Love it! I just bought the 99 and it works great. Wish there was a way to keep cables plugged in but a physical power switch to stop it powering things if you don’t want it to.
There is no way to Power off the battery completely. This is an ALWAYS ON BATTERY. The power button on the side is misleading. It only shows the status of the battery when pressed. So if you charge your battery 100% in the morning, and by 9PM you will see a drop of at least 20% in power even when you leave it idle. You cannot transport your rig with the cables connected to the battery since it is always ON.
If you use the kondor blue pro v mount plate and connect the cables to the plate instead of this battery. You get to keep the cables connected and still get to kill the power to the battery with the kill switch on the plate.
I have the normal 155w, and it has been great. I got it for sale for around $220 from B&H. USB-C should be the standard for all camera accessories as it is convenient. Smallrig pressures companies like CoreSWX, one of the industry leaders of V/Gold Mount batteries, to innovate on their connectivity.
can this power LED lights like amaran F22c or aputure 300d or 600d ? do i need two or should i take 155wh ? or if there any recommended V mount battery for LED lights please let me know about it ?
I have the normal Smallrig mini V-Mount batteries and I got the normal ones in a sale for about the half price. I‘m fine with them, because I mostly use the USB-C for charging and the v lock for my FX6.
What is insane about this battery? Am I missing something? The only real difference seems like the additional usb-c port, which is nice, but not "insane."
Right... the screen is nice, as well as the form factor, but outside of that, it's not anything that amazing. I believe you can also charge any v-mount battery with a cable/power supply, it's not specific to this battery. My cheap v-mount charges in 2 hours from a common power supply.
@@joellouisfire I own a bunch of the previous version. I do like them. But they're basically like other batteries with a v-mount plate, just integrated. Charging the battery while also using it is a nice feature though (that is missing from the original version) for when I do long interview content.
Powerextra has similar battery at less than 50% of the price. Just doesn't have that extra USB-c, only one. But I would like to know whether the ports, USB ports on that Powerextra will last. The one on my Neewer failed in less than 6 months.
Love my SmallRig VB99 on my Red Komodo OG. I use the USB ports to charge/power an iPhone and a DTAP to power my Atomos Ninja screen/recorder. I use my MacBook Pro power supply to charge the batteries. It would great if Red certified the SmallRig batteries to work with the Komodo OS. But not a dealbreaker for me.
Hey Armando, nice video. I like the way you are pragmatic and get to the point. Great stuff 👌 I would like to use my FX3 with SR cage on my gimbal and Sachtler tripod. I have an Arca Swiss plate for my Ronin but would like same for the tripod. The v mount plate and 501 you use looks ideal. Could you please let me have the part numbers so I can purchase them (yes, I realise the v mount is identified in the ‘more’ section). Thanks 👍🏼
Are you concerned about "ground looping" using the same power source for your monitor as well as the camera? Or is that not a concern with these batteries? Thanks!
V-mount batteries with tons of output are a bad investment. They are unnecessarily expensive due to the extra cost of production and having all of your ports on the actual battery plate is a much better setup. You can just swap them without having to unplug all of your rig accessories and the cost savings just keep adding up the more batteries you get
Expensive? The same battery from Anton Bauer is double the cost. Really depends on what you’re doing, I usually have one battery last me for what I need it for. Also having this battery doesn’t mean you can’t use a battery plate with ports so your point is moot.
@@mondobytesI literally bought a Mini V mount battery on Amazon on sale for $69. The only difference between this and the one I bought was this one has USB-C ports and a screen.
@@mondobytes If I said a Lamborghini is unnecessarily expensive and all you need is a Golf your counter argument shouldn't be that a Ferrari is more expensive. My point is, having the ports on the battery plate itself instead of the battery allows you to buy less expensive batteries that don't have those unnecessary features. Like instead of buying SmallRig V99 batteries for 250€ you could get Zgcine S95 ones for 100€ and have a lot more battery capacity for the same cost without compromising rig optimization due to still having the extra features on your battery plate. The extra cost and "buy once, cry once" mantra that we like to tell ourselves as an excuse to splurge for the more expensive option because "it's something that we use professionally" and "it's an investment" doesn't really apply to gear like batteries, because it is considered a consumable item and it's capacity gets worse over time and will eventually need to be dispose of and replace, not sell, since there really isn't a buyers market for old batteries with lots of recharge cycles and that can't hold a charge anymore. So the less you have to dispose of when that time comes, the better. Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk
@@diogoalmeidavisuals Eh that's not exactly what I said, in fact I said the opposite. I invested in Anton Bauer batteries because they're industry standard and even my 5 year old V-Mount still holds charge like it was day 1. They use high quality batteries which is one of the reasons they cost so much. These Smallrig batteries use LG batteries and use a similar BMS Intelligent Control System like Anton Bauer for half the price and you get all the extras. Those ZGcine are trash man, I know someone that fried their camera. This is why I've refused to use anything but Anton Bauer, I've talked to them for years telling them to start putting USB C on their batteries and also DC outputs and they don't listen. Smallrig did it right and made a high end battery affordable. You keep saying "most expensive" option but the reality is you'll be spending more on those cheap V-mounts when they won't hold a charge anymore or fry your camera. Also as I said in my videos I don't always want to travel with a plate and rails because it's TOO MUCH gear. I'm the opposite keep it small, compact and light. I get hired by Apple and get paid thousands of dollars to run these panels and travel to do them I don't want to be lugging a bunch of gear with me. Not everyone wants to rig their camera and for those this is the best solution hands down without sacrificing on quality..
I'm abit worried about short circuit my gear due to creating a loop, v-mount battery connected to camera and monitor and monitor and camera with HDMI. Should I be worried?
It does because they’re both USB C. In fact I used them last week on a shoot: www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/z3z029pddyyv6bnfg98p5/IMG_1980.MOV?rlkey=j83auuhdfwslzq7b3jc8s06pt&dl=0
@@filmandframeca yes thanks I want to convert to using v-mount for power and I also need access to my lcd while shooting. So as long as I can loosen the plate with the battery and position it to use my screen while recoding then all good...
I have a GH6 in a Kondor Blue Cage with a Peak Design Tripod. I want this Small Rig Battery but do not know what else I would need to make it as simple as possible to quickly remove the rig from the trip pod and so on. Im new. Any recommendations? I also plan on getting a follow Tilta wireless nano follow focus and a ninja V monitor.
If you buy the v mount plate he shows in the video, that fits on the Peak Design tripod, and you should be able to remove it relatively quickly. I have the same setup and it works just fine. If you buy the follow focus you’ll probably need to put it on rails, which means you’ll need to get a baseplate. The way you could solve that would be to buy one of those nato rail adapters with a 15mm rod mount. That gets uncomfortable sometimes tho
Previous version aside, Im struggling to see how this is so different from the FXLION NANO TWO Ive been using for 4 or years....lol..it juts has more I/O and better display , as the NANO TWO only has USB-C, USB-A, micro USB and Dtapp , I believe NANO is also smaller.
You missed several critical points on the battery. There is a serious voltage surge issue with the 12V DC port on this model. Try powering on the Monitor with a DC cable connected to the 12V port. It will not power on. I was the first to report this to the small rig. I am not sure if they fixed this in subsequent batches. Please verify. Voltage surge from the battery will activate the voltage protection on your monitor and your monitor will not power on. The 8V port works fine. You also failed to report that there is no way to Power off the battery completely. This is an ALWAYS ON BATTERY (confirmed by Smallrig in my communication). So if you charge your battery 100% in the morning, and by 9PM you will see a drop of at least 20% in power even when you leave it idle due to continous discharge.. You cannot transport your rig with the cables connected to the battery since it is always ON.
Just tried powering a monitoring using the 12v and works fine? Dude all V-Mount batteries remain "ON" I charge these at 100% and several days later they still have 100% not sure if you got defective units my dude. I always leave my cables connected, you must have some power drain happening somewhere. I've heard of cables doing this, has nothing to do with the battery. Gladly setup a timelapes for you for 24hours with everything plugged in and 0% drop in battery, like I said you either got a defective battery or some cable is draining your power.
In my case VB99 Battery DEAD after 25 months of use. Although it wasn't used very intensively. The cells are fine, I think they still had an efficiency of around 90% but the electronics failed. And that's the biggest problem. Because the battery itself would probably still be functional. After connecting it to the charger, only the SmallRig inscription is displayed for a moment. It doesn't provide power, it doesn't turn on... I think that for a Vmount Battery this is a poor result compared to the competition. ;(
Not saying this to excuse Smallrig but I've had Anton Bauer batteries fail on me within the first year. It happens, bad batch or manufacturing defect. Hell, my Model Y had a bad battery but guess what. Tesla replaced it under warranty, so not sure if you've tried to reach out to Smallrig but I say if they handle it correctly and send you a replacement than service is where it's at. Let me know what happens curious to know because when I had an issue with my battery (Anton Bauer) it was replaced no questions asked.
@@mondobytes Unfortunately, despite sending all the information about the purchase that was required of me, support was unable to help me and referred me to the seller. The seller will do nothing because the WARRANTY in the EU is 24 months and the battery died after 25 months. In my experience, batteries from other companies are enough for 4-5 years of use. And most often, after some time, their efficiency decreases drastically. Here, some electronics inside have clearly failed and the battery is dead. However, it is probably better to avoid batteries from Smallrig in the future - too much electronics inside, which increases the chance that something will break down even though the cells themselves are functional. A battery is supposed to be a battery, not look nice and have a great screen. Even though I still have 2 x VB99 SE (but they are not even a year old). In the future I will probably decide on Newell or Paton. I prefer simple solutions, ordinary diodes showing the battery status but something that has a lower chance of breaking down. EDIT: the funniest thing is that technically the battery didn't even last 2 years. Because I bought it on November 12, 2022. I received the shipment on December 19, 2022. And the battery died on December 6, 2024 :(
My friend fried his camera using one of those batteries, I would never in my life touch those things. This is why you should NEVER use cheap batteries. I have over $10,000 worth of Anton Bauer batteries because I refuse to use anything else. I bought the Smallrig VB99 over a year ago and like Anton Bauer uses an intellgent BMS Control system so your shit doesn't get fried. Also Smallrig uses LG Cells so battery health will be top notch 3 years from now unlike those cheap knocks offs they lose health and die super fast, trust me dude their is a difference lol.
I just got my small rig battery. I noticed that it doesn't like it when I turn the camera off. It won't power the camera back up once I turn the camera on and off? Do I have a defective battery?
That magnetic usb c charging is genius. Definitely helps with the wear and tear on cameras that have flimsy usb c ports.
Yup and it works great including being able to transfer data too
Always a good day when Armando uploads 😩
🙏🏽 thanks brother
Excellent build! Doing a panel for Killers of the Flower Moon sounds so cool, would love to meet Mr. Scorsese one day. Great vid as always keep it up!
Gonna need to pick one of these up for sure! Great video as always Armando!
Love it! I just bought the 99 and it works great. Wish there was a way to keep cables plugged in but a physical power switch to stop it powering things if you don’t want it to.
There is no way to Power off the battery completely. This is an ALWAYS ON BATTERY. The power button on the side is misleading. It only shows the status of the battery when pressed. So if you charge your battery 100% in the morning, and by 9PM you will see a drop of at least 20% in power even when you leave it idle. You cannot transport your rig with the cables connected to the battery since it is always ON.
@@vishkumar yes I’m aware of that. I’m saying I wish they had an on off switch.
If you use the kondor blue pro v mount plate and connect the cables to the plate instead of this battery. You get to keep the cables connected and still get to kill the power to the battery with the kill switch on the plate.
I have the normal 155w, and it has been great. I got it for sale for around $220 from B&H.
USB-C should be the standard for all camera accessories as it is convenient. Smallrig pressures companies like CoreSWX, one of the industry leaders of V/Gold Mount batteries, to innovate on their connectivity.
Just ordered 2 a few days ago and the mount too, haha. Nice to see this review to confirms what I thought.
can this power LED lights like amaran F22c or aputure 300d or 600d ? do i need two or should i take 155wh ? or if there any recommended V mount battery for LED lights please let me know about it ?
Always coming in hot with the fuego videos brother!
Thanks broski! 👊🏽
I have the normal Smallrig mini V-Mount batteries and I got the normal ones in a sale for about the half price.
I‘m fine with them, because I mostly use the USB-C for charging and the v lock for my FX6.
What is insane about this battery? Am I missing something? The only real difference seems like the additional usb-c port, which is nice, but not "insane."
Right... the screen is nice, as well as the form factor, but outside of that, it's not anything that amazing. I believe you can also charge any v-mount battery with a cable/power supply, it's not specific to this battery. My cheap v-mount charges in 2 hours from a common power supply.
@@joellouisfire I own a bunch of the previous version. I do like them. But they're basically like other batteries with a v-mount plate, just integrated. Charging the battery while also using it is a nice feature though (that is missing from the original version) for when I do long interview content.
Powerextra has similar battery at less than 50% of the price. Just doesn't have that extra USB-c, only one. But I would like to know whether the ports, USB ports on that Powerextra will last. The one on my Neewer failed in less than 6 months.
Excellent review, my friend!
Love my SmallRig VB99 on my Red Komodo OG. I use the USB ports to charge/power an iPhone and a DTAP to power my Atomos Ninja screen/recorder. I use my MacBook Pro power supply to charge the batteries. It would great if Red certified the SmallRig batteries to work with the Komodo OS. But not a dealbreaker for me.
Can you close the usb c port door with that magnetic adapter in ?
I like my Milwaukee m-18 converter 👍🏽 plus you can also plug AC 💥
the vb99 pro is probs my best purchase in the last 12 months
Did you mention anything about the DC ports? Seen lots of videos no one seems to cover them.
How much time did it get out of it
doesn't the tripod battery plate block the menu controls on the fx3?
Fire freakin intro
Shot all on Iron Glass 😉
Hey Armando, nice video. I like the way you are pragmatic and get to the point. Great stuff 👌
I would like to use my FX3 with SR cage on my gimbal and Sachtler tripod. I have an Arca Swiss plate for my Ronin but would like same for the tripod. The v mount plate and 501 you use looks ideal. Could you please let me have the part numbers so I can purchase them (yes, I realise the v mount is identified in the ‘more’ section).
Thanks 👍🏼
Sure here you go: SmallRig V-Mount Battery Plate: geni.us/srvmnt
can you tell us what charger are using?
I do like the set up 👌🏽
Anton Bauer, that's a name I haven't heard in a while. Crazy expensive compared to how cheap Vmounts are today.
Is that screen really scratch proof? It looks like it would be so easy to scratch. If that works that’s so cool.
Gonna need to pick some of these! so sick!
what charger are you uaing to charge your v mount battery?
can i use beyond 100watts?
Are you concerned about "ground looping" using the same power source for your monitor as well as the camera? Or is that not a concern with these batteries? Thanks!
I've never experienced any issues, even when I use my Anton Bauer batteries I've done it like that for years.
great Video Thanks For The Information.
V-mount batteries with tons of output are a bad investment.
They are unnecessarily expensive due to the extra cost of production and having all of your ports on the actual battery plate is a much better setup. You can just swap them without having to unplug all of your rig accessories and the cost savings just keep adding up the more batteries you get
Expensive? The same battery from Anton Bauer is double the cost. Really depends on what you’re doing, I usually have one battery last me for what I need it for. Also having this battery doesn’t mean you can’t use a battery plate with ports so your point is moot.
@@mondobytesI literally bought a Mini V mount battery on Amazon on sale for $69. The only difference between this and the one I bought was this one has USB-C ports and a screen.
@@mondobytes If I said a Lamborghini is unnecessarily expensive and all you need is a Golf your counter argument shouldn't be that a Ferrari is more expensive. My point is, having the ports on the battery plate itself instead of the battery allows you to buy less expensive batteries that don't have those unnecessary features. Like instead of buying SmallRig V99 batteries for 250€ you could get Zgcine S95 ones for 100€ and have a lot more battery capacity for the same cost without compromising rig optimization due to still having the extra features on your battery plate. The extra cost and "buy once, cry once" mantra that we like to tell ourselves as an excuse to splurge for the more expensive option because "it's something that we use professionally" and "it's an investment" doesn't really apply to gear like batteries, because it is considered a consumable item and it's capacity gets worse over time and will eventually need to be dispose of and replace, not sell, since there really isn't a buyers market for old batteries with lots of recharge cycles and that can't hold a charge anymore. So the less you have to dispose of when that time comes, the better.
Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk
@@diogoalmeidavisuals Eh that's not exactly what I said, in fact I said the opposite. I invested in Anton Bauer batteries because they're industry standard and even my 5 year old V-Mount still holds charge like it was day 1. They use high quality batteries which is one of the reasons they cost so much. These Smallrig batteries use LG batteries and use a similar BMS Intelligent Control System like Anton Bauer for half the price and you get all the extras.
Those ZGcine are trash man, I know someone that fried their camera. This is why I've refused to use anything but Anton Bauer, I've talked to them for years telling them to start putting USB C on their batteries and also DC outputs and they don't listen. Smallrig did it right and made a high end battery affordable.
You keep saying "most expensive" option but the reality is you'll be spending more on those cheap V-mounts when they won't hold a charge anymore or fry your camera. Also as I said in my videos I don't always want to travel with a plate and rails because it's TOO MUCH gear. I'm the opposite keep it small, compact and light. I get hired by Apple and get paid thousands of dollars to run these panels and travel to do them I don't want to be lugging a bunch of gear with me.
Not everyone wants to rig their camera and for those this is the best solution hands down without sacrificing on quality..
I'm abit worried about short circuit my gear due to creating a loop, v-mount battery connected to camera and monitor and monitor and camera with HDMI. Should I be worried?
Been doing that for years lol never had any issues.
Does this work well with that SmallRig light you recommended previously?
It does because they’re both USB C. In fact I used them last week on a shoot: www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/z3z029pddyyv6bnfg98p5/IMG_1980.MOV?rlkey=j83auuhdfwslzq7b3jc8s06pt&dl=0
Love it!
Can you confirm the battery will swivel down in order to access the camera LCD screen?
If you mean the V-mount plate, yes it does. You just have to loosen it. I have one, it works really great
@@filmandframeca yes thanks I want to convert to using v-mount for power and I also need access to my
lcd while shooting. So as long as I can loosen the plate with the battery and position it to use my screen while recoding then all good...
@@slamvanstudios2074 yup works great!
I have a GH6 in a Kondor Blue Cage with a Peak Design Tripod. I want this Small Rig Battery but do not know what else I would need to make it as simple as possible to quickly remove the rig from the trip pod and so on. Im new. Any recommendations? I also plan on getting a follow Tilta wireless nano follow focus and a ninja V monitor.
If you buy the v mount plate he shows in the video, that fits on the Peak Design tripod, and you should be able to remove it relatively quickly. I have the same setup and it works just fine. If you buy the follow focus you’ll probably need to put it on rails, which means you’ll need to get a baseplate. The way you could solve that would be to buy one of those nato rail adapters with a 15mm rod mount. That gets uncomfortable sometimes tho
For the tripod to work, you have to unscrew the little black stops on both sides of the head. Just make sure you keep them safe
damn, you got to do a killers of the flower moon panel...you should do a video about how to get those gigs lol
lol I did 7 of them 😅
What kind of top handle is that?
It's this one: geni.us/kbtt
2:55 iphone, welcome to the rest of the world and your charging lol
I'm not seeing how this one is so very different from the previous version and why this one is "Pro." 2 USB-C connections and that's it?
Previous version aside, Im struggling to see how this is so different from the FXLION NANO TWO Ive been using for 4 or years....lol..it juts has more I/O and better display , as the NANO TWO only has USB-C, USB-A, micro USB and Dtapp , I believe NANO is also smaller.
@doylelacrua Better build quality, LG Batteries, BMS Control System, stuff you typically find on a high end V-Mount.
@@user-yv6cj6df7b Just read the reviews on the FXLION I'm surprised yours has lasted for 4 years, you must have gotten lucky.
@@mondobytes Hey! Thanks for your reply. I always love your videos!
Thank you for this video
Are you still using Lumix?
Sometimes, really depends on the project.
I know its scratch resistant I just cant bring myself to take the plastic protector off yet lol
I took it off because the extra plastic made the text look blurry and it bothered me.
@@mondobytes 😂😂😂😂
Aren't you worried about the magnetic USB that could disconnect and power off your camera in the middle of a shot?
Nope because there is a battery inside the camera lol. I’ve pulled it mid shoot all the time to go super handheld and leave battery behind.
@@mondobytes oh that's nice, so you can choose in settings what is the battery priority I guess so the internal one is always 100% when you unplug?
@@REMY.C. Yes, the battery is always at 100% because it provides PD Power from the battery.
Bro filming leo who is this guy?
You missed several critical points on the battery. There is a serious voltage surge issue with the 12V DC port on this model. Try powering on the Monitor with a DC cable connected to the 12V port. It will not power on. I was the first to report this to the small rig. I am not sure if they fixed this in subsequent batches. Please verify. Voltage surge from the battery will activate the voltage protection on your monitor and your monitor will not power on. The 8V port works fine.
You also failed to report that there is no way to Power off the battery completely. This is an ALWAYS ON BATTERY (confirmed by Smallrig in my communication). So if you charge your battery 100% in the morning, and by 9PM you will see a drop of at least 20% in power even when you leave it idle due to continous discharge.. You cannot transport your rig with the cables connected to the battery since it is always ON.
Just tried powering a monitoring using the 12v and works fine? Dude all V-Mount batteries remain "ON" I charge these at 100% and several days later they still have 100% not sure if you got defective units my dude. I always leave my cables connected, you must have some power drain happening somewhere. I've heard of cables doing this, has nothing to do with the battery. Gladly setup a timelapes for you for 24hours with everything plugged in and 0% drop in battery, like I said you either got a defective battery or some cable is draining your power.
In my case VB99 Battery DEAD after 25 months of use. Although it wasn't used very intensively. The cells are fine, I think they still had an efficiency of around 90% but the electronics failed. And that's the biggest problem. Because the battery itself would probably still be functional. After connecting it to the charger, only the SmallRig inscription is displayed for a moment. It doesn't provide power, it doesn't turn on... I think that for a Vmount Battery this is a poor result compared to the competition. ;(
Not saying this to excuse Smallrig but I've had Anton Bauer batteries fail on me within the first year. It happens, bad batch or manufacturing defect. Hell, my Model Y had a bad battery but guess what. Tesla replaced it under warranty, so not sure if you've tried to reach out to Smallrig but I say if they handle it correctly and send you a replacement than service is where it's at. Let me know what happens curious to know because when I had an issue with my battery (Anton Bauer) it was replaced no questions asked.
@@mondobytes Unfortunately, despite sending all the information about the purchase that was required of me, support was unable to help me and referred me to the seller. The seller will do nothing because the WARRANTY in the EU is 24 months and the battery died after 25 months. In my experience, batteries from other companies are enough for 4-5 years of use. And most often, after some time, their efficiency decreases drastically. Here, some electronics inside have clearly failed and the battery is dead. However, it is probably better to avoid batteries from Smallrig in the future - too much electronics inside, which increases the chance that something will break down even though the cells themselves are functional. A battery is supposed to be a battery, not look nice and have a great screen.
Even though I still have 2 x VB99 SE (but they are not even a year old). In the future I will probably decide on Newell or Paton. I prefer simple solutions, ordinary diodes showing the battery status but something that has a lower chance of breaking down.
EDIT:
the funniest thing is that technically the battery didn't even last 2 years. Because I bought it on November 12, 2022. I received the shipment on December 19, 2022. And the battery died on December 6, 2024 :(
ZG-cine are way better for half the price !
My friend fried his camera using one of those batteries, I would never in my life touch those things. This is why you should NEVER use cheap batteries. I have over $10,000 worth of Anton Bauer batteries because I refuse to use anything else. I bought the Smallrig VB99 over a year ago and like Anton Bauer uses an intellgent BMS Control system so your shit doesn't get fried. Also Smallrig uses LG Cells so battery health will be top notch 3 years from now unlike those cheap knocks offs they lose health and die super fast, trust me dude their is a difference lol.
Its great but honestly it's crazy overpriced, it's just a battery
Looks cool but $280 is too much.
Not Tiny.
Compared to a standard V-Mount 100% yes
I just got my small rig battery. I noticed that it doesn't like it when I turn the camera off. It won't power the camera back up once I turn the camera on and off? Do
I have a defective battery?