Aaton XTR Prod weight

[David Sekanina]

Due to the weight limit of the Steadicam Aero 30 I thought the often reported weight of the Aaton XTR Prod of 6Kg with 400 ft of film and 12V on board battery, no lens was a bit off, so I finally measured it on a precision scale:

with 400ft of film plus battery, no lens it's closer to 6,8Kg

without the battery (720g) it's closer to the reported 6Kg

Thought it might be helpful to other Aero30 owners.

[Tyler Purcell]

It depends on accessories. With no video tap and a lithium battery, it's pretty much on par with 6kg. With an older generation video tap and NiMh battery, it is way heavier. I have a later gen tap and lithium battery and it's pretty darn good weight wise. I have a junky knock-off chinese steadicam and it works OK with my Zeiss zoom lens (not sure of the weight). I don't have a precision scale, but I can tell ya the battery difference is pretty huge between NiMh and Li. 

Ohh and the American Cinematographer manual states the XTR Prod fully loaded is 16lb. (7.2kg)

[David Sekanina]

Thank you Tyler, didn't think the NiMH cells were so much heavier. No video tap on my PROD, but the prism and relay lens are in there as I'm currently machining parts for a very lightweight HD tap (less than 50g)

Maybe the older style mags were lighter than the PROD ones, although I'd think it would be the other way around.