Today we take a moment to review a batter power pack and a LCD Viewfinder from SVSi.
As I’m sure most of you know, most of these high-speed cameras are not very portable. It is not standard procedure to include a viewfinder with the camera- in order to view what it is you are filming you have to be connected to a computer (in LucidMovement’s case, usually a laptop) or an analog/digital video device. This can make filming difficult and time consuming, as the amount of light required to film high-speed means that you will often be filming in daylight, which as most of you will realize means that an LCD based screen is going to be really hard to see. In short, filming with a high-speed camera as they are designed currently is not an easy task by any means. The setup requires that you have multiple connections setup in order to view and focus your video stream, generally located a decent way away from the camera itself. In addition to your data/video connections you are also tethered to a power connection.
You can see that this becomes complicated quickly. Imagine trying to setup for a shot in a reasonable amount of time or trying to catch a shot a goo distance from a power source. That is where these two wonderful little devices come into play. These two little tools make your filming life much easier!
The Battery
The AV-BATT, portable battery pack is a NIMH battery operating at 24v @ 9Amp/hr. The battery is 3.5″x3.5″x14″. I was really amazed at the battery life while running both the camera and the LCD Viewfinder. The camera will run without a hitch for just a tad over six hours on a three hour charge. In addition to allowing you to be completely untethered from power it cuts down the time required to setup a shot. Ordinarily you would have to haul out the extension cables and whatnot, with this you just clip it up and off you go. The only downside to the battery is it is a bit hefty at right around 10lbs. It has a nice little handle that allows for easy carrying. The unit ships with a charger and sells for $635usd. This is an excellent addition for this camera and allowed me to get several shots I would have otherwise been unable to get.
The LCD Viewfinder
The LCD Viewfinder I found to be incredibly useful for filming. This allows you to frame and focus your shot a lot faster than normal when having to refer back to an external monitor. The viewfinder can be attached directly to the camera which allows you to work it as you would any other camera, a definite bonus. The LCD is 3.5″ and operates in high-contrast black and white which makes seeing it in daylight a lot easier than a laptop LCD. You can mirror the image via a switch on the side, which is a useful feature for certain applications. The power for the LCD is an inline adapter that ships with the unit. This makes life easy as you don’t have to keep up with yet another power cord. This is another must have addition for a high-speed camera in my opinion, primarily in the time it saves you having to run back and forth between the camera and the computer. I would recommend this for almost any application in which you would be using this camera. The LCD Viewfinder and included breakout box sells for $695 and is worth every penny. I only had the viewfinder for a few weeks and I was able to capture nearly twice the number of shots on a given shooting day than I was able to without it.
To sum up, both of these accessories are incredibly useful and I would highly encourage anyone who currently has this camera or who is considering purchasing one to pick them up. I found them both to be indispensable. They really help reduce the setup and shot times considerably. Below I’ve included some photos of the battery and the LCD Viewfinder.
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