Power and Battery solutions for Video
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GUIDE Sony a7S II Guide

Power and Battery solutions for Video

Let’s start by looking at the batteries and charger Sony provides How much battery life does the NP-FW50 provide? According to the official specifications, here are the ratings: Approx. 55 min with viewfinder, approx. 60 min with LCD screen – if you also zoom while recording Approx. 90 min with viewfinder, approx. 90 min with LCD […]

Let’s start by looking at the batteries and charger Sony provides

How much battery life does the NP-FW50 provide? According to the official specifications, here are the ratings:

  • Approx. 55 min with viewfinder, approx. 60 min with LCD screen – if you also zoom while recording
  • Approx. 90 min with viewfinder, approx. 90 min with LCD screen – if you are not using any functions except recording.

In real world use, one can estimate about 30-40 minutes of usable battery life in video mode, using a 1080 mAh battery. The viewfinder draws more power than the LCD.

What about charging time? Sony claims 150 minutes, though I’ve found sometimes it the stock charger takes about 150-220 minutes (3-4 hours) to charge one battery! Now that’s a problem.

Important: Sony does not fix or replace a dead charger, even in the camera warranty period. At least that’s what the dealer told me when I took my dead charger to them. So, don’t risk your production by only having one charger.

My setup

First, watch this earlier video for two power solutions for the Sony A7s (I continue to use both solutions for the a7S II and a7R II):

Download Video

Here are the parts of my setup from the above video (links to all products are in my gear page):

  • Battery brick with a P-tap port – 130 Wh FXLion Gold Mount (Chinese batteries, have proven very reliable over a year of use)
  • Sony dummy battery to P-tap adapter (in my case it’s a fixed link directly from the next item)
  • Battery plate (connects battery brick to the adapter)
  • Battery slide (helps support and move the whole thing to balance on my rig)
  • Plain charger (they have dual chargers but they’re not fast either)
  • Dolgin Engineering P-tap to P-tap cable – to power the Atomos Shogun from the P-tap port on the brick.

And this is what you get “officially” with Sony:

With the external recorder

The Atomos Shogun takes a Sony NP-F970 (6300 mAh, retails for about $120) battery which will give it about 2.5 hours of life. You could get a Wasabi kit with two batteries and a charger for $84 instead and that would be the route I would take.

Of course, you could power up an entire rig with Anton Bauer batteries as well, which is what I’m doing. Ultimately, I highly recommend getting a V-mount or AB mount brick. Nothing beats that solution, unless you specifically need to lower weight.

Therefore, I recommend getting a Wasabi Charger+2 battery kit for $26.99. It will also charge the stock batteries. Even though the Wasabi is rated at a higher energy level, you get about the same or slightly lesser battery life. For professional use, I recommend getting two Wasabi kits to supplement the Sony kit. You’ll end up with three chargers and six batteries. Consequently, you can also use dual chargers.

USB Power, and additional options

Here’s a new video going over the USB power options and a new dual charger I bought:

Download Video

Items in the video:

  • “Fake” batteries (use at your own risk!) and Dual charger Kingma (Ebay)
  • Powerbank with a 2.1A 5V USB 2.0 output (avoid 1A, it doesn’t work) (Anker is the best brand to get) (Amazon, B&H)
  • Meiki Grip (Ebay)

FAQs

These are important topics raised by subscribers that shed more light on this lesson.

Q. Does the camera display battery life correctly on an external battery brick?

A. No. In fact, it is totally misleading, and just shuts off quickly. I rely on the indicator on the battery instead.

However, when using the grip, powerbank or third-party fake batteries, it does.