In our review for the PD Wireless Follow System we used this to power the follow focus which is a cheaper option to buying a V-Lock battery.
The PD Wireless follow focus needs to be powered by a battery that has a D-Tap connection.
A D-Tap connection is widely used to power cameras, lights, and other filmmaking equipment and is found on a V-Lock battery.
The problem we had with buying a V-Lock battery is they are very expensive. We don’t have a cameras or lights that need to be powered by V-Lock batteries, and since we are only going to use the follow focus on a few projects a year,
And having a battery sitting there for most of the year which is worth over £150 is not really a option.
After some research we found this alternative battery source to solve our problem. It is still a V-Lock battery and it has a D-Tap output, but it uses Sony NP batteries to power whatever is plugged in. Since we own loads of NP batteries this saved us a lot of money, and it works great.
The next problem is mounting the power source to the camera ring. There are 15mm rod rail mount system you can buy for a V-Lock Battery, but again they are very expensive. In Fact they are more expensive than the batteries, and you still have to buy a battery.
So we attached this 15mm rod mount we have laying round which is from a company called SmallRig.
Links to everything will be in the description below.
At first we attached it to the bottom of the power supply and mounted it like this to the rods. We soon realised to save space it would be best to mount it like this. It also meant you can still attach it to a V-Lock mount and power a piece of equipment with Sony NP batteries, not just via the D-Tap power connection.
Having it mounted to the back of the shoulder rig like this also helps to balance out the rig as there is more weight on the back of the rig.
There is another solution to our problem and that is to buy a cable which converts the PC barrel cable that connects to the motor of the follow focus to a DC cable instead of a D-Tap connection.
With this you will need a DC power supply which is similar to the one we use to power our camera, which you can find links to here.
This cable was not out when we purchased the first option, but works out about the same price once you purchased all of the parts.
V-Lock Batteries have there place, and are very much needed. They are super reliable and give you enough power to run your camera, monitors, and lights all day.
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