C200: SWIT Battery with D-Tap & USB Port

Yeah, I would never use that on my C200 or rental C300 MKIIs. That cable sticks way out, I am shooting cradled a lot these days, that connection would break or bend with the camera shoved into my chest or waist. Hard pass. Glad I bought the BP-A60. BTW, for those of you looking at this, everyone sells the BP-A60 for $500.00 but for some reason, Full Compass sells it for $368.00, save you some $$. I ordered mine from them, it came, it's fine, why not save $132.00? Even $368.00 for what it is is not a good value but it's better than $500.00
 
Yeah, I would never use that on my C200 or rental C300 MKIIs. That cable sticks way out, I am shooting cradled a lot these days, that connection would break or bend with the camera shoved into my chest or waist. Hard pass. Glad I bought the BP-A60. BTW, for those of you looking at this, everyone sells the BP-A60 for $500.00 but for some reason, Full Compass sells it for $368.00, save you some $$. I ordered mine from them, it came, it's fine, why not save $132.00? Even $368.00 for what it is is not a good value but it's better than $500.00

You must have gotten those on sale. As of right now they sell on Fullcompass for $450:
http://www.fullcompass.com/prod/526014-Canon-BP-A60
 
Swit Batteries for C200 & C300 Mark II Prices & ETA Texas Media Systems

Swit Batteries for C200 & C300 Mark II Prices & ETA Texas Media Systems

The two Swit kits below will start first shipping at the end of May 2018.

The Swit LB-CA50 Battery, which won't work without the PA-B2L4 D-Tap cable, will ship at a later date.

Swit LB-CA50S Battery Kit: Includes One LB-CA50 Battery, PA-B2L4 D-TAP Cable, and PC-U130B2 D-TAP Charger for use with Canon C200, C300 Mark II, BP-A30 and BP-A60 $350

Swit LB-CA50 Kit: Includes Two LB-CA50 Battery, PA-B2L4 D-TAP Cable, and PC-U130B2 D-TAP Charger for use with Canon C200, C300 Mark II, BP-A30 and BP-A60 $470

Swit LB-CA50 Battery for Canon C200, C300 Mark II, BP-A30, BP-A60. 73 watt / 5.1Ah. REQUIRES PA-B2L4 D-TAP to LEMO Adapter Cable to Work $195

Canon BP-A30 3100 mAH / 45 Wh Capacity $299

Canon BP-A60 6200 mAH / 90 Wh Capacity $499
 
Last edited:
Why did they even bother with this? It's not cheap enough to be worth screwing with the weird cable arrangement.
 
Its almost as if the SWIT design team started off, was going along, making progress until the engineers told marketing, "We can't crack the pin setup on the Canon battery terminal. Are you guys sure you still want to do this?" and marketing replied back, "Yes, we have to press on, we already have time and money invested in developing this and our research shows there is a market for a third party Canon BP replacement!". Then the engineers said, "Okay, if you say so. Disregard logic and practicality, we can make this work but it won't be pretty, functional in all situations because there will be a cable plugged into DC in, and the users will have to buy our charger since the Canon charger won't be able to charge our battery." I've seen very few products lately that seem like they were designed in a vacuum, away from reality, but this is one.

Yeesh, this is not a good solution.
 
Well, wish the news were better, but SWIT (and others) could not crack the Canon code, so they came up with a solution that has no direct connection to the camera battery pins. Instead, they use a D-Tap and will be supplying a DTap to Lemo cable to power the camera through the Lemo DC jack. Also, they will be giving away a basic charger as the battery cannot be charged on any other charger except their own (no pins to connect to).
The battery is rated at 73W, less than the OEM BP-A60 90W.
While the battery powers a camera, there is no way to power an accessory at the same time as there is only one out - D Tap. :-(
Kudo for trying, I just do not see it as a good alternative to the OEM A60.

What an embarrassingly bad flop. As others have said, I'll definitely pass on this. In fact, I can't imagine any shooter who would buy this over the Canon batteries.

It's so disappointing because the originally promised solution was one I know many, many shooters would have purchased. What a wild reversal.
 
I emailed Core about Nano-M batteries for Canon.

They responded with "We are still working on the communication between the battery and camera. The time frame is still unknown but it may be a while."

Like others have said, the SWIT batteries are completely out of the question due to their dumb connection. Canon should just make one themselves if they're not willing to cough up a "code" that allows other manufacturers to create a product that would actually be really useful.

I just bought a smallhd 702 monitor, looks like it's time to buy some slim SONY NP batteries.
 
I emailed Core about Nano-M batteries for Canon.

They responded with "We are still working on the communication between the battery and camera. The time frame is still unknown but it may be a while."

Like others have said, the SWIT batteries are completely out of the question due to their dumb connection. Canon should just make one themselves if they're not willing to cough up a "code" that allows other manufacturers to create a product that would actually be really useful.

I just bought a smallhd 702 monitor, looks like it's time to buy some slim SONY NP batteries.

Thanks for the updates from Core SWX. Hope they figure it out as they make great batteries! As for Canon: They are still struggling with the transition from selling stills cameras where they can provide it all (mostly), and the TV/Film world where NOBODY are big enough to go it alone. I've talked to Canon's reps about this, and they seemed to listen. BUT so far no batteries with D-tap have shown up...
 
Last edited:
Really?!?!? Everything about this is a disappointment.

BTW, the Lemo connection on the C200 and C300 MKII is a mess. I paired a brand new Wooden Camera V-Mount adapter to plug into my brand new C200 to power it and the connection would lose power momentarily every time I would hoist the camera onto my shoulder. I then tried the same battery mount to Lemo connction on a rented C300 MKII with the same result. I've also read lots of complaints from other Canon users, that connection is not good. It feels okay with the connector locked in but something seems just slightly out of alignment or off spec with the connection. I would never trust my camera operating reliably with that Lemo connection. And the D-Tap for powering other accessories was the main reason there was any excitement about the new batteries anyway.

Sounds like a problem with the Wooden Camera Vmount plate. I highly doubt the Leno connection on your c200 and c300mk2 are both defective. I would replace the battery plate. I have the same Wooden Camera plate and have experienced no such problems. Also, I think it’s a good idea to run a Canon battery in as well as the vmount, just in case the vmount cuts out, preventing the camera from shutting down.
 
Back
Top