Battery life: BMMSC & Video Assistant

Hi Blackmagic users.

Last week i received my first blackmagic camera and video assist monitor/recorder.
After i charged the batteries i start filming.
Before having notice the battery on the camera was empty.
I was barely 30 minutes filming!

So i went home and charged the battery's (one delivered with the blackmagic micro studio 4k camera and 2 original canon LP-E6 battery's 7.2v 1800mah

When they where charged i put them in the camera and the video assist and turned them on and pressed recording.
Within 30 minutes the camera was empty, and one of the two video assist battery's was also empty.

Is this normal behavior for this camera?
I've read that that the pocket cinema cam had a short battery life but 30 minutes on a battery is kinda short for this camera if you ask me?

For me this means that i have to bring at least 6/8 battery's when i go outside.

Anyone having the same experience?

The Canon E6 batteries are not that big, as amp. Capacity goes, the VA will give you 1 to 1.5 hrs of use, (30-45 miner battery) when recording. The camera battery use is going to depend on what resolution/frame rate you are using and the ambient temp of the area the camera is in. The warmer it is, the shorter a battery life, as the camera's cooling system is going to use more energy keeping the camera at proper temp. Also setting the camera in UHD 30fps or HD 60fps is also going to shorten battery life.

You should get at least 30-45min of continuous use per battery, depending on shooting rate. Some users have gotten close to 1-hr. (60 min.) on a battery, depends on th battery condition. The battery indicators on the VA and Micro Camera show average state of the battery and the present current drain /use rate, and when the indicators say the battery is flat, you still have some recording time left. But it is a good idea to change out the battery, when it reaches less that 10-percent (red on the indicator). Also going into the menus on the camera will shorten battery a little too, and compared to straight shooting.

Hope this helps

For the Video Assist, the batteries I use can last it about 2 hours (1 hour per battery). While the Micro Studio I'm told lasts between 1 hour to 1.5.

So for 3 hours, you'll need 3 batteries for the Micro, and 4 or 3 batteries for the Video Assist. 6 to 7 batteries roughly. I know. Sounds bad. I was hoping the Micro would last 1.5 for sure, and the Video Assist for 3. That would've meant 4 batteries for 3 hours, which seems more reasonable.

Your best bet would be to power the Micro or the Video assist with an external L Sony battery, and the other you power with the Canon batteries. That's kind of what I've been doing right now. I power the pocket with a Sony L Battery, and the Video Assist I run with the Canon batteries.

These are the ones I use.

http://www.amazon.ca/dp/B00CHT37LQ/ref=sr_ph?ie=UTF8&qid=1456975870&sr=1&keywords=canon+battery

Thank you Chris and Denny!
I've recorded in 1080P 60fps,

The other problem is that i use them with a gimble, so wires to the camera are not done because of the movement.
I think i'm going to buy some extra battery's.

Bart

Bart, that is what I did. I have three batteries for the VA and two 2000 mAmp batteries for the Micro Studio camera. I also use ext power for the VA, during long shoots, or when I want to keep the weight down on the VA. I have gotten an average of a bout 1 hr running time on the Micro Studio camera, including setting menu at power up, and one to two power cycles. I have not done a continuous run test yet, that is next.
Cheers

After watching the film Ex Machina (finally), I'm a great believer in batteries. After reading a good article on 'flicker free' lighting, I'm a great believer in batteries. After reading several threads on ground loops over the years, I'm a great believer in batteries. Hopefully later today when an inexpensive knock-off battery arrives to replace an original Apple battery that recently blew up while a 2008 MacBook Pro was not being used, I'll still be a believer in batteries.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Batteries are pretty great, Rick. Yes.

My solution is one big brick battery that powers everything on the camera through a distro box, also all mounted to the camera. Battery runs out? Slap on a fresh one. Need a longer run? Use a T adapter for two bricks at once. Weeee batteries!

I also believe in batteries Rick, the only wish i have is that they just live a little longer then they do right know.

Like i was telling, i can use a big battery which live for a couple of hours, but with a gimbal you don't want cables to the camera, except the ultra thin silicon HDMI cable to the video Assist.

But thans for sharing your thoughts Rick & Jason!

Battery technology continues to evolve. I thinks it's just in the last year that we've had lithium batteries with a 50% reduction in size for the same power. I think we shall benefit from such further improvements in the future. Maybe not Moore's Law, but something like that. Wouldn't it be too sweet, if they reduced size by a half and reduced charging time by a half every four years?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Yes Rick, I would Seattle for a 3000-3500 mAmp battery in the Canon E6 case, right now 2000 mAmp is max (some third party E6 batteries are labeled 2800 mAmp, but they are really only 2000 mAmp bats.

When using a single large V-mount /AB battery to power several pieces of equipment, like the camera, monitor, ext. audio mixer, a Battery Distribution System (BDS) is a must, to prevent the ground loop Rick mentioned above. You can power a camera like the mini from its battery plate, and once accessory, like a monitor from the DTap connection without a BDS, as most V-Lock /AB camera battery plates have the two connections isolated from each other.

Excellent advice. Here's Marco Solorio of OneRiver Media on the new Switronix Hypercore Pro series:
http://www.onerivermedia.com/blog/?p=2230


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I wouldn't mind something similar to Atomos Power Station, but not sure if it can give 12 volt on both outputs at the same time. Which is needed, since both the Blackmagic pocket/Micro and the Video Assist take up that much. Then again, on the Micro and Video Assist side of things, if you send the power through the Canon EL slots, then it should be able to power both.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1083145-REG/atomos_atompwrsta_atomos_power_station.html

The Atomos Power station, uses batteries not much larger than the Canon EP6 battsr s used in the VA. I would use the PS to power a Pocket/Micro camera and external monitor, like a HS Small 5/7-inch, but not a Pocket/Micro camera and the VA, it doesn't have enough power. It could power the Micro as an additional power source, but their are less expensive options for doing this, like the IndiPro Battery PowerGrid system. The VA has a dual battery setup with about the same capacity already, so no advantage to using it here either.

The Atomos Power station, uses batteries not much larger than the Canon EP6 battsr s used in the VA. I would use the PS to power a Pocket/Micro camera and external monitor, like a HS Small 5/7-inch, but not a Pocket/Micro camera and the VA, it doesn't have enough power. It could power the Micro as an additional power source, but their are less expensive options for doing this, like the IndiPro Battery Pod system. The VA has a dual battery setup with about the same capacity already, so no advantage to using it here either.

Actually, since the Atomos uses Sony L's, the batteries can be a lot more larger then the Canon's, allowing more juice to power both a monitor and a camera. One 6300mAh Sony L battery can power a Pocket camera for 6 hours, and the Power Station can hold two of them.

The problem is, if you use the plug in powers to gain the 12 volts, it's not gonna be enough from what the spec sheet is telling me (which is duel 8.4 VDC).

However. When it comes to the battery slots for both the VA and the Micro, the battery slots only eat 7.4V instead of 12V. Thus, it's possible could use 2 Canon Battery adapters like this one, to power both equipment with less voltage.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1182553-REG/atomos_atomdum003_power_station_camera_battery.html

Chris, yes you can, but as you pointed out, the Atomos adapter only uses one battery at a time, so battteries are in parallel config., doubling the amp hours, but still only a 7.5VDC power supply, that uses a DC-DC converter to up the voltage to 12VDC, which adds to the battery drain, and is why only one 12VDC tap at a time can be used.

Add two F750 batteries, or the 6300 MA battery, and you add another $95.00+ to the $295 cost for the Atomos kit (my original response was based on what batteries came with the Atomos unit, 2600 MA batteries), and now you have spent $400 or more. For about the same cost, you can get a good V-Mount 14.5VDC battery, Battery plate with DTap and a Canon EP6 adapter, that will power Pocket/Micro camera and a VA All day, without changing batteries.

The Atomos Power unit is a nice looking setup, and would great for a light set up with the Pocket camera, slushing the smaller batteries. But, I think you can get a better battery solution for the same or less cost. The choice is yours...

Chris, yes you can, but as you pointed out, the Atomos adapter only uses one battery at a time, so battteries are in parallel config., doubling the amp hours, but still only a 7.5VDC power supply, that uses a DC-DC converter to up the voltage to 12VDC, which adds to the battery drain, and is why only one 12VDC tap at a time can be used.

Add two F750 batteries, or the 6300 MA battery, and you add another $95.00+ to the $295 cost for the Atomos kit (my original response was based on what batteries came with the Atomos unit, 2600 MA batteries), and now you have spent $400 or more. For about the same cost, you can get a good V-Mount 14.5VDC battery, Battery plate with DTap and a Canon EP6 adapter, that will power Pocket/Micro camera and a VA All day, without changing batteries.

The Atomos Power unit is a nice looking setup, and would great for a light set up with the Pocket camera, slushing the smaller batteries. But, I think you can get a better battery solution for the same or less cost. The choice is yours...

I do agree, from a cost stand point, it's not ideal. I already have a few Sony L batteries, so it wouldn't be extra money for me. The problem with a V-mount though, is that it requires a rig to support the big battery. Whereas the Atomos could be just attached to either the Video Assist without needing rails. So it's more ideal for a light setup as you said.

But as you also said, for some it could be more then $300, and even $300 could be too much. It's why my current setup has been to just use the Canon batteries on the Video Assist, and power the Pocket with an small external battery (either a Sony L or a bp-u30) attached to the Video Assist. But even then, with 4 Canon batteries (20 dollars each) for the Video Assist, plus a battery plate and power charger ($100), and 1 4400mAh BP-U30 battery (60 dollars), it's a $240 setup (plus another $10 for the pocket cable). Cheaper, but not by too much.

Yes, I agree Chris, not too much difference. I also have the L batteries for my Pix 220 recorder, so i got the IndiPro Battery Grid kit for thr BMPCC, came with correct cable, and can attach to rails, cage, or tripod, cost was $95.00. The advantage with this setup, is you get 14.5-15 VDC from the Grid, as batteries are in series, so run times are greater than same amps in a 7.5 VDC setup. 14-15 VDC setups are more efficent with a camera like thrmPocket or Micro than lower voltage battery setups, which is the advantage of the larger V-Battery for covering extended shoots like events, where you are on a tripod anyway, so size and weight are not an issue.

For a ligher setup, I found some Variizoom 2200 MA batteries with a 1/4 screw that I could attach to my Wooden Camera Pocket cage, and with an internal battery in the camera, I got 1.5-2.5 hrs of recording time, and could hot swap the external battery as needed. This is what I ended up using most of the time. Cost $35-$40 for each battery on eBay, and $10 for a cable.

Why doesn't anyone make a higher-capacity battery with the LP-E6 mount? It seems like you could easily use a battery that is 2 or 3 times larger than standard on the VA, MSC, etc.

That said, with my standard LP-E6 batteries (Watson branded, IIRC), I do get at least 1 hour per battery on the VA.

Hello
By the way. Indicating the battery level VA and firmware 1.2.

In my opinion, still the percentage reading level of battery charge is not displayed correctly. One time, battery level indicates charged 100% and slowly falling, eg. to 65% for the next time you turn off and turn on the recorder with the same battery, level indicated 5%. Strange :-/

All the time indications are not correct, mislead the user. This is done randomly.

Do other users have the same problem?
Regards

Krzysztof, the battery level indicator is not really showing the remaining charge left, but rather the battery state while under the current load (display only or display plus recording, etc. result in different current load/drain in the battery), and changes when the current load is changed. It indicates about how long the VA will run under the current load conditions, with the batteries remaining charge. When yiumforst turn on the VA, batrery level indication is close to remaining charge before it (VA) adjusts for current load. So you can have a 95 level,reading, then press start in the recording, and it will suddenly drop to 60 or 75 remaining level.

Canon LP-E6 battereis are usseually inserted "inside" most Canin cameras, not on the back of them as it does on the VA or Micro camera, so the size/formfactor is locked to the size specificed by Canon. I think BM should have selected the Soy L/BP battery for the Micro/VA, as these batteries are used outside of the cameras, and can have a larger capacity and resulting larger formfactor. That said, BM was probsbly tyring to jeep weight down on the VA, and the popilarity of rhe Canon LP-E6 battery, it is very common, easy to get and most shooters have a few already, do it became an industry defacto standard formuse on monitors and other gear.

That said, battery technology is advancing where a given MA size battery is getting smaller, so we may soon see a higher capacity in the LP-E6 battery size case. Cheers

Yeah, too bad Blackmagic didn't go with the Sony L's for the Micro and Video Assist. The only difference would be to make the products slightly bigger. I really was hoping the Video Assist would last 3 hours (with the 2 batteries). Even 2.5 hours would've been ok. It's why I was happy about the Canon LP batteries being used, since 1.5 hours per battery was the general time usage for majority of the products it was used for. But no, Blackmagic found a way to suck more power then normal. It's always been their problem. It's great on paper, but there's a flaw that makes it not so great. The EF mount for the original Blackmagic camera seems great on paper, but then you have the crop that's clearly a problem. They make an MFT mount to make up for it so adapters can be used, but gave no electronics for "actual" MFT lens like the Lumix and Olympus lens. It's why I hope someone comes up with an adapter that can attach to the battery slots, and power them with Sony L batteries. I hope I see something at NAB.

Chris, I got a IndiePro power grid BMCC version) that uses Sony L batteries and connects to the VA via the ext, power plug. Works great, can attach it to rails, tripod or ? Also has the benefit of taking battery weight off the VA, which I like. I have a Sony L battery plate for my 7-inch monitor, and find I only use the small Sony battery, or a DTap to keep weight off the monitor. Cheers

deleted duplicate

This is the power solution I used to feed both the Blackmagic Micro Studio 4K & Video Assist via, Switronix PB-70 and a D-tap plug

So I timed the battery they supplied with the Micro Cinema camera after fully charging it (I charged it on a Watson charger if that matters), and apparently it kept the camera charged while recording for 1:20min (ProRes). Which is good, and what I wanted. But I also decided to experiment on the battery life when fully charged, and running it on the Video Assist, without a second battery. With the one battery (while recording), it kept the Video Assist charged and running for 1:40min. Which is actually quite amazing since the batteries we've been testing last roughly under an hour before shutting off. The strange part is how the Video Assist displayed it. It showed I only had 10% left, yet it took 35 minutes later to get to 1%. It really shows how bad the Video Assist is when estimating battery life.

So my question is... Blackmagic, are you selling these batteries stand alone? Or can in the near future? Because I'd love to get 3 spares.

Mr.CheesyCam has created a hack battery adapter, so the Micro is powered by a Sony L battery instead. Seems pretty cool. I hope third parties make a similar adapter.