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Phase One Battery and Charger Question

kdphotography

Well-known member
The problem is that you were looking at your Hahnel charger----stop looking at it and it will work fine. :ROTFL:

Anyone notice their Hahnel charger giving a *spark* when they plug the cord into the charger unit? Mine does....:loco: I know, I know---stop looking at it:rolleyes:

The latest generation of batteries for the IQ and XF are 3400 Mah. Really not much of an issue, but moreso for the IQ MFDBs to use the latest generation of batteries. P series MFDBs can use them all. I've got a handful of the older batteries if anyone is interested---all hold a charge and work.

https://www.digitalback.com/product/ci-3400-mah-digital-back-battery/
 

Paul2660

Well-known member
As long as the voltage is the same is all that matters, as the milliamp rating, just tells you how long the battery will last, thus the 3400 cells will last in theory considerably longer than the 2400, 2900 ones. However in reality, they all seem about the same for my use, net, not long enough. Phase would benefit all by making a 5000 milliamp cell, in the same footprint as the 3400. If they can keep the cell from expanding with heat. The Phase cells are all Canon batteries. Actually the best lived ones I ever used, (still do) are the silver ones that CI sold a few years back, I believe they were 2900 milliamps, but by far the best cells as far as good life.

Paul C
 

Egor

Member
Went to order the watson on Amazon and the price had changed to $110! Found it for the $79 on B&H and should be here tomorrow or Tuesday. I'm so excited! (Its always the little things with me ;) )
Cant wait to throw the Hahnel charger into my "Island of Misfit Toys" box in the back of the studio away from the "good" gear where it can't corrupt anyone else ever again! :)

e
 

Bill Caulfeild-Browne

Well-known member
Don't want to be the voice in the wilderness here, but I have two Hahnel chargers and they work just fine - though I admit moving the cover is finicky.
 

Egor

Member
Bill, Haha...yeah, its probably going to be no better but I'm a sucker and fall for it everytime!

Here's the long boring story that only a Phase One engineer should probably read:
All I can say is its one of those tiny little annoyances that I never paid much attention to and just figured it was yet another "thing" about shooting MFD that I just had to grin and bear it. All Canon DSLRs in the studio have trusty bulletproof AC adaptors and go all day and night no fuss no muss. I don't even know where the batteries to the Canons are anymore ;)

Then came the IQ250:

Ever since they switched to USB as the only way to get LiveView with the IQ250 we were forced to connect via USB instead of trusty old FW800 that kept the batteries charged all day, everyday, all the time...never failed..never needed but 1 battery per camera back because...what would be the point? Then we got the IQ250 and the main point of it was to get "real" live view. The very 1st thing we found out was that live view was only enabled via USB connection tethered. To add insult to injury, USB didn't have enough oomph to keep up with battery drain in normal day2day operation in studio. Batteries started dying in the middle of shoots. We bought multiple batteries and started the musical chairs CPS Hahnel dual charging nightmare.

This thing has no AC adaptor that works very well. and it goes thru batteries quickly in a production studio. Yeah yeah We also invested in the FW800 DC chargers that are plugged in all the time to the cameras, and they don't always keep up either. (Why not? I don't know..."screws fall out, its an imperfect world", right?)
So we bought a bunch of spare batteries....
All I can tell you is every single day we probably spend 2-5 minutes fiddling with the battery charger during the course of the day to make sure it is actually charging because its just not a "given" with the Hahnel. And god help you if you have some 3rd party batteries...(we have 2 of 8)
I was resigned to this fate until I read this thread.

Fingers crossed...now mr Phase One engineer reading this, its only been 2 years, can I finally please get white balance in live view? :banghead:
 

dougpeterson

Workshop Member
The good news is Phase One already heard your concerns and the IQ3 can run off USB power assuming you use a newer BC1.2 complaint USB3 port or hub.
 

Egor

Member
Thanks, Doug
Good to hear from you! I knew you would probably read that story ;)

But I think upgrading to all new IQ3'$ and all new Mac'$ will be considerably more expensive than just getting a better battery charger...;)
But nice to know they have improved it! Now how about that white balance in LV ? ;) (gotta keep trying, right? or is that fixed in the new IQ3 series too?)

e
 

Egor

Member
Hey Guys,
Just wanted to follow up with some good news about the white balance in Live View thingy.
Apparently unbeknownst to us; but knownst to "them", Phase One released a Firmware update that allows for auto-white balance in Live View!!! And some other controls as well!
I found this out because Steve Hendrix from Capture Integration saw this thread and took pity on me! He and Brad Kaye from CI told me about it and hooked a brother up with the update. Thank you guys!!! Very well done!
So just wanted to give kudos to the guys over at Capture Integration for hearing our plea and fixing the sitch.
Well done, CI.

The Watson charger hasn't arrived yet, but Im in a much better mood now that I have finally white balance and levels control on my IQ250!

e
 

Egor

Member
Got our Watson charger today. 1st impressions:

1. The adaptor plates can come out or loose so thats a "bad" thing for the Watson
2. Better build quality
3. More versatile (has a usb charge port on the side as well as a car cigarette lighter adaptor for charging on the go)
4. Nice digital readout (no better or worse than CPS Hahnel)
5. Electric cord is normal 2-prong variety so its easy to find space to plug it in anywhere (Unlike the CPS Hahnel that uses up 3 plug ports with its oversized plug thingy)

Working fine...happy so far
 

Mgreer316

Member
Got our Watson charger today. 1st impressions:

1. The adaptor plates can come out or loose so thats a "bad" thing for the Watson
I know the plates are interchangeable, but for the life of me I can't figure out how to detach them. Not that I need to. I was just curious. But mine are firmly locked into place. So I wouldn't call it a negative. Also, with the single bay Hahnel charger there is no digital readout. So for me the Watson is a huge upgrade at a much lower cost.
 

Egor

Member
I know the plates are interchangeable, but for the life of me I can't figure out how to detach them. Not that I need to. I was just curious. But mine are firmly locked into place. So I wouldn't call it a negative. Also, with the single bay Hahnel charger there is no digital readout. So for me the Watson is a huge upgrade at a much lower cost.
Mgreer316, LOL...I just pulled mine out of the box and put two batteries in and at 1st I was bummed out because it was behaving just like the CPS charger. That is to say that the left battery wasn't charging and the right battery was charging fine. I kept seating and re-seating the battery on the left, thinking it was me that somehow seated it wrong. On the 3rd re-seat of the left battery, the whole battery and adapter plate fell out in my hand. I put it straight down over its contacts, and then using my thumb and palm, snapped it into place. Seems to work fine now. If I figure out how to unseat it again, I will use put a dab of epoxy down so it never gets loose again.

And in case anyone is wondering, yes, it says its for Canon BP-9xxx series but fits IQ and Credo battery perfectly.
 

Mgreer316

Member
Just out of curiosity, what's the trick to unseating the plates? I'm a degreed mechanical engineer and worked in that capacity for almost 20 years before I started my studio. But as I looked over this charger I couldn't and still can't figure out how to unseat the plates.
 

Egor

Member
Just out of curiosity, what's the trick to unseating the plates? I'm a degreed mechanical engineer and worked in that capacity for almost 20 years before I started my studio. But as I looked over this charger I couldn't and still can't figure out how to unseat the plates.

Mgreer316, Me too! (I was a structural engineer; you made missiles, I made targets...right? ;) If I remember school you ME's always won those contests! ;)

I don't know correct procedure for unseating the plate, only that it was unseated when I got the unit and is now firmly seated. I usually don't try to reverse engineer items that are working properly that I depend on ;) ; BUT I will take a look if I get over to the studio this weekend, try to break it, and let you know via IM
 
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