Blackmagic Pocket 4K media & power thread -- the best alternatives

[Shirozina]

I've got an NPF sled with a dummy battery and extra power outlet so potentially I could power the P4k and a monitor but I reckon it may be too much power draw. I mount the battery to the P4k with one of these

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Andoer-Release-Monitor-Camera-Camcorder/dp/B01I68O4Q8/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1548505496&sr=8-4&keywords=cine+lock

I have a second mount on my Ronin-S so it's easy to move the battery. Be warned some of these mounts are not interchangable even if you buy 2 identical ones from the same brand.

[thephoenix]

what do you use to attach your external battery to your rig ?

[BTM_Pix]

57 minutes ago, thephoenix said:

what do you use to attach your external battery to your rig ?

If you use the NPF sled (and its certainly the best value option in my opinion) it has an integral 1/4 20 mount on the base.

Then just use the male to male bolts like these to attach it directly to the top of the camera or a cage or with a rail adapter etc.

[thephoenix]

yes this is the easy setup

more thinking about this kind of batteries https://www.amazon.fr/Anker-PowerCore-Batterie-Externe-20100/dp/B00VJSGT2A/ref=sr_1_24?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1549357654&sr=1-24&keywords=batterie+externe

[BTM_Pix]

14 minutes ago, thephoenix said:

yes this is the easy setup

more thinking about this kind of batteries https://www.amazon.fr/Anker-PowerCore-Batterie-Externe-20100/dp/B00VJSGT2A/ref=sr_1_24?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1549357654&sr=1-24&keywords=batterie+externe

For something like those, I'd look at using an adjustable phone tripod mount like this one which can be adjusted to grip the battery (and rotated to be vertical or horizontal) and then use the male to male bolts as above.

If you are only going to use the battery for the camera and want something more permanent and direct then you could use my old friend epoxy to attach the flat side of one of these to it so it can be directly mounted to any 1/4 20 point on a cage or the camera etc.

[Shirozina]

I use a SMALLRIG DV Battery Plate Adapter ( 12v output)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01EFSUK98/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00__o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

with a ST1210/S2 Plug Connector ( separate purchase from ebay)

Mounted on a small QR plate

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01LGKH47O/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02__o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

This allows room under the battery plate to mount my mSATA drive using a couple of rubber O rings so it's a single quick mount unit for power and data - perfect!

[Jim Giberti]

For people looking to maintain the convenience factor of the P4K - with the new update, original Canon batteries, which is all we're using with our cams, are lasting an hour+,  with accurate readout.

We just shot concert scenes for new film - a typical long day of production (of course not continuous) - and with sensible management both cameras used only two batteries each.

I don't think most people, except shooting events, would need anything other than 3-5 Canon LP-E6Ns for a given production day.

I had just ordered a few more so that each camera had 6 in the kit.

They're inexpensive, small/convenient and professional gear.

I've got  LPs in our stills kits (5Ds) that are going strong after 5+ years of rugged use.

[Shirozina]

5 minutes ago, Jim Giberti said:

For people looking to maintain the convenience factor of the P4K - with the new update, original Canon batteries, which is all we're using with our cams, are lasting an hour+,  with accurate readout.

We just shot concert scenes for new film - a typical long day of production (of course not continuous) - and with sensible management both cameras used only two batteries each.

I don't think most people, except shooting events, would need anything other than 3-5 Canon LP-E6Ns for a given production day.

I had just ordered a few more so that each camera had 6 in the kit.

They're inexpensive, small/convenient and professional gear.

I've got  LPs in our stills kits (5Ds) that are going strong after 5+ years of rugged use.

That’s good to know

[zerocool22]

11 hours ago, Jim Giberti said:

For people looking to maintain the convenience factor of the P4K - with the new update, original Canon batteries, which is all we're using with our cams, are lasting an hour+,  with accurate readout.

We just shot concert scenes for new film - a typical long day of production (of course not continuous) - and with sensible management both cameras used only two batteries each.

I don't think most people, except shooting events, would need anything other than 3-5 Canon LP-E6Ns for a given production day.

I had just ordered a few more so that each camera had 6 in the kit.

They're inexpensive, small/convenient and professional gear.

I've got  LPs in our stills kits (5Ds) that are going strong after 5+ years of rugged use.

Yeah what about the chargers. What chargers do you guys use? As charging is a problem for me. Charging 5-6 batteries at a hotel at night, needing to go at morning. I usually need my sleep as well, so I dont want to set clocks every 2 hours to exchange batteries. Is there a official dual charger from canon or something?

How do you guys manage this?

[BTM_Pix]

22 minutes ago, zerocool22 said:

Yeah what about the chargers. What chargers do you guys use? As charging is a problem for me. Charging 5-6 batteries at a hotel at night, needing to go at morning. I usually need my sleep as well, so I dont want to set clocks every 2 hours to exchange batteries. Is there a official dual charger from canon or something?

How do you guys manage this?

I use this RavPower dual USB one.

The batteries work well in the camera and the whole kit including the two batteries is £30.

Three of those sets and a triple outlet USB mains adapter will get you a good hands off overnight system for under £100.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0722RWV5G/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_t1_EeRwCbTTY30XR

[zerocool22]

9 minutes ago, BTM_Pix said:

I use this RavPower dual USB one.

The batteries work well in the camera and the whole kit including the two batteries is £30.

Three of those sets and a triple outlet USB mains adapter will get you a good hands off overnight system for under £100.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0722RWV5G/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_t1_EeRwCbTTY30XR

Does these brick/work the blackmagic batterys? (as the blackmagic batterys only could be charged with the camera otherwise, it would just keep up charging to no end)

[BTM_Pix]

21 minutes ago, zerocool22 said:

Does these brick/work the blackmagic batterys? (as the blackmagic batterys only could be charged with the camera otherwise, it would just keep up charging to no end)

Mmmm. I'm pretty sure it did so I'll double check when I get back in a few days but the battery supplied by BM with the camera was so poor that I don't use it any more and only use these ones now.

 

[zerocool22]

2 hours ago, BTM_Pix said:

Mmmm. I'm pretty sure it did so I'll double check when I get back in a few days but the battery supplied by BM with the camera was so poor that I don't use it any more and only use these ones now.

 

according to the tests on bmcuser they were pretty good though(only downside was you couldnt see the percentages and you can only load it through camera)

[BTM_Pix]

5 minutes ago, zerocool22 said:

according to the tests on bmcuser they were pretty good though(only downside was you couldnt see the percentages and you can only load it through camera)

The BM battery you mean?

The percentage thing was odd for one that they supplied themselves but my experience of its performance was that it didn't have a predictable curve once it got below about half full.

It would shut off and then you'd switch it back on and it would still be showing a third or whatever and run a bit longer.

It was a bit more critical at the time because they hadn't shipped their cable kit to power it externally but now that's here the internal battery is more of a backup anyway for me at least.

 

[zerocool22]

50 minutes ago, BTM_Pix said:

The BM battery you mean?

The percentage thing was odd for one that they supplied themselves but my experience of its performance was that it didn't have a predictable curve once it got below about half full.

It would shut off and then you'd switch it back on and it would still be showing a third or whatever and run a bit longer.

It was a bit more critical at the time because they hadn't shipped their cable kit to power it externally but now that's here the internal battery is more of a backup anyway for me at least.

 

I was thinking about another battery solution (the core swx v-lock). But now they have increased the battery life of the lpe6. I am not sure anymore.  

[BTM_Pix]

58 minutes ago, zerocool22 said:

I was thinking about another battery solution (the core swx v-lock). But now they have increased the battery life of the lpe6. I am not sure anymore.  

The cable kit with the dtap has made things a lot simpler as you can use V lock batteries for really long run times now.

The Core is OK but at the end of the day its really quite a low capacity battery compared to a V Lock of a cheaper price.

[thephoenix]

if some of you are in france

good offer on samsung 500go

https://www.fnac.com/Disque-Dur-Samsung-Portable-SSD-T5-500-Go-Bleu/a10986314/w-4?oltype=1&omnsearchpos=10&OrderId=2&page=1&SortId=2&oref=d9c1a331-bd2b-e5e9-3671-756f2649d5c0&fbclid=IwAR0mfsaMqsLUxYZ_-uEwmxZ1lpPEY9_bBaYxbbIOrjAowW5UPCmr5CjlM4Q

[Richard Carlson]

The thumb drive mentioned on the P-V forum a few weeks ago is  from my quick tests showing early signs of being a possible external media at a reasonable price. The 256Gb is £59 approx.

256Gb Thumb Drive Aliexpress

First when plugged into the camera it is able to be formatted in exfat or osx so that is a head start on nvme drives. The drive will need a suitable OTG usb C cable to be of practical use and I have currently got one on order to try.

Initial results C4K lossless 24fps 360 shutter were full card recording without dropped frames. It did however drop frames once I changed to 60/24 at around 7 seconds. Dropping down to C4K 3:1 resulted in around 18 minutes recording but the battery died at this point. Hopefully I wil have time to do some real testing at weekend.

A very short OTG cable could easily fasten to the side of a cage and drives swap would be easy without touching the on camera port. The Drive has an led that flashes when recording to.

 

[xzobinx]

I feel strange that there is no mention of this:

http://www.tearlachwales.com/batbox4k

Using 4 x 18650 for 2.5 hours which is about 20 USD for 2.5 hours. Probably the minimalist solution have seen so far and it works wonder. 

Tea is a great guy to deal with and I would recommend his service.   

[Jonesy Jones]

4 hours ago, xzobinx said:

I feel strange that there is no mention of this:

http://www.tearlachwales.com/batbox4k

Using 4 x 18650 for 2.5 hours which is about 20 USD for 2.5 hours. Probably the minimalist solution have seen so far and it works wonder. 

Tea is a great guy to deal with and I would recommend his service.   

This looks great. The only problem for me is I don't like the top mount. Perhaps with a cage I could mount it on the left, but would it block the HDMI port? ?