take a look at the other cameras in the Panasonic pro range - do they come with batteries?

To me the body is just a small fraction of what it takes to build a working camera system; batteries, cards, lenses, rails, follow focus, mattebox, fluid head, sticks, insurance, etc, etc will mean that the body is probably less than 20%?
 
i understand what you're saying but all those other things you list are optional extras - i feel all the manufacturers could step up a bit with this - supplying a battery that will only work for an hour or so on a pro piece of kit is selling the customer a bit short i feel - they know you are going to have to buy another battery off them strasight away - when the hmc151 came out the large battery was in short supply & very expensive - had to wait another 2 weeks before i could use the camera on a project where there was no power supply. Fortunately there are now much cheaper 3rd party options, but i dont think it is asking too much for a decent sized battery to come with the af101
 
Well fortunately the AF100 uses a battery that has been around for awhile, I'm sure you'll be able to find relatively inexpensive ones. Stock up now.
 
Thanks for clarifying that Barry! Any word on which battery comes with it? Trying to decide whether to purchase one or two of the 5800mAhs at this point.
 
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