
--
Anton/Bauers Dionic XT batteries and a Sachtler flowtech100 carbon-fibre tripod played starring roles in the production of Series 1 of The Americas With Simon Reeve, currently airing on BBC Two. As director of photography for the program, renowned cameraman Jonathan Young relied on the Dionic XTs and flowtech100 to capture stunning imagery in rugged, remote, and challenging locations, from the icy wilderness of Alaskas Denali National Park to the steaming jungles of Costa Rica.
The Americas is the latest in Youngs long-term collaboration with Reeve, a well-known British author, adventurer, and TV presenter. The two-series program traces Reeves journey from the top to the toe of the Americas, with Series 1 covering North and Central America. Currently in production, Series 2 will continue the story down through South America and will air in 2020.
This program is Simons most ambitious journey yet, and he explores parts of the Americas few outsiders or even locals get to see. On this shoot, we had every extreme of temperature and location that its possible to encounter in a single filming assignment, said Young. We pushed our equipment to the limit, and naturally, we expected something to break or fall apart. But the Dionic XT batteries and flowtech100 tripod performed flawlessly throughout, whether we were shooting in -20 degrees Celsius in Alaska or 35 degrees and high humidity in Costa Rica. Once again, the Anton/Bauer and Sachtler gear surpassed my expectations.
Young shot most of The Americas With Simon Reeve Series 1 using several different Sony cameras such as the PXW X500 and the FS5, all utilising Canon lenses. With its lightweight yet sturdy carbon-fibre construction, the flowtech100 tripod combined with a Sachtler Video 18 S2 fluid head to provide stable support and smooth operation for the camera payload, which often exceeded 15 kg.
For the Alaska portion of the shoot, the crew travelled to the head of the Ruth Glacier in Denali National Park in a small plane. The planes weight restrictions and limited space meant Young could only carry one tripod on the trip, but the flowtech100 covered all of his needs - accommodating cameras ranging from a small Sony A7S DLSR (used for shooting the aurora borealis) on up to the larger and heavier cine cameras.
This was my first shoot with the flowtech tripod, and it absolutely blew me away, Young commented. Initially, I had doubts about its performance at low temperatures because Ive seen other carbon-fibre equipment become brittle or crack in extreme cold. That did not happen with flowtech - it held up beautifully with no stiffening or brittleness.
Young was also impressed with flowtech100s fast and easy setup, ruggedness, and lightweight, all of which were critical not only on the glacier but also on shoots in Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, and Costa Rica. One location, the ancient Maya site of Yaxchil n in Mexicos Chiapas state, required the crew to travel up the Usumacinta River, hike through the ruin complex, and then climb 400 feet up rough stone steps to the top of the largest temple.
Not only is the flowtech light enough to be carried easily over long distances, but its extremely fast and easy to set up on uneven ground. With just three speed brakes to lock, I could even deploy it with one hand, and each leg could adjust automatically to a different height, such as multiple steps on the temple, Young says. Time really is of the essence in many cases, such as wildlife shots. In the Costa Rican and Belizean jungles, for instance, when we were using a long lens to shoot macaws or toucans, we had to be ready to set up the instant we saw the birds circling. The flowtech100 made it possible.
Young used the same Dionic XT batteries for The Americas that he had employed for his previous Reeve project, The Mediterranean With Simon Reeve, which aired on BBC Two in 2018. The batteries reliably powered not only the cameras but also a SmallHD 702 monitor and, in some instances, a Teradek wireless transmitter as well.
I am incredibly impressed with the Dionic XTs. After over a year of hard use and regular charging, youd expect batteries to start showing their age. But I have not noticed a drop-off of performance with the Dionics, Young said. These batteries are seriously rugged - theyve flown around the world and theyve been hand-carried in a Peli case, snapped on and off cameras countless times, carried in coat pockets - and theres barely a mark on them.
Just as with the plane flight in Alaska, weight was a serious factor on the Yaxchil n shoot. The Dionic XTs long run time meant the crew was able to carry fewer batteries on the rugged approach to the site. The batteries ability to operate effectively in extreme heat, not only in Mexico but also in Costa Rica, was another critical factor.
With the Dionics, we were able to calculate our battery requirements down to the minute to ensure we could climb to the top of the temple, filming as we went, with a safety margin to get back down again. And all we needed was one Dionic XT mounted on the camera, plus a spare, to get us through at least four hours of hard, nonstop shooting. It made a big difference on a hot day with a big, strenuous hike, Young said.
He added, Anton/Bauer has put so much thought and effort into the use of the Dionic XTs in extreme environments. Ive now used them on both ends of the temperature spectrum, and theyve never overheated or let me down in any way. Heat can be a batterys worst enemy, but in the Costa Rican jungle, where we were dealing with both heat and humidity, there was no fluctuation at all in the Dionic XTs performance.
The combination of the Dionic XT batteries and flowtech100 tripod enabled Young to capture stunning and unforgettable moments for The Americas With Simon Reeve - fleeting images that change rapidly and then disappear. In one example, Youn
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
02/05/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
01/05/2026
January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...
01/04/2026
January 4 2026, 18:00 (PST) DOLBY AND DOUYIN EMPOWER THE NEXT GENERATON OF CREATORS WITH DOLBY VISION
Douyin Users Can Now Create And Share Videos With Stun...
07/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
06/03/2026
TNT Sports and the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) have reached a mul...
06/03/2026
OffBall and TOGETHXR, two influential young media companies in sports, announce a strategic and operational partnership in a shared push to scale and create inn...
06/03/2026
InfoComm 2026, a destination for AV, IT, broadcast, and AI-driven systems, annou...
06/03/2026
LTN and MediaKind announce a strategic partnership to integrate MediaKind's ...
06/03/2026
X Games and the Greater New Orleans Sports Foundation (GNOSF) announce that New Orleans, Louisiana, will host the first-ever X Games Championship event - the fi...
06/03/2026
As part of a busy start of the year at Chyron, the AXIS team developed a set of improvements for AXIS Maps. The features released empower users with more flexib...
06/03/2026
At the 2026 NAB Show, BeckTV, a premier systems integrator for the broadcast ind...
06/03/2026
At NAB Show 2026, Net Insight introduces Nimbra Live Intelligence, which definin...
06/03/2026
SES announces that it has added new Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) satellite capacity ...
06/03/2026
LucidLink, the cloud-native file streaming platform for instant, secure access to large files, announce LucidLink Connect, a new solution that enables real-time...
06/03/2026
Panasonic helped bring the world of Paddington: The Musical to life through imme...
06/03/2026
In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level ha...
06/03/2026
Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent rating news and is derived from press releases and reports around the industry. In this week's edition, NASCAR Cup Se...
06/03/2026
At the 2026 NAB Show, Riedel Communications opens with a clear message to the North American market: production technology does not have to be complex.
This ye...
06/03/2026
Midco Sports isn't your typical regional sports network. Backed by nearly a ...
06/03/2026
The stories around the Paralympics are really touching and the athletes, the atmosphere it is all amazing and we want to use new technologies to help us tell th...
06/03/2026
Apple TV subscribers will have access to as many as 30 additional live feeds acr...
06/03/2026
Ten years after its release, South African hip-hop artist Kwesta's DaKAR II is still making waves. With 51.8 million streams on Spotify, the album continues...
06/03/2026
Statement on the appointment of Dr Nicholas Pappas AM as SBS Chair
Media releases
The SBS Board and Executive have welcomed the appointment of Dr Nicholas P...
06/03/2026
Nielsen Highlights Women's Sports Viewership Milestones Ahead of International Women's Day on March 8
New York March 5, 2026 According to Nielsen...
06/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
06/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
06/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
06/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
06/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
06/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
06/03/2026
Spanish FM and online broadcaster esRadio has selected DHD RX2 audio production consoles for use at its studio headquarters in Madrid. Part of the Libertad Digi...
06/03/2026
LucidLink, the cloud-native file streaming platform for instant, secure access to large files, today announced LucidLink Connect, a new solution that enables re...
06/03/2026
At the 2026 NAB Show, BeckTV, a premier systems integrator for the broadcast industry, is launching BeckFlow, the first web-based schematic documentation platfo...
06/03/2026
At NAB Show 2026, Net Insight introduces Nimbra Live Intelligence defining a new category and setting a new standard for live operations: the Open Media Platfor...
06/03/2026
At the 2026 NAB Show, Interra Systems will showcase its latest advancements in automated QC, real-time monitoring, and captioning reinforcing its position as ...
06/03/2026
At the 2026 NAB Show, Riedel Communications opens with a clear message to the North American market: production technology does not have to be complex. This yea...
06/03/2026
New partnership combines on-prem video processing with reliable IP transport to support the transition from C-Band satellite to IP distribution
LTN and MediaKi...
06/03/2026
06 Mar 2026
VEON and JazzWorld Advance Pakistan's Digital Financial Future ...
06/03/2026
Friday 6 March 2026
Teaser revealed for Saturday Night Live UKTurn on cookies to view this content. Go to Privacy options and select Accept All'.
Privacy...
06/03/2026
Back to All News
Announcing Barbara - Becoming Shirin David
Entertainment
06 March 2026
GlobalGermany
Link copied to clipboard
Available exclusively on N...
06/03/2026
Discover how the F1 sound team turned a real Grand Prix into a cinematic experience.
Director Joseph Kosinski and his team worked directly with the Formula On...
06/03/2026
Arvato Systems Joins Initiative D21 e. V.
Shaping digital transformation together
Collaboration in Germanys largest network for the digital society
Membersh...
06/03/2026
The Trustworthy Accountability Group (TAG) is a global initiative dedicated to c...
06/03/2026
We are deeply saddened to hear the very sad news of the death of our friend and colleague, John McHugh. John was an exceptionally talented creative leader who s...
06/03/2026
First exclusive look at RT 's promo as Ireland prepare to take on Czechia
Every Moment, Every Generation
https://youtu.be/2ijo96EadLU
36 years after Geor...
06/03/2026
A new clue to how the body detects physical force Scripps Research scientists offer new insight into how the body detects light touch and how disruptions in tha...
05/03/2026
More than 250 sports-graphics professionals packed into The Cutting Room in New ...
05/03/2026
Cosm announces that it will open its third immersive entertainment venue at downtown Atlanta's Centennial Yards on June 10, 2026. Its first public event wil...