Here’s a wee techie piece for fellow ProHD camera users and sufferers of low battery life
As you will know the battery life with standard batteries for these cameras can be brutally short. Even the JVC batteries wear out pretty quickly and you’re down to being stuck with 15-30 minutes shooting time. We bought a good stock of generic batteries but they wear out even more quickly. Charging 20 or so batteries is normally enough aggravation to persuade owners to invest in an Anton Bauer power pack which can cost over a grand or so. However..there is an much more economical solution:

You may have heard of the online discount supplier globalmediapro.com who sell everything for professional video. They stock a battery..which appears to be made for them which solves the whole problem. It’s a 8.8Ah 65Wh battery that has not only a level meter inbuilt but also has power output for lights etc. It lists at about €70 and if you order just one carriage brings it up to €93 or so to Ireland..and then you get stung another €26 in VAT and charges when it arrives. However..I would consider that €125 for a battery gives me 3-4 hours shooting time is great value. I bought one to test the system and now we are going back for more as Johnny Gogan of Bandit Films is also running the JVC Gy-HD111e as well and we tend to pool gear.

Information on globalmediapro was hard to find online. I had read in a forum that they deliver pretty quickly but don’t fare so well on the customer service. I can’t vouch for the last point but can for the first. Seeing as they don’t take credit cards or PayPal etc it has to be bank transfer. Here in the EU we can use IBAN. This is how it went. They seem to be based in New Zealand. I faxed my bank the details..they transferred it to them into their bank in Denmark and within 3 days the battery turned up by DHL courier from China! That’s mind-blowing. It came complete with a rake of Customs/Import paperwork too. Once you reclaim the VAT (Which I should have sorted not to pay) €93 is cheap. On that basis I can’t recommend Globalmediapro highly enough.

For anyone who needs one of these..and if you own one of these cameras then boy do you need a few..here’s the link.
Globalmediapro DC488 Battery

Read the Original Article at The Sleeping Warrior Blog