During the last couple of years, I`ve gotten all my batteries and “powertools” from the great guys&gals at Globalmediapro.com. Their stuff is great quality with an unbeatable pricepoint. And their shipping is shockingly fast, even though they are on the other side of mother earth from Norway. Amazing!
During the last 6 months, I have been lucky enough to betatest a batteryplate from Globalmediapro. A V-mount to everything unit, which sits comfortably on standard 15 size rods. All the monitors, recievers, transmitters and lights flooding into the market these days needs powering. If you power every unit independently, it adds wheight and it also adds stress to the operator, constantly checking which battery needs swapping. A single batteryplate like this one, matched with a decent size battery, will most likely power all you camera needs for a day, if not many.
The unit I got, was a beta unit, so the 8.5v marker here is actually 8.4v. The plate has 2x 12v outputs, 1x 8.4 (matched for c300 powering) 1x 7.2 and 1x 5v. It also features a USB power out and a HDMI powered splitter, together with a “normal” p-tap/d-tap output. And they even throw in some GREAT cables. Really, standard size cables are almost always to long or to short for your rig setup, but Globalmediapro has these great flexible, circularshaped cables (dont have the right word for it in English 🙂 It makes organizing your rig much easier.
Its a plate that will grow with your needs. And remember, alot of items dont need the full 12v power. SmallHDs different type of monitors will work with anything from 7vs and up. That means that the 12v outputs can be saved for lights, recorders or focus motor. Personally, I dont like powering my camera with a plate. Its all about the beating my equipment can get in the field. Having a battery secuerly locked in place inside the camera, will always be more solid then power-by-cable option. If you want to, you can power the c300 from the 8.4 port on this plate, with the powercord that came with your camera (from your carger to a DC plug). The cable will most likely be a little long, but that can be shortened if you have the guts to do open cable surgery.
All in all, its the best battery plate option I have tried, and I have used it extensively in both documentary and feature productions. It mounts easily on any rig (the plate can lie on the rods or upright like above) and it has very flexible power options. I matched this plate with the Li95S battery, and it will basicly power monitors and other small devices for days with one charge. This plate is also a perfect match for the Paralinx Arrow, as it has both DC5v out and USB 5v out, for the Arrow transmitter. Futureproof!