PMW-300 Ikan battery issue.

BrianMurphy

BrianMurphy

Veteran
The Ikan UBS-U65 bttery and I would imagine any 3rd party or Non Sony battery does not work. I ordered one from B&H, but no luck getting it to work. It has the external power cable and d-tap which was nice for my Zylight especially when I need very light weight. But when inserting it and powering up I get the dialogue "Change Battery" then it shuts down. Using the power cable I get the screen then "High Voltage" and it shuts down. Obviously looking for the "chip" or whatever.
Or is it operator error on my part? If you know of a fix let me know before I send it back on Monday. I know Jeff DeMaagd is working on a battery plate that will allow V-lock and AB batteries to be used and I or perhaps he will post when that is ready.
Brian
 
I ordered the Switronix EX-L96UD Battery Pck for the Sony EX/F3?PMW. Spoke with B&H sales guy in NYC and he assured me it would work. Got it yesterday and it DOES NOT WORK. So to say I am upset with B&H is an understatement. The last battery cost $71.00 to return and this one weighs twice that. As with the last time I get an email from someone in Customer Service (lack of ) saying how "sorry" he is but I will just have to return the battery using an RMA. Nonsense.This time they have said they are going to send me a prepaid return label in the mail. But they made no mention of indicating on the webpage that this battery as well as the Ikan battery do not work with the PMW 300.
I will order a Sony BPU 90 and asked their "chat" sales rep if it would work with the PMW300. He said yes and I told him to send me an email confirming it will work. Why take a chance.
I can understand Sony wanting to sell their batteries but why don't they then put a power d-tap or some other way to power an on camera accessory, in my case a Zylight either on their large battery or on the camera? It seems odd to me that this would not be included in a Pro setup be it for news or docs or sports or weddings... odd.
So now I need to rig what was a lightweight camera with a baseplate and rods and battery plate and V lock to power the light or go with a cheapo light with F type batteries... silly I think. __________________
 
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Since 283 people have visitied this thread I thought I would post an update. I spoke with Vinny from Swiftronix today about their battery and the issues that many might be dealing with at B&H and other Swiftronix dealers. First and foremost Vinny told me that B7H were aware of the issue with the PMW 300 K1 and their battery. B&H had been informed that the battery they were selling the EX-L96UD would not work with the PMW300K1. He also said that Swiftronix are working on a new version of the batter that is in Beta testing right now that does work. This has been confirmed by one of the Beta testers who is a member of DVInfo.net and that they hope to have the battery on the market in the next month to six weeks. It is said to give accurate readings on the in camera display as well as not require the use of the external pigtail and comes with a D tap connector for accersories.
Can't wait for it!
 
Brian, just fyi SWIT S-8U63 is compatible with your PMW-300K1 camera, we already sold a few, had no complains from the users (we also have a few in stock)
 
So I picked up two batteries over the weekend for my PMW300. I got them from DOLGIN Engineering.
http://dolgin.net/zen_dolgin/
Alex Dolgin replied to one of my many goup posts with a fix for the problem. He sells batteries that work perfectly with the PMW300 K1. They are 63Wh batteries with not only a D-Tap power outlet but also a USB out. This means I can run my PMW300, Zylight and HDMI transmitter all off one battery.
Dolgin's reputation and products along with anything he reps or sells is nothing less than top notch. I am so freaking happy to have great batteries that display on my viewfinder and work with my camera. So for those of you looking check out his website. I will be ordering more soon.
 
BrianMurphy said:
So I picked up two batteries over the weekend for my PMW300. I got them from DOLGIN Engineering.
http://dolgin.net/zen_dolgin/
Alex Dolgin replied to one of my many goup posts with a fix for the problem. He sells batteries that work perfectly with the PMW300 K1. They are 63Wh batteries with not only a D-Tap power outlet but also a USB out. This means I can run my PMW300, Zylight and HDMI transmitter all off one battery.
Dolgin's reputation and products along with anything he reps or sells is nothing less than top notch. I am so freaking happy to have great batteries that display on my viewfinder and work with my camera. So for those of you looking check out his website. I will be ordering more soon.
Click to expand...


This one?

http://dolgin.net/zen_dolgin/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=3&products_id=163
 
Yep that's the one. I grabbed two of them and will probably pick up another couple in a few weeks. Need to test how long they run the camera and zylight. The transmitter takes very little and goes for a while as I have run this with a small usb power brick for several hours.
 
Brain,

How have the batteries worked out? How much running time? are you using the D-Tap?
 
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Just an update on this subject: Look into DM Shoulder brace and V-Lock battery plate. I purchased one it is a great piece of gear. The V-Lock has a voltage regulator in the unit and we adjusted mine so it works perfectly on the PMW-300. So with big batteries you can power everything you need and have long run times.

Also there is a way to move the shoulder pad under the camera which is huge for balance. I will start a new thread on this option with pictures.
 
Paul:
just catching up on the thread etc. been working. To answer your first question, I am ok but not thrilled with the batteries. I was running my Zylight off the d tsp but found the batteries drained too quickly. I also found they don't report accurate time remaining to the camera. I have been in touch with Alex Dolgin and will try to do more specific tests this week. But mu setup now is the Shape baseplate and a Berkey plate with a V Lock battery plate attaced and I power my light and anything else from the Swit V lock battery. It like your new system helps to balance out the rig.
i looked into the DM plate but at the time he was still working on the design and developing his regulator. I look forward to seeing your thread! Currently I have contacted Olof from Westside AV and will visit him to work on an extension bracket for the EVF. I need it to be about and inch and a half more forward to be comfortable and center the camera on my shoulder. But in general, I love the camera and put it the test for Fox Sports during the NHL playoffs and it was awesome. Great in the scrums and on the sticks. Excellent live through the lRattlers and lines to L.A. Best of all its lightweight and I just bought some new carbon Gitzo legs for the Sachtler head to lighten the load even more.
brian
 
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Thanks Brian,

I will in some of my free (ha, ha) time get shots of the rig. I have used it on a few jobs now and really like the shoulder mount and balance. One day was 16 hrs on the water all on the shoulder and no problem at all

Now the battery is V-Lock and Jeff from DM has helped me adjust the voltage regulator, and it is better, but still gives me warning of 11.5 volts when my Switronix 130W/hr batteries are only 1/2 drained. Still the 16 hr day I used 2 1/2 batteries. And that was running two Lectronic SR receivers off the battery at the same time. So not too bad. Jeff is researching the regulator and see if he can find a better one.

I also really like the camera in XAVC mode, great pic and the Canon KH10ex3.6 is a wonderful lens and on all the time.
 
Hi Brian, while awaiting for your test results (PM me) I wanted to share a couple things that would benefit all. The S-8U63 SWIT battery is about 60WH capacity measured in watt hours, similar to the OEM Sony BP-U60. The PMW 300 camera needs about 20W to run according to Sony
Expect just under 3 hours run time on it. But if you also connect a Zylight which is very power hungry up to 30W, you really over load the battery beyond its capacity, getting maybe 1 hour at most out of the battery, also shortening its life due to stress. There are many on camera LED lights out there that use very little power (like 10-12W). They are probably not as nice as one that you are using, but from the power point of view would be more practical.
 
Alex,

Sounds like you need to make a more powerful battery. Zylights are great and I am not about to sell mine. Can you make a 90-120 WH battery?
 
Brian here are two shots my producer took. I will take studio shots showing the detail set up.

You can see how much the 130 WH battery helps the balance. The rig is DM but I put the shoulder part under the camera. No need for any modification to the VF mount it works perfect. It is a little silly Sony does not let the VF move freely past the adjustment knob.
 
Hmm, how did I not think of that? :-)
The industry pretty much reached the limit trying to cram so many wh into a given size. I am sure the laptop vendors and electric cars manufacturers would be very happy if they had a breakthrough solution. For now it is as good as it gets. (When they try to make a bigger battery by adding more cells like "L96" kind, reliability goes down due to cells being a bit different one from another)
Paul Cronin said:
Alex,

Sounds like you need to make a more powerful battery. Zylights are great and I am not about to sell mine. Can you make a 90-120 WH battery?
Click to expand...
 
Thanks for the photos Paul and it looks like an excellent set up. I agree with you on the Zylight, it is a great
light and just way too useful in so many situations to swap out for some of the less expensive and flexible units. I have tried many of them and don't like them that's why I paid the bucks for a Zylight.
I would love to own that lens!!! Maybe it's time to sell some stuff and spring for it. Glad too that the VF works in your set up, if Olof can't figure an easy fix I may just sell the Shape unit, though I do want to support Shape as a local company.
i shoot all my client stuff in XAVC now but the broadcasters still want 35mps or max 50 in XDCam. Bandwidth issues and too big for the Dejero units when live.
Alex, I will indeed send you my results as soon as I can, but it's festival season up here in Montreal and there are many not to mention the PGA Canadian Open coming up so busy times. But I knew the Zylight pulled power and that's why I went with the V Lock. I can tell you however, there is not way that these batteries power the camera for anywhere near 3hours! And I mean the camera alone this I know for sure from my first tests with the camera running on a fully charged battery sitting on sticks in the same room while I was editing material I had shot the previous day. The meter jumps in strange increments and because I was editing and not jumping up to watch the camera I can't tell you exactly how long it went but I will later when there is more time. They aren't great but they work and this is no reflection on you by any means! I REALLY appreciate your sincere interest in this issue as do the rest of us. But I would still like a reliable voltage regulator that would allow using V Locks. I also think Sony should get its ass kicked for being so dumb as to launch a new Pro camera that is limited by this dumb short sight attempt to money grab on batteries.
Off to shoot the Quebec National Holiday festivities. "La fete nationale"
salut
 
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