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YOUR opinion WANTED... what features for battery pack?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Michael Offe
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Thanks Brent for e-mailing me their website info.

Yours sincerely,
Michael Offe.
 
Ok. Check your e-mail in about 15min.
Michael Offe said:
Ben Hoogendoorn said:
They know you want to spy on them and have blocked your domain! LOL :)
Click to expand...
Ah-hu... so that's what it is! I knew there had to be some
reason. :-)

I just tried pinging the domain and also tried a 'trace route' but
it was: "Unable to resolve target system name".

Do you know what the specs of the pack are?

If you have a few minutes to spare maybe you could go to their page
on this elusive pack and e-mail it to me.

If you use Internet Explorer just click on Tools > Mail and News>
Send Page...

Thanks,
Michael Offe. [email protected]
Click to expand...
--
Ben
Nikon Coolpix 4500
http://www.pbase.com/bnhoog/
 
Hi Greg,

Thanks to Ben and Brent e-mailing me info and PDFs from their website (I still can't get it to open), I have had a chance to look the product details.

I did actually have a good look at this product about a year ago, but from memory it was very expensive (although I can see why that would be).

Do you know what the price of their units is?

Our pack will offer similar features and will be more than suitable for most consumers, prosumers and even some pros.

We will also be providing replacement parts, and it will be made so that it is easy to replace the cells.

Our pack will cover voltages from 3v to 8.4v which will suit nearly all digital cameras and video cameras.

It will also be a higher capacity than every other pack that we have seen except the DCB-60, 90 & 120.

Our pack will be considerably lighter than the DCB30, which some people may prefer.

Thanks for letting us know about this product.

Yours sincerely,
Michael Offe.
Greg Gebhardt said:
Look at : http://www.digitalcamerabattery.com

It will be hard to improve on this. I use the 60watt and after
much shooting have never come close to running it down. Lots of
consumer units out there but this is forever.

Greg Gebhardt
Jacksonville, Florida
Click to expand...
 
I have the digicom battery pack, and my complaints with it are all cable related.

Make cable to work with camera. Don't have cable with two conectors - one for your camera, and one for some other camera.

Don't use those kluggie big rubber "blocks" to splice the end connectors on with.

Make a short cable and a long cable. (I'll pay extra)

MAKE A RIGHT ANGLE PLUG TO GO IN CAMERA, so it doesn't stick out 1/2 an inch.

Make battery pouch have a place to easily put cable when not in use. When you set the camera down, the cable keeps it attached to your beltpack, so you unplug it, now you have to stuff the cable in your pocket.

The cable is the weakest, most iritating part of the battery pack idea. Make it as small, short, and ergonomic as possible.

Don't give up on camera mounted batterypacks - if the pack was shaped right, you could sell accessory kits, or do it yourselfers, could come up with ways to attach it. When using a tripod, you could use it detached if necessary.

I think battery pack in a pistol grip would be great (but understand the production/cost problems) - again - a pack that was shaped right would however give options for making an attached pack available to the end user.
 
Thanks for all those tips!

Very helpful.

Michael Offe.
bongobongo said:
I have the digicom battery pack, and my complaints with it are all
cable related.

Make cable to work with camera. Don't have cable with two
conectors - one for your camera, and one for some other camera.

Don't use those kluggie big rubber "blocks" to splice the end
connectors on with.

Make a short cable and a long cable. (I'll pay extra)

MAKE A RIGHT ANGLE PLUG TO GO IN CAMERA, so it doesn't stick out
1/2 an inch.

Make battery pouch have a place to easily put cable when not in
use. When you set the camera down, the cable keeps it attached to
your beltpack, so you unplug it, now you have to stuff the cable in
your pocket.

The cable is the weakest, most iritating part of the battery pack
idea. Make it as small, short, and ergonomic as possible.

Don't give up on camera mounted batterypacks - if the pack was
shaped right, you could sell accessory kits, or do it yourselfers,
could come up with ways to attach it. When using a tripod, you
could use it detached if necessary.

I think battery pack in a pistol grip would be great (but
understand the production/cost problems) - again - a pack that was
shaped right would however give options for making an attached pack
available to the end user.
Click to expand...
 
bongo said:
The cable is the weakest, most iritating part of the battery pack
idea. Make it as small, short, and ergonomic as possible.
Click to expand...
I'll second that!

I have seen too many otherwise good products out of commission because of a broken cable.

It won't take a preoccupied shooter long to snag & break a cable on a tree branch or bridge railing.
Possibly a built-in breakaway feature?

Best of luck in your venture, Michael.
--
Myron



Coolpix 5000
 
Michael Offe said:
Hi,
Some of you may have seen in the last few months that we are
working on a new accessory to make your photography life a little
easier, in the way of a new high capacity battery pack.

Our aim is to make the pack as versatile and practical as possible,
and it will be of the highest quality possible, yet reasonably
priced.

Do you have any thoughts on what features or options we should
include to make it the best product possible?

We are working on a compact, yet very high capacity pack that will
last over 6 hours of use with the LCD screen on (1500+ photos), so
that you can use it for a full day event and not run out of charge
at the wrong time.

The high capacity will also make it an ideal power source for long;
treks, camping trips, safaris, outback tours, etc.

If you have any thoughts, or ideas that you think may help us come
up with a better product, I would be very keen to hear them.

Thankyou very much for your help.

Yours sincerely,
Michael Offe,
Lifetime Images - Magic Bracket.com http://www.magicbracket.com
South Australia.
Click to expand...
I would love a longer lasting internal battery for the 4500. 2400 mah, a man can dream can't he
 
Thaks for your suggestions and taking the time to give them.

Michael Offe.
Myron Nyquist said:
Myron Nyquist said:
The cable is the weakest, most iritating part of the battery pack
idea. Make it as small, short, and ergonomic as possible.
Click to expand...
I'll second that!
I have seen too many otherwise good products out of commission
because of a broken cable.
It won't take a preoccupied shooter long to snag & break a cable on
a tree branch or bridge railing.
Possibly a built-in breakaway feature?

Best of luck in your venture, Michael.
--
Myron



Coolpix 5000
Click to expand...
 
OK, it may even have a simple wrist strap permanently fixed as part of that case.

We are also looking at a Velcro wrist strap/tripod strap as and optional item to go with it.

Thanks,
Michael Offe.
Johnnycb said:
How about adding an eyelet for tose that want to hang it or dangle
it or attach it to their wrist. This seems to be simple to do
without adding much weight.

jb
Click to expand...
 
Brent W Haydamack said:
1) I like the idea of balance - that is if the pack is wearable
have the cells on one side and the charger on the other or
something similar - of course all the cables and resistance may not
make this feasible.

2) Replaceable cells. I realize you wouldn't load this up with the
regular AA size batteries, but the cells will eventually wear out.
I have seen sites on the internet that sell replacement batteries
for such things as rechargeable drills (not the packs but the
actual cells themselves) but these take a good bit of surgery to
replace. Make replacement of cells possible and easy.

3) Pay attention to the switches and connectors. I have seen one
too many products fail because of poor quality switches and
connectors. The recharging cradle for the 995 is a case in point.
The folding prongs on the plug are nice, but they wore out after 2
or 3 foldings - no joking. I had to rip the plug apart and bend
the contacts inside to get the damed thing to work. Another
example is headphone plugs. I have bought one too many where the
male contact just doesn't seem to fit will in the female (insert
your own joke here). Sony walkmans are a good example, they would
be a great product were it not for crappy headphone connectors.
Please use high quality plugs and switches.

4) Use high quality materials in general. Save the cheap straps
and velcro - get straps that are strong but flexible and dont feel
like molded plastic.

5) With all the plugs and attachments it seems you will include,
make sure there is some way of preventing this thing from becoming
a tangled mess of cords. I could imagine having problems if I have
both a camera and a flash attached with the pack around my hips. I
would probably hang myself in the cords. There needs to be a way
to wrap them together into one unit that does not swing around.

Good luck!

Brent
Michael Offe said:
Hi,
Some of you may have seen in the last few months that we are
working on a new accessory to make your photography life a little
easier, in the way of a new high capacity battery pack.

Our aim is to make the pack as versatile and practical as possible,
and it will be of the highest quality possible, yet reasonably
priced.

Do you have any thoughts on what features or options we should
include to make it the best product possible?

We are working on a compact, yet very high capacity pack that will
last over 6 hours of use with the LCD screen on (1500+ photos), so
that you can use it for a full day event and not run out of charge
at the wrong time.

The high capacity will also make it an ideal power source for long;
treks, camping trips, safaris, outback tours, etc.

If you have any thoughts, or ideas that you think may help us come
up with a better product, I would be very keen to hear them.

Thankyou very much for your help.

Yours sincerely,
Michael Offe,
Lifetime Images - Magic Bracket.com http://www.magicbracket.com
South Australia.
Click to expand...
Steve has a review on Maha Power Bank MH-DPB140L1 around $58.97 and lasts full power for 2-1/2 hours, includes charger,case,lighter plug in.
Click to expand...
What are you going for, double the power?

Thanks for your tip on Nikon 2x & 3x, just great. Now I am waiting for wide angle, UPS TODAY....

--
George L
 
George L Bennett said:
Steve has a review on Maha Power Bank MH-DPB140L1 around $58.97 and lasts full power for 2-1/2 hours, includes charger,case,lighter plug in.
What are you going for, double the power?
Thanks for your tip on Nikon 2x & 3x, just great. Now I am waiting
for wide angle, UPS TODAY....

--
George L
Click to expand...
Hi George,

That particular packs capacity is 10 Watt-hours, where as the pack we are working on is 37 Watt-hours. So you can see that ours is almost quadruple the capacity and has a voltage selector so that it runs at 3, 6, 7.2 & 8.4 volts.

So on paper, working of the PowerBank's lasting time... our pack powering that same camera, would last about 8 to 10 hours. With that lasting time it will be the perfect power source for a full day of shooting, or for a weekend camping trip, or for a long trek.

Note: some cameras have a higher power consumption, so in some cases the pack may only last around 5 hours.

It is also nice to know that when you pick up your power pack there is no way that you will run out of power!

Enjoy your new 'toy' when it arrives!!! You should really enjoy the wide angle lens, it allows you to fit so much more in the photo.

Thanks,
Michael Offe.
 
Size: preferably as small as a pack of cigarettes
Construction: Strong and sturdy (plastic that wont crack or light thin metal)
Capacity: maybe 2 sizes (2000-3000mAH & 5000+mAH)
Cost: somewhat affordable and not outragously priced

Nice to have std features:

vinyl case (with 2 holes for belt loop, loops for hanging around neck, velcro strap for attachment on belt loop area to wrap around tripods/monopods)
auto-matic off when charging complete
led power bars
short cord or long cord options

Your competition:
Maha Powerbank
Dual Force Pro
RadioShack stuff

.....
 
Thanks for that list.

I think we can cover all your requirements with what we are planning... we will see how we go. :-)

Yours sincerely,
Michael Offe.
Nikon_Boy said:
Size: preferably as small as a pack of cigarettes
Construction: Strong and sturdy (plastic that wont crack or light
thin metal)
Capacity: maybe 2 sizes (2000-3000mAH & 5000+mAH)
Cost: somewhat affordable and not outragously priced

Nice to have std features:
vinyl case (with 2 holes for belt loop, loops for hanging around
neck, velcro strap for attachment on belt loop area to wrap around
tripods/monopods)
auto-matic off when charging complete
led power bars
short cord or long cord options

Your competition:
Maha Powerbank
Dual Force Pro
RadioShack stuff

.....
Click to expand...
 
WhoDeeNee said:
I would love a longer lasting internal battery for the 4500. 2400
mah, a man can dream can't he
Click to expand...
Yes you can dream... but I am afraid I can't do much to help turn it into reality! :-) If you ever want a good battery pack... well that is another story! We just may be able to help. ;-)

Michael Offe,
South Australia.
 
Michael Offe said:
I think we can cover all your requirements with what we are
planning... we will see how we go. :-)

Yours sincerely,
Michael Offe.
Nikon_Boy said:
Size: preferably as small as a pack of cigarettes
Construction: Strong and sturdy (plastic that wont crack or light
thin metal)
Capacity: maybe 2 sizes (2000-3000mAH & 5000+mAH)
Cost: somewhat affordable and not outragously priced

Nice to have std features:
vinyl case (with 2 holes for belt loop, loops for hanging around
neck, velcro strap for attachment on belt loop area to wrap around
tripods/monopods)
auto-matic off when charging complete
led power bars
short cord or long cord options

Your competition:
Maha Powerbank
Dual Force Pro
RadioShack stuff

.....
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
-- Michael:
Do you have an ETA of a prototype.
George L
 
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