Video Link + Follow focus power supply

[Edmond Fetue]

Hi there,

 

I will be working tomorrow with a Panasonic Af-100 with Bartech Follow focus and a video-link wireless system.

 

I have a steadicam Flyer, (first model). How can I supply power to both things at the time?

 

Thank you!

[Edmond Fetue]

I have a lemo to xlr 4 pin cable

[Brian Freesh]

You need a splitter of some kind, or a power output from one of the devices. The Bartech has a 2pin lemo you can power from. Not sure about the AF100 or the link. If you can't get the proper cable in time, you have to give up one of the devices.

[Mark Schlicher]

Do you know what cables will come with the Bartech you'll be using? You'll obviously need a XLR-to BFD lemo connector, to mate with your sled-to-XLR. Not a common Bartech cable...

 

I couldn't find any info on the "video-link" transmitter. What kind of connector? What voltage? You may be able to rig a separate 9V battery to power the transmitter, but who knows how long it might last...

 

If you have the Anton Bauer version of the Flyer, you could pull power from the P-tap on the battery paddle, and mount your video transmitter down low. Not ideal but may work. Obviously you'll need a p-tap to video transmitter cable.

 

Sounds like you didn't have a prep day. Unfortunate.

 

Good luck tomorrow, I hope it all works out okay for you.

 

In the long run, look into having a few custom cables made: for a Flyer I'd start with a Flyer 2-pin lemo to P-tap. Then get a P-tap to BFD, a P-tap multi (from Anton Bauer), and a 4ft p-tap extension cable. Then as you get new/different accessories, (LED on-camera light, etc.) make up P-tap power cables. This is probably the most cost-effective for a Flyer. Watch out for voltages, though. Some "12 volt" acessories will not work with the up-to-16 volts that pro batteries put out.

[William Demeritt]

If its the 7ghz Link System, I believe they sometimes use an Anton Bauer battery onboard to power, since they're pretty power hungry.

 

You need to post more information, or get more information from the job, before we can really contribute something substantial.

[Alan Rencher]

Hi there,

 

I will be working tomorrow with a Panasonic Af-100 with Bartech Follow focus and a video-link wireless system.

 

I have a steadicam Flyer, (first model). How can I supply power to both things at the time?

 

Thank you!

 

You need something like this:

 

 

This is a 3-pin Lemo to female P-Tap, and a male P-Tap to 4 female P-Tap. Let me know if you need to rent it.

[Edmond Fetue]

Thank you guys!

 

I solved it by using an extra AAton battery supplying the Transvideo sender and the rig for the Bartech.

 

I already bought my P-Tap cable!

 

Thank you all once again!

 

 

 

...and Alan Rencher I really liked your solution! Where did you buy this from? Or was it self made?

[Mark Schlicher]

Edmond,

 

Alan's cables are what I was describing.

 

The P-tap multi is available from Anton-Bauer via B&H and other retailers.

The P-tap to Lemo is something that needs to be custom-fabricated by someone like Terry West (search the forum archives for his number).

 

Alan's version is three-pin Lemo to mate with his sled. You'll need to make sure you specify the first-generation Flyer's 2-pin Lemo when you order. Confusion is possible because the second generation Flyer LE went to a three-pin Lemo.

[Edmond Fetue]

Thanks Mark!

[Mark Schlicher]

One other point of clarification....PRO sleds also have two-pin lemo power connections, but it's a different style of 2-pin lemo from the Flyer gen-1.

[Charles Papert]

I will throw in my two pfennigs on the p-tap splitter solution as I own four of them and have seen several of the ports go bad on them. They can be tempermental. I would perhaps recommend a sled to female p-tap cable that you can then plug in a standard four-way p-tap splitter rather than modify the four-way; down the road it will likely save you some money as you only have to replace the stock component rather than buy a new one and then have it modified as well. Adds a bit of bulk to the setup though.

[Alec Jarnagin SOC]

"I will throw in my two pfennigs on the p-tap splitter solution as I own four of them and have seen several of the ports go bad on them. They can be tempermental. I would perhaps recommend a sled to female p-tap cable that you can then plug in a standard four-way p-tap splitter rather than modify the four-way; down the road it will likely save you some money as you only have to replace the stock component rather than buy a new one and then have it modified as well. Adds a bit of bulk to the setup though. "

 

Ditto. Also, I have both Camera Power and Vid/Power (PRO J-Box) to female P-taps that way I can better manage the power needs.

[Peter Abraham]

We could just replace the lenses with Lemos and voila !!!

 

:)

 

Ditto with Charles and Alec. Component failure is avoided at great cost and effort. As the late great Ted said, " Don't worry- 90% of the time, it's in the cable ". As long as you've got redundancy and have eliminated every potential component failure, you'll be good to go.

 

Where's that spare arm?