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by Joerg Rockenberger on Sat Jul 18, 2020 2:04 am
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Hi,

I've used the interval shooting mode of the Sony a7r III for the first time in recent days. I am surprised that I am getting only 255 - 265 images from one fully charged battery (vintage 2017 or 2019) with a 60s shot interval. The LCD and EVF displays are turned off after the shooting starts. Also, lens image stabilisation and AF are turned off.

Does anyone else have the same experience? Any tips besides powering the camera from an external battery pack?

Thanks. Jörg
 

by E.J. Peiker on Sat Jul 18, 2020 9:36 am
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You should easily get over 1000 shots in that scenario. Something is wrong - either the battery is worn out or some massively power consuming option is on or there's something wrong with the camera. Even an a7R2 would get well over 600 shots given that scenario with its much smaller battery.
 

by Joerg Rockenberger on Sat Jul 18, 2020 11:07 am
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Hi archfotos wrote:Long exposure noise reduction? You have the time lapse settings set for more than 265 ? It does sound like a menu item. Is the interval 60sec or is that the shutter speed?
Airplane mode?
Noise reduction is off. Time before shooting starts is 10s and then it takes an image every 60s. The shutter speed varies between about 1/100 to 1/10s. 

Now, airplane mode is on off as I synchronize with my iPhone for GPS. That’s a a good lead and I don’t need gps for this particular project. But I don’t observe a significant reduction in the number of shots I get with regular (non-interval) shooting while using gps. So, why should it matter for the interval shooting?

Still, it’s a good idea and I’ll check it. Jörg  


Last edited by Joerg Rockenberger on Sat Jul 18, 2020 11:12 am, edited 1 time in total.
 

by Joerg Rockenberger on Sat Jul 18, 2020 11:09 am
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E.J. Peiker wrote:You should easily get over 1000 shots in that scenario.  Something is wrong - either the battery is worn out or some massively power consuming option is on or there's something wrong with the camera.  Even an a7R2 would get well over 600 shots given that scenario with its much smaller battery.
Agree with everything you say. 
 

by Joerg Rockenberger on Wed Aug 12, 2020 1:09 pm
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Today, I had the opportunity to follow up on the suggestion to do interval shooting with the Sony a7r iii but with airplane mode on. The thought was that this might improve the number of shots I get before the battery is exhausted.

But no luck. As before and with same shooting conditions (10 s initial delay, then a frame every 60 s, Aperture mode, IBIS and Lens IS off, manual focus, EVF and LCD monitor off etc.) but airplane mode on I got 261 shots before the battery was exhausted. This corresponds to 4 hours and 20 minutes of interval shooting.

I then went to a Sony Center here in Berlin and described my experience. They were not surprised at all and compared interval shooting as more similar to video (for which the batteries are rated to 2.5 - 3 hours). It's not the total number of shots acquired that matters but how long the camera is on. Even if not taking a photo it still consumes power and the number of shots acquired with a full battery is solely limited by the shooting interval (and the time delay to start shooting). So, while in regular use (e.g. non-interval shooting) a battery may last for 500 - 1000 shots this is not necessarily the case for interval shooting.

Given that feedback, it makes a lot of sense. Obviously, the solution to shooting longer is attaching an external power bank to the USB-C or micro-USB port. 

Hope that helps someone else. Best. Jörg
 

by E.J. Peiker on Wed Aug 12, 2020 2:00 pm
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That's 1 minute of EVF/LCD time per shot - that will absolutely annihilate your battery life - it's nearly a worst case scenario.  When I said interval shooting I was thinking more along the line of timelapse or about one shot every 4 seconds.  That should easily get you 1000 shots as you only have 4-5 seconds of LCD/EVF time per shot.  It's the EVF/LCD that eats the battery.  Also turning down the screen brightness will help battery life quite a bit.
 

by Joerg Rockenberger on Wed Aug 12, 2020 7:19 pm
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E.J. Peiker wrote:That's 1 minute of EVF/LCD time per shot - that will absolutely annihilate your battery life - it's nearly a worst case scenario.  When I said interval shooting I was thinking more along the line of timelapse or about one shot every 4 seconds.  That should easily get you 1000 shots as you only have 4-5 seconds of LCD/EVF time per shot.  It's the EVF/LCD that eats the battery.  Also turning down the screen brightness will help battery life quite a bit.
As indicated the EVF and LCD are off. Jörg
 

by E.J. Peiker on Wed Aug 12, 2020 7:31 pm
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Then something is very wrong and is using power when it shouldn't be.  Either an internal short in the camera or a bad or worn out battery.  LiION batteries are generally good for about 500 charge cycles, after that they are pretty much worthless.  But since the camera works with external power, that's your best bet for this type of shooting.  Just hook up one of those phone recharge battery blocks to the cameras micro USB or USB 3 port and you should be able to go a long time.

In any case, I just got back from a trip to Utah where I took about 800 photos on my a7R4 and my battery was still at 43% when I got home and I never changed it or recharged it.  My a7R3 has similar performance.
 

by Joerg Rockenberger on Wed Aug 12, 2020 7:54 pm
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E.J. Peiker wrote:Then something is very wrong and is using power when it shouldn't be.  Either an internal short in the camera or a bad or worn out battery.  LiION batteries are generally good for about 500 charge cycles, after that they are pretty much worthless.  But since the camera works with external power, that's your best bet for this type of shooting.  Just hook up one of those phone recharge battery blocks to the cameras micro USB or USB 3 port and you should be able to go a long time.

In any case, I just got back from a trip to Utah where I took about 800 photos on my a7R4 and my battery was still at 43% when I got home and I never changed it or recharged it.  My a7R3 has similar performance.
I tried it with batteries from 2017 and 2019: same result.

Is the number of photos you report from interval shooting? Again, I don't have a problem getting plenty of shots from one battery with regular shooting. It's the fact that in Sony's interval shooting mode the camera internally is on and drawing power all the time, even in between the actual taking of a photo.

I'd be very curious to see what others get under similar conditions using Sony's internal interval shooting feature with firmware 3.0. Maybe it's different with an external intervalometer which may wake up and trigger the camera for each shot. I don't have one. So, I can't test it.

Jörg
 

by E.J. Peiker on Thu Aug 13, 2020 3:00 pm
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No that was just straight landscape shooting for several days. I haven't tested it with Sony's internal interval timer - perhaps that is using a lot of power for the camera's CPU. If it isn't that, it has to be something in the camera that's wrong. By the way I almost never use the IBIS or lens OIS since I shoot off of a tripod almost 100% of the time. That would use quite a bit of power.
 

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