A700 how many (actual) shots per batt charge? Going on a Kelong..

[greenieadi]

Hi everyone,

Just would would like to know how many shots you did before your A700 battery run out of juice.Yes, it definitely depends on usage of things like continous AF, etc....I know the Sony batt is rated at 650 shots CIPA. There's no magic number but an average will do.

I'm going on a fishing trip on a kelong near Kukup, Malaysia. Bcoz the kelong belongs to a friend's friend we have no idea of the generator's power supply rating on it except it's run on petrol to light up the lightings.

So to prepare myself in case I can't use my charger, I built a portable one consisting of 12Vdc 4Ah SLA batt step down to 8.4v(adjustable) 650mA constant current using a simple circuit I made. Shown below with a 6V SLA for illustration only, 12V one charging in progress.



My DIY rig can recharge at most twice(calculated) as the leftover juice I'll be using to charge other stuffs like Hp, portable hardisk, etc...

Being a bit kiasu, I'm bringing a 8x AA batt holder for a 12v backup plus an unspecified number of AA batts (to be determined).

My outing will be a 24hr marathon fishing/shooting, so I would want the juice to last...talking about energy conservation!!! I definitely be concentrating on dusk and dawn panoramic shots plus the odd fish catch/casting shots. I will also be trying astrophotography.

I have one other spare batt. I also will be carrying my Panansonic FZ50 with 4 batts.

So do share your experiences on number of shots per batt. For some, I might seem kiasu, but it's better to be prepared as I might not get this type of chance again.

To anyone who interested in the DIY Li-On charger do let me try first. So far did try charging my supposely dead hp batt (3.7v) to full. That batt charger can't charge coz batt (I think?) was well almost 0 volts but I manage to resurrect it to life.

Anyway ,your input is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[tankm]

I'm no battery charger expert.

Just wondering if your simple charger will damage the battery, cause there is no "cutoff" even though it's fully charged. Similarly does the normal charger charged constantly at fixed voltage and ampere for the whole charge duration to prevent battery damage ?

[greenieadi]

Yeah, my circuit does not have a voltage comparator of sort but I based on calculation/estimation since the battery is rated at 1650maH so it roughly takes 2.5hrs to charge at 650mA. I'll stop every half hour or so and check batt via camera to determine.

The center labelled "T" connector is a thermistor used to measure over-heating while charging. I'll be using my pinky during the course of charging as a replacement for the thermistor .

Don't worry about me, electronics is my life long hobby of sorts. If the batt goes "poof", then back to drawing board but I'm sure it's ok bcoz I ensure the output current is limited to 650mA using a 1ohm 1watt resistor.

[lennyl]

While I applaud your resourcefulness, wouldn't it be easier just to go buy two more batteries?

I'm not familiar with Sony chargers - are there 3rd party ones that can operate through a car cigarette lighter socket? If so, can you adapt that to be powered from your SLA battery?

Seriously, how many shots are you thinking of taking? I mean, you're there for 24 hours, not 24 days, right? If you really want to get the most shots you can, turn off the LCD preview.

[Knighthunter]

The best time is at dusk and dawn to take some photo, then the rest of time is used for fishing. I get used to stay in kelong around sibu but after it become too crowded and bad experience in ayer hitam I gave up.
I have vertical grip with 2 bat in it, I used to shot raw file too fill up 4gb MS and 2 gb CF it only consumed my first batt flat (i got about 300+ shots)

[astrise]

If it's only 24h I think you'll survive quite well on about 1 1/2 A700 batteries. Unless your batteries are quite worn or, you intend to take those long 4-5min exposures at night. Nice idea with the charger though. Would really love to see the circuit diagram - quite useful on those 1 week OCIP projects in ulu ulu countries

[lennyl]

Another thought - can the A700 be powered by an AC adapter? Like the AC-VQ900AM? If so, is it possible to build your own external battery pack using your SLA?

[synapseman]

Yah, just go buy 2 more batts lah, seriously.

For what it's worth, I shoot weddings with the A700, approx 1200+shots total, LCD on most of the time, review shots, etc. All within 12+ hour period. About maybe 1 and 1/4 batt pack?

[greenieadi]

Originally Posted by synapseman Yah, just go buy 2 more batts lah, seriously. For what it's worth, I shoot weddings with the A700, approx 1200+shots total, LCD on most of the time, review shots, etc. All within 12+ hour period. About maybe 1 and 1/4 batt pack?

Buying 2 more batts is one option but I can't see in the forseeable future that I need more than one extra battery after this trip. I hardly used more than 1 batt for my FZ50 even though I have 4, so won't go that route.

$40 is all I spent on the SLA + DIY charger. Don't forget the SLA+DIY charger can be used to charge my other equiptments too like PSP,MP3,Handphone and other devices requiring 12v or less. Anyway I'm only a hobbyist so I like to tinker around with this stuffs.

There will be 5 of us excluding the kelong operator. The Kelong is far out from the coast acessible only by boat.

Anyway thks, 1200+ for approx 1 1/4 batt pack, not bad. I intend to shoot CRAW+JPEG.

Originally Posted by lennyl Another thought - can the A700 be powered by an AC adapter? Like the AC-VQ900AM? If so, is it possible to build your own external battery pack using your SLA?

It's one thing to fry my battery in the process, to fry my camera doing SLA powered A700...hhmmm...I rather not. Anyway the connector to the A700 looks like a Sony proprietry, so not possible, IMHO.

[weishengg]

hi bro, i can lend you one of my batteries if you want, no need to go through so much trouble lah =)

[Rashkae]

Exactly... We could have just lent you a battery or 2.

[MontoyaSG]

if you're not using the built in flash for shoots you could squeeze maybe 1k++ photos on a single battery

till date i've not managed to drain out the battery during shoots but i do bring out another battery just in case

[greenieadi]

Thanks for the offer guys but since the equiptment is done, I'll just bring it along. At least I know roughly my 2 batts (Sony) might last the trip.

Hope I won't need to use it.

Thanks.