BATTER I ES | GEAR
THE GOLDEN JOULE
No matter how efficient low-energy lights become, or how high-resolution a camera’s picture, specs mean nothing when the batteries are flat. Here are the latest innovations to power your whole crew
WORDS PH I L RHODES / P I CTURES VAR I OUS
different outputs, suiting people looking to keep the most portable cameras running for longer than their tiny internal batteries will allow, while running some accessories, too. What the company prefers to discuss, though, is quality assurance. Cells, after all, are essentially Swiss rolls of chemicals in a tube, and standards vary. While Anton/Bauer’s batteries aren’t always crammed with
If one company is best demonstrating the industry’s evolution in supporting cameras of different shapes and sizes, it’s stalwart Anton/Bauer. The product line is split approximately in two: the high-end, cinema-orientated Dionic range, and Titon batteries intended for broadcast work. The most capable are the 26V 240Wh blocks, which can cover all the biggest cinema cameras. Perhaps the most unexpected entry is the diminutive Titon Base, a book-shaped battery intended to sit underneath a DSLR-shaped camera. Anton/Bauer often shows it attached to the bottom of the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K. It’s a tidy option, with a lot of
ABOVE Anton/Bauer’s
ot long ago, a camera only consumed power when it was running, unless you wanted the
26V 240Wh blocks work great for the most demanding high-end film cameras
illuminated frame lines switched on. Now, it takes 50 watts just to look through the lens. As cameras have become more capable and power-hungry, we’ve leapt enthusiastically for battery- powered lighting – there are more exciting ways to make charged batteries into flat ones than ever before. The convenience is hard to overstate – lights are often walked into place with a battery on a stand – and there’s some brand new ideas involving power supplies that would usually require a generator. Now, they might not.
“Anton/Bauer’s batteries are subject to a lot of real-world testing around performance and longevity”
AUGUST 202 1 | DEF I N I T ION 31
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