Zero Gravity Relies on Anton/Bauer for Clemson Sports Shows

Anton/Bauer, part of Vitec Videocom, a Vitec Group company and a premier global provider of batteries, chargers, lighting, and other mobile power systems for the professional broadcast, video, film, and healthcare technology industries, has been an integral part of Zero Gravity's projects since the company's inception in 1998. Most recently, Anton/Bauer batteries played an imperative role in the company's longstanding project of producing Clemson University coach shows during the school's football and basketball seasons. Whether working on a post-game report or producing other material, including broadcast commercials and corporate videos, Zero Gravity counts on the reliability and top-notch performance of Anton/Bauer batteries to power through any production scenario.

For the past six years, the production studio has been using Anton/Bauer's DIONIC 90 and HyTRON 140 batteries to power its equipment while filming the coach shows. The 30-minute programs feature clips of the school's football and basketball game highlights, along with exclusive interviews with the coaches and players. Each show is shot live, edited overnight and aired the next morning. With such a tight schedule, it is imperative for Zero Gravity to keep its RED and Panasonic cameras powered up, which is why it turns to Anton/Bauer batteries.

We use Anton/Bauer products exclusively because we have 14 years of positive experience with their reliability and performance, says Keith Bogart, partner and producer at Zero Gravity. The DIONIC series is extremely lightweight and its performance quality makes it the perfect choice for fast-moving productions, as they allow our film crews to move quickly with the cameras from the run-and-gun' operations during the game to the staging area for interviews. Basically, the DIONIC series lets us shoot longer, and more confidently. Plus, their reliability and RealTime display mean we get accurate results that we can count on for every type of shoot.

Zero Gravity also uses HyTRON 140 batteries to power its RED Scarlet and other Panasonic HPX series cameras. Because of their portability and stamina, the HyTRON 140s provide all-day power and offset the heavy weight of the camera lenses, making them ideal for longer shoots, such as Clemson University's night games. The batteries also feature the RealTime display that indicates both fuel gauge and remaining run-time data simultaneously in hours, minutes,, and remaining capacity, making battery change decisions quick and easy.

Since the RealTime display supplies users with understandable feedback on the current load of the battery, it is essential in helping to prevent unplanned downtime on set. We shoot with very power-hungry cameras, like the RED Epic and Scarlet, and with those cameras, you need to have a battery with significant wattage output, Bogart says. The RealTime display helps us monitor the batteries' charges, so we don't have to worry about stopping in the middle of a crucial take to swap out the battery.

The DIONIC 90 also delivers consistently reliable performance. The 95Wh battery can handle a maximum load of six amps and offers run-times ranging from six hours at 15 watts to 1.75 hours at 50 watts. Its motion-detection feature, now standard on all Logic Series batteries, incorporates a sleep-mode setting that reduces battery self-discharge, allowing for extended periods of storage with minimal capacity loss. The battery can be awakened by the built-in motion sensor.

Zero Gravity also turns to Anton/Bauer batteries to power its LED lights. Many manufacturers are adding Anton/Bauer Gold Mount adapters to their LED lights, which allow production crews to run the lights on battery power. We can typically power our 1 1 LED panels all day on one DIONIC 90, Bogart says. It's amazing to be able to put such a high-output, lightweight battery on an LED panel and run it all day without tripping over a power cord!

While Bogart says Anton/Bauer's Field support is helpful and quick to respond, he rarely has to contact it. The products are all built so well and last so long that we rarely have to call, he says.

LINK:	http://sportsvideo.org/main/blog/2013/10/zero-gravity-relies-on-antonb...
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