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Why Does Anyone Use V-mount?


Max Field

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A bigger question I should be asking is: why do we as cinematographers have to choose between Gold mount or V-mount batteries? It's like VHS and Betamax battling for 20+ years.
Is there some history on this I'm ignorant to?

Me personally, I feel like gold mount has a more secure locking mechanism so can't see why V-mount still exists.

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I think opposite I have to say.. gold mount is an Aaton Bauer mount.. and you will pretty much only find it in the US.. and Bauer now is also going over to V mount it seems.. the few times Ive used Gold Mount it seemed loose to me ,the battery had play in the mount.. and a heavy bulky design in the first place..  V mount is pretty much the world standard now.. I believe Sony came up with the design.. . I doubt gold mount will be around for much longer..

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I absolutely agree that Gold Mount is superior. And it absolutely doesn't matter much because V-mount has so dominantly become the standard.

It irks me, but that just seems to be the way of things.

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I'm also interested as to why this difference is so drastic. 

Shooting in Europe, all we have is gold mount unless we are shooting on a RED package. Everything else runs on AB's.
Here in the US the split is noticable in preference - for operators who love operating off the brick the default preference is AB, while others love and enjoy V-Lock, as long as they're not touching the brick. 

At the end of the day, you always have the option of getting a block block battery or a vest/belt setup so you won't have to worry about either ;D 

It's a matter of efficiency and weight - Gold-Mount is always more robust, a bit heavier and sturdier in design. They can take a beating. V is usually lighter weight, more space efficient, and often the batteries aren't as sturdy. 

Edited by Jaan Kristjan Utno
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Can't agree with you at all Jaan.. in Europe as a whole V mount is totally dominate .its only the US you find them these days...where in Europe are you..?   belt and vest battery ?  V mount batteries not sturdy..?? lighter weight .. Idx do a 198 WH battery its not light I assure you. ? . V mount is only the mount .. it was invented by Sony.. there are many different battery manufacturers around the world.. iDX for example make very sturdy V mount batteries .. from small to huge.. 

Edited by Robin R Probyn
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  • 3 weeks later...

I honestly think that power is power as long as it's good, clean power!  Here are my DIY 150 watt hour V-mounts that can push 15 amps no problem.  They are not pretty but heavy duty and super CHEAP!!  I also can just adapt to gold mount when needed (because we all love adapters in between poop!).  More and more v-mount these days it seems.

DIY V-mount 3.jpg

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Having worked in a rental house on the east coast for a short time, I've never had any clients ask for V-Mount. To be fair, our camera packages come default with gold mount, but still, it is very rare for someone to ask to have v-mount instead. We have a whole drawer full of V-Mount to gold mount battery plates. It's super interesting for me to hear that v-mount is so popular.

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Outside the US.. V mount is pretty much 100% of owner/rental battery mounts .as are the camera,s of course ....Bauer was I guess forced into making their batteries Gold and V mount a few years back.. I presume to get any sales outside the US.. Im not saying the batteries are not of the highest standard, they are .. but V mount world wide is by far the most prevalent  .. and so is 25/24p and 50hz . ? 

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It’s all V mount here in Oz except for when US crews come over and demand all the cameras get swapped over to Gold mount.

Luckily our lenses are already marked in feet and we speak passable English so it’s only the road rules where they have to drive on the left side of the road and comply with km/hr speed limits that still confuses them.. ?

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Sure, sometimes theres some play in gold mounts but nothing a little soft side cant fix.

I have also never seen a gold mount eject off of a camera from rough operating or inversion before, but I certainly have seen several v-mounts do it. 

I know this also has to do more with cell quality and configuration but you'll often see owner ops with 10-12 v-mounts to do a job that 8 Anton Bauer's would. There's a lot of v-mount brands out there so some are definitely better than others but I've been conditioned at this point to view v-mounts as lower quality batteries but that's just my prejudice. 

This is also a regional and production market thing, major rental houses in the U.S. will rarely stock v-mounts and if they do it won't be in great supply. Most of their cameras, monitors and AKS will be already setup for gold mount so it'll be a long while if ever before gold mount declines in the U.S. 

Edited by Evan Walsh
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Evan..I guess Bauer can do it in the US as its a big market and they have it pretty much sown up for many years .. but if you need to rent in any other country better check as most likely they won't have Gold mount..I guess Im programmed the other way.. anytime Ive used Gold mount they were was a lot of play.. but granted they would have been rentals..the whole mount was very big and clunky in design.. and the Bauer batts were were just ugly big square lumps of a battery.. 

Never had a V mount come off in ordinary use.. but you do have to check they have engaged .. in a really hurry they can seem to be on but not locked.. clever how AB have created this image of V mounts being lower quality .. !  I guess cheap dodgy knocks offs are all V mount as thats the world norm.. but manufactures like iDX / Sony / PAG are of the highest quality ..

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Hi

I'm originally from Europe but work and live now in the US and as far as I know, V-Lock is something we always used in Europe and the Anton Bauer Gold Mount is more a USA thing.

I must say I always had V-mount batteries and actually still have them, but the Gold Mount is much stiffer and rigid. To make it even easier Bebob just introduced a new mount, the B-Mount more like a combination of both systems.

 

 

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  • 2 years later...

The PAGLok was a leverage system, based on a locking system in the navy.  This is regretfully phased out in favour to the two systems, the Gold Mount and the V-lock.  The Gold mount is favoured by steadicam operators for their stability.  Fortunately PAG supports both V- mount and Gold mount.  If anyone has questions - please do not hesitate to speak to us (support@paguk.com)

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On 4/12/2019 at 9:52 PM, Robin R Probyn said:

clever how AB have created this image of V mounts being lower quality .. !  

There isn’t some universal conspiracy to make v mount look inferior, it’s just not as sturdy. Ever had to go low mode on steadicam with a v mount? Enjoy literally taping/bongo tie’ing the thing on so it doesn’t fall from its own weight. Many monitor brackets have to utilize the lengthwise real estate and mount horizontally rather than vertically- again a very weak point for a sliding v mount.

 As a US based career AC all of my colleagues prefer Gold mount for the stability, not some brand loyalty as most of these replies can attest to- it may very well be a us vs European thing but there’s absolutely a reason we prefer a locking mount that doesn’t easily slide off of its own volition, as for the quip about gold locks being ugly square lumps I’m not really sure why the aesthetics of a battery are more important than it’s actual function which is powering the camera in a secure and stable fashion. The majority of V mount owners in the US are exactly that, owner ops and most jump into it because it’s a lower entry price- I’ve also noticed most have regrets after using the gold mount system and end up transferring over if they have the means. 

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8 hours ago, Travis Shannon said:

There isn’t some universal conspiracy to make v mount look inferior, it’s just not as sturdy. Ever had to go low mode on steadicam with a v mount? Enjoy literally taping/bongo tie’ing the thing on so it doesn’t fall from its own weight. Many monitor brackets have to utilize the lengthwise real estate and mount horizontally rather than vertically- again a very weak point for a sliding v mount.

 As a US based career AC all of my colleagues prefer Gold mount for the stability, not some brand loyalty as most of these replies can attest to- it may very well be a us vs European thing but there’s absolutely a reason we prefer a locking mount that doesn’t easily slide off of its own volition, as for the quip about gold locks being ugly square lumps I’m not really sure why the aesthetics of a battery are more important than it’s actual function which is powering the camera in a secure and stable fashion. The majority of V mount owners in the US are exactly that, owner ops and most jump into it because it’s a lower entry price- I’ve also noticed most have regrets after using the gold mount system and end up transferring over if they have the means. 

Gold mount is a very clunky system , they wobble around all over the place , and well yes maybe its me , but the Bauer batts used to be very ugly , , and yes I didn't like that on my camera , same reason I didn't buy a C300.. just a horrible looking thing .. 

Ive never had a V mount fall off any camera or monitor over 20 years of using them , I have seen them fall off when not put on properly sure , where as the gold mount will just wobble but not fall off, thats plus of some type I guess . Cheap knock off V lock batts and plates from China will wear quickly and fall off no doubt, you should complain to your rental house to get some new / better brand ones and plates . I cant remember the original post but for a user op camera person who travels out the US alot having everything GM is definitely risky as the rest of the world is V mount , if you have to rent on location you will be screwed in many countries if you use only GM ..

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