by José Francisco Nogueiras Valencia
CAMPINAS, BRAZIL EPTV currently operates four television stations in Brazil; Campinas, Sao Carlos, Ribiero Preto and Varginha. We are in the process of switching to Sony XDCAM HD cameras for coverage of events in the field and have chosen to remain with a tried and true power source, Anton/Bauer batteries.
Our past experience with Anton/Bauer, their post-sales support and the high quality of their products were the main reasons for our decision. The overall stability of their products is one of the few constants that I have observed in my many years in television news. Even though we're 5,000 miles away from Anton/Bauer's operations in Shelton, Conn., the service they provide makes it seem like they're right next door.
HIGH CAPACITY CELL DESIGN
José Francisco Nogueiras Valencia For our latest application, we chose the newer Dionic 160 as our primary battery. The high power output of 160 Wh provides us with more than five hours of run-time when shooting with the Sony cameras. The Dionic 160 has a unique cell design that only Anton/Bauer uses. It's capable of delivering up to 10 amps of current, where most other lithium ion batteries can only provide 6 amps.
A very significant feature of the Dionic 160 batteries is that they can be charged on our existing chargers—even chargers that we have owned for more than eight years. All we needed to do was to upgrade an IC in the charger, which we did ourselves, and the chargers were ready for use with the new batteries. Our photographers love the weight and power of the batteries, as they rarely have to change batteries on any given day.
ON-CAMERA LIGHTS TOO
We also use Anton/Bauer UL2-20 model on-camera lights in conjunction with our cameras. They are small, yet durable, and the compact size of the light makes it an ideal solution for an on-camera light source. Previously, we had used heavy battery belts to power such lights, but since the Anton/Bauer Gold Mount has a PowerTap connector on it, we can power the light from the same battery that's operating the camera, and still get almost three hours of run time per battery. Depending on what our photographers are shooting, we're able to use bulbs that range from 10 W to 75 W to match the requirements, with the bulbs being very simple to change for the occasion.
We're looking forward to purchasing some of the Anton/Bauer UltraDaylight HMI head modules in the future. I like the fact that you can remove the halogen bulb head module and replace it with an HMI in about five seconds. It puts out 100 W of daylight color temperature (5600 degrees K), while consuming only 25 W of power from the battery. Anton/Bauer has a solution for all of my needs. This is the reason that they will be our battery supplier for many years to come.
José Francisco Nogueiras Valencia began his television career in 1979 with GLOBO TV in Sao Paulo. He has been with EPTV since 1989. He may be contacted at jfvalencia@eptv.com.br.
For additional information contact Anton/Bauer Inc. at 203-929-1100 or visit www.antonbauer.com.
