Anton/Bauer ElipZ Light System
Overview
Prior to the review, I like to have the company position the product so we have a standard to review by, as not everything is designed for a backyard party and/or a Hollywood feature. Kyle Dann, Product Specialist of Anton/Bauer, took the time to send us a description:
Anton/Bauer developed the ElipZ battery system and ElightZ EgripZ accessories to address the needs of those utilizing the smaller handheld cameras. The Elipz battery allows for the extended camera runtimes which is demanded by those such as event videographers and student filmmakers alike. The ElipZ battery also allows the powering of the 6v ElightZ on camera light with fully articulating head allowing the light to be extended forward to eliminate any lens shadowing. The ability to power both the camera and on camera light all from one battery eliminates the need to carry separate batteries for your on camera light.
ElightZ
On first impressions, it feels super light and little flimsy. It’s made of black and blue plastic, although that plastic is durable lightweight high temperature polycarbonate. I can’t really test how durable is durable, as they’d like it back in the same condition they sent it. It reminded me of a Transformer I had as a kid, especially when it can fold down into a very compact form that keeps it protected in stowage (a very nice design touch).
Mounting the light is easy. Unscrew the blue dial to lower the light’s shoe, slide it into the camera light mount and then tighten the blue dial. I learned this by initially screwing it in incorrectly, which can lead to the shoe coming off at inopportune times. I unscrewed the light’s shoe, rather than the blue dial, to lower the shoe and this actually unthreaded it from the mounting screw. The shoe can come off easily from the mounting screw, as it’s threaded together by only a few turns. Any twisting of the light when mounted could loosen it, and then you’re about two turns away from it falling off.
So make sure your shoe is on tight, and then use the dial to adjust the shoe. Something to be aware of if shooting over a grate or sink or whatever void might be under you.
If the shoe comes off easily, the shoe isn’t tight enough on the adjustment screw and you’ll need to torque that down. You can remove the adjustment screw and, using the included allen key, tighten it into the shoe.
The cable length is perfect to route to the back of the battery from the base of the light. I ran mine underneath the Velcro hand strap cover on my DVX. Neat and compact. Based on the orientation of the battery mount on the bottom of the battery, the power plug will always face to the back of the camera.
The on-off switch to the light faces away from the shooter, towards the front of the camera. I’d prefer it on the back so that I can see that the status of the switch when mounted. Not sure if that’s a big deal, and perhaps user preference, but I’d definitely like all my controls facing me. It would also be great if the light had a dimmer, but perhaps that’s not a feature to fit at this price point.
The light extends pretty well. Being at a vertical height of 6” from the top of the shoe. It has three pivot points (base, elbow, light joints). Each joint has an Allen screw into the side that can be tightened or loosened to adjust resistance with the included Allen key.
The light comes with ton of diffusion that is cut to the size of the light, or a 2.25” wide oval and has two mounting holes on the left and right side. You get 5 of the following: Frost White Gels, Fluorescent (Green) Gels, Spun Glass, and CBT (Blue) Gels.
Diffusion mounts on the front of the light on two pegs (using the two holes) and fits pretty snug. However, there are also two small rubber doughnuts on the pegs holding the diffusion. Be delicate, clumsy fingers here could tear the edges of the diffusion. Also, in windy conditions, the diffusion doesn’t have a top or bottom attach point and wind could cause it to fold over and release irregular light. Finally, the two rubber doughnuts are the only two you get. There should be at least 12 sent with every kit. For half of this review, I was missing one of the two because it fell off the table and I couldn’t find it.
I like the concept of including the diffusion in the light kit. Simply put the diffusion on the front of the light, and the diffusion doesn’t get in the way of changing the bulb as it comes off with the bulb cover.
However, the current attachment method is a bit clumsy. If you’re using this light it’s probably because your shooting environment is dark, so dropping a small black rubber doughnut would be a pain to find.
Perhaps instead of the two little tiny pegs used to secure the diffusion, in their next model Anton Bauer could create a rigid border around the entire diffusion (think a photo slide) with more easy attachment (maybe a lightweight cradle that this slide-like diffusion can slip into and be secured at the top with a latch).
The heat dispersion around the bulb is well done. Thanks to the polycarbonate arms, the only part that gets really warm is the light head itself. And even that isn’t super hot.
But all this really comes down to the light, and the light is bright. Using Michelle as my subject in our darkened studio, we were able to have her stand 10 feet away and have enough light for the shot with low gain on the camera and an open iris. It works.
Another note is the light will only work with the ElipZ Battery, a result of proprietary plug system. AntonBauer makes an extension cable so you could wear the battery, placing it in a fanny pack. As of this review, they don’t have a strap or belt for it. But at the same time, as you’ll read next, this is an Anton/Bauer battery we’re reviewing here.
ElipZ Battery
To understate completely: the thing has charge. It kept the light lit for about 5.5 hours. You can also configure it to power not only your light but your camera at the same time by daisy chaining their power plugs to the battery. Check to the website to see if they sell an adapter for your camera. We didn’t test the duration of using a camera and light running off of the battery, but I assume it’s gotta be pretty good.
The idea of mounting the battery under the camera to keep weight on the camera low is a good idea. But from there, I think you’ll get differing opinions on the ElipZ 10K battery. If you’re going handheld, it will add heft to steady the camera (1.25lbs to be precise), but you’ll also get the shoulder muscles you always wanted. Mounted on a tripod or short bursts of handheld up is ideal, and probably the market they’re going for. Again, you can use an extension cable from AntonBauer and a fanny pack to carry the battery.
The battery charge is indicated by two LED’s on the side of the battery. One glows blue, meaning it is charged. When low, the other one glows yellow. Once the battery is dead it just goes out altogether. What’s weird is that the battery’s LED light glows blue even when it’s not in use and just sitting on our on-camera light shelf.
I guess it doesn’t drain the battery too much or they wouldn’t do this. But it’s not like you press a button and the LED light switches on, then off after you view it. I guess any indicator light on a battery is an improvement, but why not have five LED’s showing me how much I have left that will just display when I push a button? Not sure, maybe technically it wouldn’t work, but I’d like to see that.
The battery mounts to the bottom of the camera using a small mounting shoe. The mounting shoe doesn’t have a rubber pad on the top so when you screw it in, there is no sense of progressive counter pressure. I miss that, as I feel that pad adds grip and acts like a locking washer. As a note though, the mounting shoe didn’t come loose during use so maybe I don’t need it after all.
The top of the battery bites down on to the mounting shoe, and uses a spring loaded blue slider on the side of the battery to catch and release. The spring tension is slight at the beginning and then quite significant by the end.
As with many new mounting shoes, it takes a little to learn the right jiggle to get it out. The learning curve gets a bit steeper because of the asymmetrical shape to the mounting shoe. The nice thing is knowing that the anchor of this system favors security versus just falling off. The blue slider can be brought back about 75% of its complete sliding range and still maintain a solid connection to the battery.
The bottom of the battery has a metal 1/4 20 insert allowing for connection to a tripod or monopod, or the Anton/Bauer EgripZ as we’ll see later.
ElipZ Charger
Pretty basic. Just plug it in and leave it. I plugged it in overnight so I don’t know exactly how long it took to charge. It has two LED’s to indicate power into the charger and another to show charging status, red blink for charge, steady green for full. I did appreciate the sticker having the indicator guide on it, although this is commonplace and I probably could’ve figured it out on my own, it’s still a nice touch.
EgripZ
I’m always up for trying new ways to hold a camera to find out if I can get a smoother shot or better camera move. I like having shooting options. The EripZ is a lightweight grip system that mounts below your camera. The rig consists of a mount joining two flexible polymer adjustable arms. You can bend them independently of each other front-to-back, side-to-side, up-or-down. The company positions this product as a handheld support system developed to aid the videographer against wrist fatigue as well as a smoother shot when shooting with the handheld cameras.
To set the standard weight tolerance, the instructions don’t cover camera weight limitations when using the EgripZ. The Web site refers to handheld cameras weighing about 6 lbs, so we used a Panasonic DVX-100b (4.19lbs w/ battery) to test the rig.
Shooting style is different for everyone, and so I think there are shooters who could use this. The device is symmetrical but they suggest using the two different sides for different things. They suggest using the right side to brace against the forearm holding the camera, and the EgripZ could work in taking strain of holding the camera upright off the wrist, but I’m tall (6’4”) and think that could be the reason it didn’t really work for me.
We’ve all experienced shaky camera syndrome when shooting hand-held. Slight hand movements show up as jerky movements in the video you’re shooting. But when your hands are far from the center axis of the camera (shooting axis), the same slight jerky hand movements have less of an effect on the camera. The wide handles help in motion dampening.
I held the left handle of the EgripZ in my hand almost as a rudder while pressing the right handle against my forearm to counter-balance. This led to smoother camera movement. If you have great automatic settings on your camera, and don’t have to constantly reach for the camera to make adjustments, the EgripZ are great.
However, this smoothness comes with a trade off for those who live by manual controls. I found it difficult to access my zoom and focus settings and keep the smooth camera movement going when I had to let go of the handle with my left hand to make camera adjustments.
Using the entire Elipz system (EgripZ with the ElightZ and ElipZ battery) my camera rig weighed 5.84 lbs. With that much weight, the EgripZ works well for slow steady hand-held shots. But if you whip panned or tilted, the momentum of the weight of the rig overcame the flexible polymer arms of the EgripZ and would bend them.
Conclusion
I think this is a product set in development. It’s a good start. The ElightZ light is bright and weighs nothing, but a lot around the light needs polish except the compact form it folds into (which I love) and the cool operating temperature. The ElipZ battery seems to really deliver on charge. Creating a place for it at the bottom of the camera is good too.
If you’re going to put weight on a camera, keep the weight at the bottom. But again, it’d be nice to have ways to hold the battery on a belt or strap for handheld situations. The EgripZ are probably most suited for fully automatic rather than manual camera scenarios. For me, the EgripZ handles could be a bit more sturdy. I either want a shoulder mount with a pull focus, or a mount that lets me use all my manual controls on the camera easily. Again, maybe with more practice or if I wasn’t so tall, it might work better. Anton/Bauer is known for making quality products, and I’m sure these all will get better with each revision.
Click here to go to Anton/Bauer’s ElipZ Product Line
Joachim Wiese grew up on 12 acres in the cattle country of north central Florida. He now lives in Spanish Harlem in New York City. As a fan of contrast, Joachim loves dynamic range.
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