*I just bought the Smallrig VB50 and a Kondor Blue D-Tap as well which came in the Mail yesterday. I'm very excited about this as I won't need to plug in a Dummy Battery all the time. So I'm Looking forward to testing this out*
I have two of those and they work very well. There is still room for improvement though, specially as these are on the expensive side... - The LCD screen, once a device is connected is totally unreadable in daylight. Text is minuscule and extremely dim. - LCD screen could display the remaining time instead of percentages, like Anton Bauer Titon Base.. it's an amazing feature as remaining time automatically updates in function of the amount and type of devices connected. - There is no way to "turn off" the battery, so if you leave it connected, even to a turned off camera rig, the battery will (slowly) drain.. The only way is to disconnect the cables, which is not very practical. For the rest, the build quality is good, it looks great on my FX3 rig and it's very compact. Last for half a day with FX3 and 2200 nit Portkeys monitor on.
@@cris_photography With all respects for your work, the the issue with UA-camrs with affiliate links is that reviews look like pure advertising. Hopefully "neutral" users comments can help compensate this.
Totally. But this IS my work (am a pro photographer and videographer) the thing is that some people have some needs and some are different from others. Personally I don’t mind the size of the LCD for example, don’t care if I see % instead of time and lastly I donc need to turn it off so doesn’t bother me. I don’t get money for this review and it’s based on Cris’s usage and that’s why I really like other peoples input cause you always find different things one didn’t think of 😊 Thanks again!
Hello. I am a student studying camera. I want to set up a rig, but I'm curious of battery running time. I use A7M4 (24-70 GM2). I will use the monitor (Feelworld) and camera while charging at the same time. How many hours can I shoot with the VB50 when charging both camera and monitor? and how many hours for VB99?
Hi there, thanks. To be honest it really depends on the usage. 50 being almost half the capacity of a 99 you’ll get roughly double the capacity. But depends if you leave everything on at all times or not for example. I tend to turn things off when not in use and with the 99 I can easily power my feelworld monitor and a Sony A7siii for several hours (around 4 for sure on and off). Hope that helps but again, hard to say
Heya, they're cheap now at AE but I heard multiple people say the 14.8V max can actually reach 16.8 or even 17V. Have you measured the output? Some gear actually block an output over 15... so that renders these useless or dangerous. Thanks.
Hello there, excellent question, unfortunately I haven’t used the 120D II with the battery long enough to actually finish the battery a I couldn’t tell u. I will do a test when back at the studio and see 😉
I love this battery. I bought it (among other reasons) so I could put it in a checked bag for air travel. The first time I flew with them, they said I couldn’t check any lithium ion batteries. I’ve since gotten mixed information on this. Is there any reason these can’t be checked, if they’re secured in a case where they’re not touching other metal and have no chance of activating? All the power delivery areas are covered in the case I put them in. Just curious. I highly recommended these batteries.
Great! Thanks for your feedback and interesting question. Unfortunately I don’t know exactly what reasons they have but it’s probably like with containers of more than 100ml where they don’t care to look what it is (ie if it’s really dangerous or not). It’s probably the same basket for everything. Take care!
Thanks Tony and I take note! Re battery: I personally don't use a dummy battery, I put the regular battery and I charge the camera using the usb-c port of the VB99 which charges (or keeps the battery charged) and I use the D-Tap port to power the external monitor. Cheers
Hey man, I'm running an A6700 and an Atomos Ninja V as the monitor. Is it safe to connect the Atomos Ninja V to the VB99 D-tap and the A6700 through a Smallrig dummy battery plugged into the 8V port of the VB99? It's getting a bit confusing and I wanna make sure I don't damage anything
Hey there, thanks and ya that should work. Question: why not use a USB-C cable to charge the A6700 (with the USB-C port on the VB99) and the D-Tap for the monitor? Wouldn't that be easier for you? Cheers
@@cris_photography is the USB C cable option safer? Should I get a specific speed/wattage for the cable? Or will any be fine? Really appreciate the quick reply!
Hello, I don't think so since you need the USB-C port to charge it. That said, if you need to for other ports you should be good to go. Also, the V-Mount has a lot of juice and will power your devices for a while so why charge the battery with another battery? I don't think you'll need that. Take care
Thank you@@cris_photography . I have the BMPCC 6K Pro and its really drainy. I thought of Powering the Cam via DTap while (if needed) charging the Vmount Bat with USB C. It came just yesterday and im going to pick it up tomorrow :)
hey Cris, how yo uconnect monitor with smallrig? can yo ushare cable solution? I am using sony fx3 and ninja v+ and I have kondor blue Dummy DTap so I need cable for monitor... Do you have any idea how to supply monitor ? D Tap is already booked with Dummy battery....
Hey there, thanks for the message. I personally use the d-Tap port for the monitor and I use a usb-C cable to power my A7siii. I don’t use dummy batteries but I keep the normal battery in. That way if anything happens to the v-mount it keeps shooting (and I don’t use the dtap port). Hope that helps cheers
@@cris_photography Thanks for quick answer buddy! And how you supply your monitor? I am using Ninja v + but I can't find any cable to plug, only Dtap option is available... Do you have some idea?
Thanks. The VB99 has a capacity of 6700mAh. Therefore comparing it to a 25k mAh battery it means you get a little above quarter power with the VB99. The VB155 on the other hand has a capacity of 10500mAh which might be better if you are looking into having more power. Take care
@@cris_photography I've also seen thatthere's something with the voltage, USB bank can't power certain things like external monitors which needs 12,8V while USB bank are 5V... well it slowly getting clearer :) thanks
I just got my small rig battery. I noticed that it doesn't like it when I turn the camera off. It won't power the camera back up once I turn the camera on and off? Do I have a defective battery?
Camper? Or camera? Running the R5c. I noticed that when I first plug it in, the battery display shows data regarding power info, but when I turn the camera off and on,the battery just shows percentage and goes dark, the camera at first says DP bit when powering off and on the DP doesn’t show anymore like if it wasn’t even plugged in and only shows camera battery power.
*I just bought the Smallrig VB50 and a Kondor Blue D-Tap as well which came in the Mail yesterday. I'm very excited about this as I won't need to plug in a Dummy Battery all the time. So I'm Looking forward to testing this out*
I hear ya! It’s a great battery indeed! Part of my daily workflow now
I have two of those and they work very well. There is still room for improvement though, specially as these are on the expensive side...
- The LCD screen, once a device is connected is totally unreadable in daylight. Text is minuscule and extremely dim.
- LCD screen could display the remaining time instead of percentages, like Anton Bauer Titon Base.. it's an amazing feature as remaining time automatically updates in function of the amount and type of devices connected.
- There is no way to "turn off" the battery, so if you leave it connected, even to a turned off camera rig, the battery will (slowly) drain.. The only way is to disconnect the cables, which is not very practical.
For the rest, the build quality is good, it looks great on my FX3 rig and it's very compact. Last for half a day with FX3 and 2200 nit Portkeys monitor on.
Thanks a lot for your feedback and the extra points - very useful! Take care
@@cris_photography With all respects for your work, the the issue with UA-camrs with affiliate links is that reviews look like pure advertising. Hopefully "neutral" users comments can help compensate this.
Totally. But this IS my work (am a pro photographer and videographer) the thing is that some people have some needs and some are different from others. Personally I don’t mind the size of the LCD for example, don’t care if I see % instead of time and lastly I donc need to turn it off so doesn’t bother me. I don’t get money for this review and it’s based on Cris’s usage and that’s why I really like other peoples input cause you always find different things one didn’t think of 😊
Thanks again!
You can turn off the power by holding the power button down for three seconds without any wires connected to it
Cris, this is coolness! Thanks utterly much!
🇺🇸💛🇨🇭
You bet!
great video can you tell me what base plate and quick release you are using. been looking for something like this thanks
Thanks mate. If I don’t err and recall right, it is the V Mount Battery Plate with Dual 15mm Rod Clamp (SKU 3016) cheers
Hi, I agree, this is awesome battery !
💪🏼
Hello. I am a student studying camera. I want to set up a rig, but I'm curious of battery running time. I use A7M4 (24-70 GM2). I will use the monitor (Feelworld) and camera while charging at the same time. How many hours can I shoot with the VB50 when charging both camera and monitor? and how many hours for VB99?
Hi there, thanks. To be honest it really depends on the usage. 50 being almost half the capacity of a 99 you’ll get roughly double the capacity. But depends if you leave everything on at all times or not for example. I tend to turn things off when not in use and with the 99 I can easily power my feelworld monitor and a Sony A7siii for several hours (around 4 for sure on and off). Hope that helps but again, hard to say
@@cris_photography Thank you for answering my question 😊😊
Is there a way to to turn the battery off? Or does it just continuously run when not on the charger?
No can’t be turned off. But it goes into super sleep mode and takes very little consumption (like very little)
Cheers
Heya, they're cheap now at AE but I heard multiple people say the 14.8V max can actually reach 16.8 or even 17V. Have you measured the output? Some gear actually block an output over 15... so that renders these useless or dangerous. Thanks.
Hi there, thanks for your message. I never had that issue with any of the stuff I plug on it (and honestly had not heard of that issue either). Cheers
I have a question, how long can you use your 120D with this battery?
Hello there, excellent question, unfortunately I haven’t used the 120D II with the battery long enough to actually finish the battery a I couldn’t tell u. I will do a test when back at the studio and see 😉
Hello,
What charger you recommend to charge the vb99?
Hello, any usb-c charger. Personally I use either my MacBook Pro charger or the iPad one and they both totally fine 👍🏼
I love this battery. I bought it (among other reasons) so I could put it in a checked bag for air travel. The first time I flew with them, they said I couldn’t check any lithium ion batteries. I’ve since gotten mixed information on this. Is there any reason these can’t be checked, if they’re secured in a case where they’re not touching other metal and have no chance of activating? All the power delivery areas are covered in the case I put them in. Just curious. I highly recommended these batteries.
Great! Thanks for your feedback and interesting question. Unfortunately I don’t know exactly what reasons they have but it’s probably like with containers of more than 100ml where they don’t care to look what it is (ie if it’s really dangerous or not). It’s probably the same basket for everything. Take care!
Do I need the dummy battery to power my Sony A74, make one video showing us how you hookup everything to the Vmount. thanks!!
Thanks Tony and I take note!
Re battery: I personally don't use a dummy battery, I put the regular battery and I charge the camera using the usb-c port of the VB99 which charges (or keeps the battery charged) and I use the D-Tap port to power the external monitor.
Cheers
@@cris_photography please mention usb cable and d tap cables details.
Thanks for the video! That was very helpful. What top handles are you using on the rig?
My pleasure! The top handle is a standard SmallRig wooden handle (can be found on the website of Smallrig). Take care!
Hey man, I'm running an A6700 and an Atomos Ninja V as the monitor. Is it safe to connect the Atomos Ninja V to the VB99 D-tap and the A6700 through a Smallrig dummy battery plugged into the 8V port of the VB99? It's getting a bit confusing and I wanna make sure I don't damage anything
Hey there, thanks and ya that should work. Question: why not use a USB-C cable to charge the A6700 (with the USB-C port on the VB99) and the D-Tap for the monitor? Wouldn't that be easier for you? Cheers
@@cris_photography is the USB C cable option safer? Should I get a specific speed/wattage for the cable? Or will any be fine? Really appreciate the quick reply!
What light u use in studio?
Smallrig 220s and 450s
Hi can you use the smallrig Vmount battery for charging the cam while the smallrig vmount battery is charged by a power bank or so?
Hello, I don't think so since you need the USB-C port to charge it. That said, if you need to for other ports you should be good to go. Also, the V-Mount has a lot of juice and will power your devices for a while so why charge the battery with another battery? I don't think you'll need that. Take care
Thank you@@cris_photography .
I have the BMPCC 6K Pro and its really drainy. I thought of Powering the Cam via DTap while (if needed) charging the Vmount Bat with USB C.
It came just yesterday and im going to pick it up tomorrow :)
hey Cris, how yo uconnect monitor with smallrig? can yo ushare cable solution? I am using sony fx3 and ninja v+ and I have kondor blue Dummy DTap so I need cable for monitor... Do you have any idea how to supply monitor ? D Tap is already booked with Dummy battery....
Hey there, thanks for the message.
I personally use the d-Tap port for the monitor and I use a usb-C cable to power my A7siii. I don’t use dummy batteries but I keep the normal battery in. That way if anything happens to the v-mount it keeps shooting (and I don’t use the dtap port). Hope that helps cheers
@@cris_photography Thanks for quick answer buddy! And how you supply your monitor? I am using Ninja v + but I can't find any cable to plug, only Dtap option is available... Do you have some idea?
Np. I power the monitor using d-tap to 8v but u don’t have that on the ninja. I should use dtap on the ninja and usb-C for the Sony camera
nice video
Thanks 🙏
What do you use to charge these ?
Currently my iPad charger via USB-C
Cheers
@@cris_photography can I use my 98w M1 Max charger ? Or is that too much power for 45w batteries
How these 99w batteries compare with let's say a 25,000 mA USB power bank in terms of only power (not connectivity)
Thanks. The VB99 has a capacity of 6700mAh. Therefore comparing it to a 25k mAh battery it means you get a little above quarter power with the VB99.
The VB155 on the other hand has a capacity of 10500mAh which might be better if you are looking into having more power. Take care
@@cris_photography I've also seen thatthere's something with the voltage, USB bank can't power certain things like external monitors which needs 12,8V while USB bank are 5V... well it slowly getting clearer :) thanks
@bobmusikk exactly 👍🏼
I just got my small rig battery. I noticed that it doesn't like it when I turn the camera off. It won't power the camera back up once I turn the camera on and off? Do
I have a defective battery?
That’s strange, never had that issue. What camper do you have?
Camper? Or camera? Running the R5c. I noticed that when I first plug it in, the battery display shows data regarding power info, but when I turn the camera off and on,the battery just shows percentage and goes dark, the camera at first says DP bit when powering off and on the DP doesn’t show anymore like if it wasn’t even plugged in and only shows camera battery power.
Maybe I just need to practice or a bit. I originally was running a laptop and utility charger and it always worked with no issues.