Power Junkie V2 First Impressions | Best V Mount Alternatives for DSLR and Mirrorless Cameras

[@stevelitton]

Exciting news on this, there is now an option for a Panasonic DMW-BLK22E dummy battery, meaning you can power the GH5 mkii / S5 / S5 mkii and GH6! You can check out the Kickstarter project for the Power Junkie V2 here 👉 power-junkie-v2.kckb.st/3782fd6a

[@24by36]

I ordered these dummy batteries in early July. After a little prodding in September, they admitted that they'd not kept up on dummy battery availability and suggested that I try dummy batteries off Amazon instead before refunding me, so your mileage may vary.

[@stevelitton]

@@24by36 That's not good, did they give you an update on when they would be available?

[@24by36]

@@stevelitton They didn't, and I don't think they're selling them anymore - not via blindspotgear.com/collections/dummy-batteries at any rate.

[@MarioCastillion]

I'm on the verge of purchasing this to use with my Sony a6300. Great review, man.

[@stevelitton]

Thank you, it's a good little unit if you have some NPF batteries lying around that you can use it with.

[@frankinblackpool]

It wasn’t until this week that I thought about powering my GH6 and recording to my SSD at the same time, that I looked into V Mounts or similar. Somehow I came upon Power Junkies V2. Even though the Kickstarter has ended, the site still allowed pre sales, WITH the option of a dummy battery. I’ve got a few NP batteries so it seemed a bit silly to invest in a V Mount and have yet another type of battery to charge.

[@stevelitton]

It's a good little unit. I have been using this, my Anker power bank and the SmallRig V99 and they all have their pros and cons. If you already have the NP batteries then I think this is a great addition to your bag as it's pretty small and really useful.

[@einstankan]

Do you have a video demonstrating the adapter with GH5? I would really love to see how the adapter works with the dcc12 dummy battery via dc port. I’m really interested to buy this, but I haven’t seen one video with a GH5 via dummy battery on the dc to the adapter. if you have made one, I would love to see it otherwise, please consider making one that would really be helpful.

[@stevelitton]

I currently don't have one but I will add that to my list.

[@einstankan]

Looking forward to it! Would be very helpful! for all of us using gh5 or older mft cameras.

[@stevelitton]

@@einstankan No problem, I will get something shot soon 👍

[@thanos1978-]

Cani use the power junkie to power my gh5 with dummy battery and my atomos shinobi monitor? Thanks

[@stevelitton]

You can definitely power the GH5 using it, which I have done. You should be able to power the Shinobi using a dummy NPF battery but I cannot confirm that as I don't own the monitor.

[@varul2010]

Hello Steven, unfortunately I can not find this plate yet on Amazon....do you know if the Smallrig ‎3168-SR is capable of properly charging the gh6, like the Blind Spot plate does? In the specs I see the Smallrig delivers 18W through USB-C but I think the gh6 needs 27W

[@stevelitton]

Hi, it's only on Kickstarter at the moment. Unfortunately, I haven't used the Smallrig ‎3168-SR so I couldn't confirm if it works or not.

[@jasonlindquistmedia]

now will that 8v and 12v port work with the a7siii and ninja v at same time?

[@stevelitton]

Unfortunately I don't have that camera or monitor to test it but I am able to power my GH6 from the 12V port and my Feelworld monitor from the 8V port. You could probably shoot them the question directly and they might be able to give you a definitive answer.

[@TonyReidsma]

Will any USB C cable work with my S5 II?

[@stevelitton]

For trickle charging I haven't had a cable not work yet. But for a full charge while the camera is switched on you will need a PD capable USB-C to USB-C cable. Hope that helps.

[@candyartstv]

You have to be mindful of DC power frying the hdmi port on your monitor.

[@stevelitton]

I will keep an eye on that, thanks for the heads up 👍

[@TheMmaller]

Steven - From what I understand if you use a power bank directly into a Panasonic camera like the Gh5 using Blind spots 8.4volt power pipe there is a danger that when the battery bank gets low and it's protection circuit kicks the power bank off you will obviously lose power to the camera which would result in the clip being lost or corrupted. Do you know if this is also true with the power junkie? I saw a video on youtube which showed that with a power bank the cameras battery level always shows full, but with a devise like the power junkie the battery display on the camera correctly indicates that amount of charge left in the Sony NPF battery and therefore if the battery runs out on the Sony battery with the power junkie the camera will close the clip correctly and it will not get lost or corrupted. Are you aware of this to be true? Here is the link to the video that shows this - kzbin.info/www/bejne/aKDYqpKngN6epM0

[@stevelitton]

Hi Michael, sorry about the late reply, when people add links to comments they get stuck in the 'held for review' tab which I don't check often enough. The battery indicator on the camera doesn't really seem to work when you have the Power Junkie plugged in. It just will show 2 bars until the battery is nearly depleted and then show the low battery warning. But when the battery runs out, the camera has performed a proper shutdown, so no loss of files. I have been using the power readout from the Power Junkie and ignoring the one on the camera. A less risky way to benefit from the Power Junkie is to just use the USB PD option to give the camera's internal battery a charge whilst filming. This of course isn't possible at the same time as recording to SSD. I haven't tried using the new USB dummy batteries on the Power Junkie but as it runs through the Power Junkie interface, I think it would work in the same way, although I can't confirm that without testing one. There is always some risk involved with using external power as it introduces additional points of failure (batteries/wires/incorrect voltage etc). If you are concerned about the camera shutting off unexpectedly you can use segmented file recording to minimise any risk, I talk about it in this video 👉 kzbin.info/www/bejne/fYqZeZidjZishsk Hope that helps.

[@nomad0714]

@@stevelitton, If using the USBC output from PJ v2 into the camera with a camera battery, when the NPF battery depletes, will the camera continue to record using the camera battery and allow to hot swap?

[@stevelitton]

@@nomad0714 Hi, yes that would be fine because in that instance the internal battery is the one powering the camera and the Power Junkie would simply be supplying a USB PD charge to the internal battery. So when the PD power stops, the internal battery just continues to function. Much the same as connecting a power bank like in this video - kzbin.info/www/bejne/bpiWeHebo62riaM Hope that helps.

[@nomad0714]

@@stevelitton, great! Thanks for the quick reply. Will check it out and subbing now!

[@einstankan]

It seems power junkie is more popular with the PD option. But it’s the new cameras that benefit from the power delivery PD option.. it is important to remember that old cameras like gh5 requires DUMMY BATTERY WITH THE DC AND NOT TYPE C OUTPUTs. While there are lot of reviews online for the first generation of blind spot adapter with GH5. But with the release of the v2 gh5 was forgotten. @stevelitton Sir, if you’re reading this. I would humbly request you to make a video on GH5 via the DC dummy battery. I noticed that you mentioned about the BLK 22 adapter but I would still ask you to consider using the original BLF 19 to DC adapter for testing with the power junkie v2 by blindspots. I assure you that I am not bloating your comment section. I just noticed the OG of this post mentioning GH5 which got me hyped! I am really glad that more people are still using a 7 to 8 years old camera, which proves that how amazing GH5 still is to this day.. :)