talking pixels

Apple’s current line of MacBookPros do not have interchangeable batteries. Commonly we find ourselves on a location photo shoot for 10+ hours without a place to “plug in.”  We used to carry multiple Apple MBP batteries and a great desktop charger. Now we use Battery Pads to get that all day power. External battery pads have been on the market for a number of years but they are now becoming essential to location workflow.

We are happy to see more options on the market than ever.  BatteryGeek, HyperMac, and now Versatile Studios offer solid options for the digital tech that requires all day juice.  Running Pixels has both BatteryGeek and Versa battery pads available for rental. Contact us for more information.

BatteryGeek has been around the longest and has proven itself with quality battery pads of many different sizes. Offerings from 75W (12 ounces and $189) to 444W (9 pounds and $999) give you lots of options for battery size and life.  We have 130W Battery Geek PowerStations and find them to be a good balance.  The 222W pad is also a good option for those looking for a bit more juice.

BatteryGeek pads allow you to manually select the output voltage for use with devices beyond your MacBookPro.  Cables from a few years back did not charge the laptop as well as power it; however, BatteryGeek’s new cables do charge the internal laptop battery as do the systems from HyperMac and Versatile.

Although their website recommends the 16V setting, we have found better performance at 19V.  Stock MBP chargers dynamically switch between 16.5V and 18.5V depending on the usage of the computer.  The 16V setting is probably fine for “regular folks” but on set we are always running full steam with tethered shooting, card downloading and file processing.
BatteryGeek also includes a quality leather carrying case for the battery pad and offers $100 off their 100W car charger when purchased with a battery pad.  The carrying case is well made and is very convenient for travel.  Neither HyperMac or Versatile offer carrying cases with their pads.

HyperMac’s battery pads appear very similar those designed by BatteryGeek. The unit, displays and ports are nearly identical and it would not surprise us if they are made in the same Chinese factory.  The main differences are color and voltage selection. The HyperMac automatically selects voltage just like the stock MBP chargers do. This is very convenient and you won’t need to manually select the voltage each time you power up the battery.  The HyperMac battery also has a 10W USB out to charge the iPad.

HyperMac also offers a variety of pad sizes and includes a similar car charger free of charge with every pad purchase.  No carrying case is included.  Despite appearing to be the exact same cable as BatteryGeek (even the photo looks the same), the HyperMac replacement cables are $99.  You don’t want to misplace that cable.

Versatile Studios’ Versa is the new entry to the battery pad market and they are quickly gaining ground. Their batteries are simple, lightweight and competitively priced.

We have not tortured our Versas on set as long as the BatteryGeeks but so far they are performing like champs.  The Versa outputs 19V and is only offered in a 190W size.  As do the others, it also has a USB port to charge an iPhone and charges the internal laptop battery.  The Versa does not come with a carry case nor is a car charger available. Recharge time on the Versa is much quicker than our BatteryGeek pads.  Overall we have been very impressed with the Versa battery and have heard good reviews from other digital techs around the country.  The only negative we have noticed is the lack of right angle plug on the power cable.

The weak link in all of these battery pads is the power cable that goes from the battery to the MacBookPro MagSafe port. Due to Apple’s copyright, the cable cannot be legally reproduced so the battery pad manufacturers are forced to purchase retail MacBookPro chargers and harvest the cable for their needs.  Therefore, these cables are very expensive to replace when they are damaged or lost.  Replacement cables from each manufacturer vary from $65-100 each.

Battery Geek and HyperMac supply cables with a right angle plug.  Versatile Studios cable is a straight plug.  We are told Versatile is working on a right angle plug and we hope it is released soon.  The straight plug can put unnecessary pressure on the port and cable when pushed up against the side of a laptop case.  We believe this will eventually fray the cable or cause damage to the port itself.  Unfortunately in our line of work equipment is constantly tortured and smart design for a long life is very important.  A right angle cable is a much better solution and a big plus to the HyperMac and BatteryGeek systems. Unfortunately the HyperMac/Battery Geek cables are not interchangeable with the Versatile system.



Battery pads have become an essential part of the location digital capture kit.  We are constantly looking for new products to make shoots run smoother.  If you have any suggestions about battery pads or know of any other products out there, we would love to hear from you.

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The most important part of securing your photo files is simple:  backup, backup, backup.  Your security is only as good as your backup.  A well planned frequent backup system is your best friend in photo storage.  Whether or not you do this manually or automated, backing up  your files frequently is the smartest thing you can do for your photo security.

Here is a basic photo workflow that creates multiple copies and allows for both “portfolio” storage and “jobs” storage.  This is simple, cost effective and a great way to organize your images.

For years, MacGurus has provided photographers and videographers excellent products and tech support for data storage.  Don’t underestimate the value of top notch customer service & tech support. You really do want someone to answer the phone when you need them.

Over the years, MacGurus has discussed client workflow with us and provided the best storage systems for our clients.  Everyone’s storage needs are a bit different and we highly recommend talking with them about how you want to work.

Take a good read through the MacGurus Photo Storage System article.  Great advice about simple and secure file storage for photographers. Do you really need a RAID?  Probably not.  But if you do go the RAID route, know that you must back it up.  No storage system is secure with a true backup.

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Our new “Nehalem” MacPro Towers have arrived. These 8 core beasts are custom built with 12gb RAM, 4 TB of hard drives, upgraded video cards, and both eSATA and FireWire expansion cards.

Ready to crank out your JPEGs in record time.

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Finally, Hasselblad has released their Phocus software to the public. Previously you had to have the serial number for a Hasselblad digital back to access the download. They also released four sample RAW 3F files.

This is a smart decision for Hasselblad as it will allow people to test drive their software without purchasing or renting an actual digital back.

Traditionally we have found Hasselblad Digital Backs and their old school FlexColor software to be excellent for still life and product work.  But it choked on any heavy image workflow.  What we have seen of Phocus has been promising and we have high hopes for it in the future.

Nice move Hassy.  Now where is my 65mm H lens??

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We’ve been working on reinforcing our Tenba Air Tower cases for travel and shipping.  As purchased, our Tower cases have proven to be inadequate protection from the Airlines & FedEx.  Luckily, we have not had problems with our Monitor cases.

A FedEx Packaging Engineer visited us (because we filed a pricey insurance claim) & showed us exactly why the case consistently fails to protect our Towers (our claim was denied due to “inadequate packaging”).

Damage is likely caused by the case falling off a conveyor belt.  Conveyor belts move freight thru shipping centers & are above hip height to prevent back injuries.  If the case falls off the belt onto a cement floor, there is a good chance of damage.

The case is most vulnerable from top impacts as there are large air gaps between the case lid & the Tower.  You can easily dent the case lid by pushing firmly with your hand.  Try it.  A heavy impact to the top of the case will crush the lid and contact the Tower, commonly dislodging RAM or video cards, or even bending the computer handle.  ”These air gaps must be filled with padding,” said the FedEx Engineer.  If it had been up to his standards, our Tower would have been replaced.  Because it was not, we are left with damaged machines & voided AppleCare protection plans.  

We have implemented his suggestions to reinforce our cases & hope to no longer see this kind of damage from traveling with the Big Guns.

Below are pictures showing what we have done and what you should do too if you travel with a Tower.  We don’t promise this will protect you from the Gorillas, but it should do a much better job guarding your precious computer from impact.

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We have read across the internet about newfound USB tether speed with the recent OSX 10.5.6 update.  This is quite exciting as both the Canon 1DS Mark 3 and 5D Mark 2 are both USB now.  Firewire 400 is quickly disappearing from all digital cameras and it will soon be a USB and Firewire 800 market.

Today we did a test of a 5D Mark 2 tethered in both 10.5.4 (which we use on set) and 10.5.6 (which we are still testing).  YES, there is a remarkable USB speed increase with 10.5.6.  Definitely exciting.  Camera buffer clears significantly faster under 10.5.6 allowing a tremendous increase in shooting speed over time.  We found a 200% increase in captures over a 1 minute shooting frenzy.  Amazing.

You can peep our test figures here if you are interested in the data detail.

Most promising to us is how quickly the buffer clears.  In the 1 minute tests, once the buffer is hit, we found a ~2 sec per frame capture rate with 10.5.6.  Undeniably screaming compared to the ~6-7 sec per frame rate on 10.5.4.

UNFORTUNATELY, we found 10.5.6 tethered to be very unstable.  In this short test, the camera lost connection to the computer 5 times.  Both camera and software would require restarting to reconnect. All problems were under the “1 minute Max Frames” tests which emmulate the stress of an actual shoot.  We have heard that many cameras have connection problems after 100+ frames while tethered to 10.5.6.

We are ecstatic about the newfound speed with 10.5.6.  However, we will not be using it on set until the stability is sorted.  So we are anxiously awaiting 10.5.7.

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We are commonly asked why we push using Towers on set instead of iMacs or Laptops as primary capture machines.  iMacs have become increasingly popular due to their low cost; however, they have insufficient bus power, backup ports, and storage space.

Bare Feats is our favorite “test” blog and here is a table from a Dec 2008 test that clearly shows the advantage of a Tower over an iMac and MacBookPro.

There is no substitute for the Big Guns & we gladly carry the extra weight to/fro set to utilize the extra umph in processing, storage, & rendering power.

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Unfortunately, this has become a common occurrence for us and other techs traveling with a Tower and Tenba Air Case.  

If you are traveling with a tower, we highly recommend filling ALL AIR GAPS with foam and bubble wrap.  Cross your fingers and sacrifice a few DVDs to the computer gods.  

Stock Tenba cases will NOT protect your tower from the Airlines or FedEx.  & FedEx will deny your claim for insurance because the Tenba case is not up to their packaging standards.  Unfortunately the Pelican case option is extremely heavy (~40 lbs empty) and we still believe the best option is a smartly packed Tenba case.

This is why you want to leave your precious computer in your studio and rent a capture machine for shoots.  All computers that travel outside eventually end up damaged.

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