Even though they are generally more light-sensitive than most video cameras, DSLRs do require portable lighting, whether it’s simply for highlighting a face,
head and shoulders, or for lighting a small room. While most of the cameras have shoes for mounting small camera lights, they have a unique problem in terms of power supply. The newest lithium ion camera batteries can power DSLRs for many hours, but don’t have the extra capacity to handle a camera light.
One solution has been panels of low-wattage LEDs powered by AA batteries. Another, pioneered by Frezzi Energy Systems, is to create a mobile power supply compact enough to mount on DSLRs, and with enough capacity to power their smallest camera light — the Mini-Fill—for a full working day.
FEATURES
Frezzi calls the system the “Power Block,” perhaps due to the fact that it resembles a small building block. The size is a mere 3.5" x 3.2" x 1.6" and easily mounts on a camera’s hot shoe, or atop the handgrip of a stabilizer arm packaged with Frezzi’s DSLR light package. The unit weighs in at 16 ounces and is just heavy enough to counterbalance a DSLR attached to the stabilizer bar. The 14 V Power Block outputs 65 WH, which can power the Mini-Fill with eight Watt LED for a full day of shooting. Conversely, you’ll get barely two hours with the 35-Watt tungsten lamp, running at full capacity. However, you can double that by dimming down the light by approximately 50 percent.
The Mini-Fill lighting instrument is a thick blue barrel with large cooling slits on top. At only 12 ounces and measuring 4” in length and with a 2” diameter, the Mini-Fill is perfectly sized for a DSLR. Optional extras include mini-barndoors and filter holder, a softbox, and a dichroic filter and bracket.
Frezzi has packaged the Mini-Fill and Power Block and a charger into three different DSLR lighting packages. Each includes a pair of bulbs: 35-Watt tungsten and 8-Watt LED.
The first two DSLR packages feature a stabilizer arm with a rubberized handgrip which fastens to the base of the camera creating a DSLR support rig. The DSLR-1 package has one Power Block and a single channel fast charger, while the DSLR-2 package includes two Power Blocks and a dual-channel charger. Both include a battery mount holder and a shoe mount.
The DSLR-3 package has a beefier mounting rig — the Frezzi Stable Cam —and includes a dual-handled grip and a 100-Watt Power Block, along with a matching fast charger. Stable Cam is a shoulder-style rig that mounts the battery behind the user’s shoulder on the “tail end” of the shoulder brace in order to provide proper balance. It also offers more options for positioning the camera vertically and horizontally on the rig.
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