How to power Sony A7s using AC Power??

T

The Irish TRex

Well-known member
So I feel dumb.

Here I am 2 full years into my A7s, having shot close to 100 weddings with 3 of them that I own, and I've never used nor powered it by AC power. Now I went to my box (I'm in the US) and there's a simple AC plug with USB port on it with a little USB to Micro USB cable. Is that the power cable? And if so, how come when I plug it into my camera it just goes into "USB Mode" and I can't use the camera? Any help would be greatly appreciated since I need to have this thing powered for several hours without doing the battery swap dance all day.

Thanks!
 
The Irish TRex said:
So I feel dumb.

Here I am 2 full years into my A7s, having shot close to 100 weddings with 3 of them that I own, and I've never used nor powered it by AC power. Now I went to my box (I'm in the US) and there's a simple AC plug with USB port on it with a little USB to Micro USB cable. Is that the power cable? And if so, how come when I plug it into my camera it just goes into "USB Mode" and I can't use the camera? Any help would be greatly appreciated since I need to have this thing powered for several hours without doing the battery swap dance all day.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

If I recall correctly, the A7S has a microUSB 5V port that can be used to charge the battery while the camera is off. The newer A7RII and A7SII allow you to also partially power the camera with the microUSB port, which in practice slows the drain on the battery. The feature is limited in use on the A7S but is certainly handy when traveling since it allows you to use the camera as an extra charger or even travel very light and not bring a charger at all.

If you want to power your A7S with AC power you need a dummy battery kit with AC adapter. I got one cheap online which works fine though oddly the voltage drops slowly to the point where the camera thinks the battery is too low to format cards etc after 5-6hrs (found this out on 14hr timelapse). The official sony AC adapter kit might not have this issue, but otherwise the 3rd party AC power kit is fine.
 
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