Anton/Bauer Gold Mount, Batteries Central to Prime Television’s Documentary, Television News and Commercial Work
LONDON, MARCH 15, 2012—Anton/Bauer®, part of Vitec Videocom, a Vitec Group company and a premier global provider of batteries, chargers, lighting and other mobile power systems for the professional broadcast, video and film industries, is the battery supplier of choice for London’s Prime Television. Prime Television, a mainstay for decades of London-based productions, relies heavily on Anton/Bauer power products and the company’s global customer support.
Working with major networks such as the BBC, NBC, ABC, CBS and FOX, Prime Television is one of the leading suppliers of broadcast equipment to the production community in Europe. Although the company has used Anton/Bauer and other competitive products in the past, it recently switched to using and providing Anton/Bauer batteries, such as the DIONIC® 160 and DIONIC® HCX, exclusively to broadcasters. “The professionals hiring our cameras want lighter weight, lithium ion batteries,” says Nick Ludlow, managing director of Prime Television. “Not to mention, Anton/Bauer’s customer care in general is second to none and that helps a lot. It’s a major contributing factor as to why we choose Anton/Bauer.”
Whether it’s the CBS news magazine 60 Minutes or FOX Television’s news coverage of the Royal Wedding, the production team typically takes five Anton/Bauer DIONIC 160 batteries with them. “We need the reliability, the ruggedness and the individual power of the DIONIC 160,” says Ludlow. Delivering up to 10 amps of power, the DIONIC 160’s configuration is constructed of specialized lithium ion (Li-Ion) cells originally designed for high-rate military operations. Weighing 30 percent less than a NiCad or NiMH battery, with 15 percent more capacity, the DIONIC 160 is a 183 Wh battery and runs a 30-watt camera for more than six hours.
A production industry veteran, Ludlow recalls the time when powering cameras wasn’t as user-friendly as it is today with Anton/Bauer. “We used to have a car battery sitting on the floor powering the decks, cameras and anything else that we needed. Now when we’re on location, we’ve got up to four DIONIC 160s on a TM4 Charger, powering everything we need. It goes forever—that battery is terrific, especially for the special operation, reality productions we do with mini cameras. With the DIONIC 160, you can run a cable from a battery you can hide under a desk to a hidden camera and it will just run the whole day.”
While the DIONIC 160s are the main Anton/Bauer product Ludlow uses, he has also come to depend on the company’s Gold Mount® System. “Anton/Bauer’s Gold Mount System ensures compatibility with many of the different camera brands that we own,” says Ludlow. Providing a secure snap-on approach to keep the battery in place from any position, the Gold Mount is the basis of Anton/Bauer’s power systems, offering an interchangeable battery system using a forward-compatible approach originally developed by Anton/Bauer.
Offering power requirements ranging from 7.2v to 28v, the Anton/Bauer Gold Mount System is the most widely used battery-mounting system in the industry and is available as factory standard equipment on many cameras from manufacturers such as Grass Valley, Hitachi, Ikegami, JVC and Canon. Paramount to the Gold Mount’s performance are three solid mechanical connections that “lock” into place, providing secure contact for a steady stream of uninterrupted power, an inherent problem with other mounts causing users to experience intermittent power failure. “We can have an Anton/Bauer battery fitted onto the back and it is rock solid. It’s not going anywhere; the Gold Mount System is secure and provides seamless power for our team and production clients,” adds Ludlow.
For more information about Prime Television, visit http://www.primetv.com/.
About Anton/Bauer
Anton/Bauer is recognized as the world’s innovator and a premier provider of batteries, chargers, lighting and other key mobile power systems for the professional broadcast, video and film industries. Based in the United States in Shelton, CT with offices in Europe and Asia, Anton/Bauer was established in 1970 and has expanded its product offerings to include many signature lines such as its leading Gold Mount® system, InterActive® chargers and Logic Series® batteries such as the HyTRON® 50, 100 and 140, and DIONIC® 90, 160, HC and HCX. Their products are compatible with every camera brand on the market today. Other Anton/Bauer high performance products include the Ultralight® 2, ElipZ®, CINE VCLX and the Tandem 150 Modular Charging System. Their superior-quality products have become an industry standard. For more information on Anton/Bauer, visit www.antonbauer.com.
About Vitec Videocom
Vitec Videocom brings together some of the most respected, most innovative and most sought-after brands in the industry: Anton/Bauer, Autoscript, Litepanels, OConnor, Petrol, Sachtler, Vinten and Vinten Radamec. It acts as an endorsing brand for these market-leading broadcast, film and pro video products, encouraging multi-brand system sales and simplifying the way that customers worldwide do business.
Vitec Videocom is an operating division within the Vitec Group, an international business serving customers in the broadcast, photographic and military aerospace and government markets. Vitec is based on strong, well known, premium brands on which its customers rely on worldwide.
Vitec Videocom - innovative products around the camera.
