Slightly bigger batteries for A7s

W

wallrc

Well-known member
I just got my A7s yesterday. Coming from the Canon world I am astounded at how badly the menus and controls are thought out - seriously have had a dozen wtf moments already. The thing I am struggling with the most is metering - it just seems much harder with this camera than other cameras.

Anyway, I bought a package from Beach Camera that included 2 extra batts. I'm sure these batteries are at most a few dollars as they were 3rd party ("power2000") and thrown in as freebees, but I noticed that they are 1500mAh instead of the stock 1080mAh, so that comes out to 10.8 Wh instead of 7.7 for the stock. I haven't tested, but so far they do indeed seem to be giving longer battery life. They get terrible reviews online but mine seem to be working...and they were free.
 
Unless the battery is physically larger than the standard FW50 Sony one, there is no way it will deliver higher capacity. The industry pretty much reached the limit with the current technology of how many wh it is possible to squeeze in the given space. It is much easier to print labels with higher numbers :-)
 
If you actually test these "1500mAh" batteries, I think you'll find they give about the same, or possibly less minutes of operation under identical circumstances.

On Ebay, you can find 100's listings for these cloner NP-FW50 batteries, with mAh ratings ranging from the same as Sony all the way up to an outrageous 2300mAh. There is never any reason to pay more than $8 for one of the generics, and sometimes you can do even better in a 2 or 3 pack. Heck, you can even get them in counterfeit Sony livery if you want, but the paint job & blister pack costs extra - $13 - so don't fall for that.

Bottom line, given the abysmally short life of the NP-FW50 in the a7, ILCE and NEX cameras (the NP-FW50 was designed for occasional use pocket cameras), and Sony's rather high $50 price-tag for genuine batteries, this is a case where there is no reason not to use the no-name versions.

After all, you're going to need a lot of them, regardless of who's name is on the outside...
 
What sort of battery life you're getting out of a single one in a7s? Are there no power solutions at this moment?
 
My very limited experience so far: with one battery I get about half a day of normal shooting (maybe 40 minutes of footage). On my 5N, these batteries lasted maybe 50% more (so, I still needed two batteries per day, but each of them allowed me to record around one hour of footage).
 
Oh dear, 40 minutes? That's the BMPCC like ranges. I hope they'll improve it a little bit with the next firmware.
 
It's a lot longer than the BM if you consider standby times. I haven't used it much but I think I would need three times as many batteries per day if I was shooting with the pocket.
 
I've been getting about an hour out of the Sony batteries. But, I'm using all manual lenses. A nice thing about the batteries is when the level gauge in the viewfinder reaches zero, you've actually got 2 or 3 minutes runtime in reserve. And when the battery does finally die, you don't lose the clip that you were shooting. There's still enough power to properly shut down the camera.
 
We are coming up with a power solution based on using common DV batteries. The FW50 V adapter accepts one of the high capacity batteries, and powers the camera using a DC coupler (dummy battery) which is included. We are looking for Beta testers located in US. PM if interested. Cheers.

A7-V-adapter-800.jpg
 
i bought 4 different replacement batteries. non of them overlasted a sony. trashed them. i bought another original one. A whole day of shooting is 3-4 batteries for me.
 
I now have plates in stock for Sony or Swit L size batteries in stock. Contact me direct if you want an early version of my shoulder brace and L battery for the A7s, it is a part of a whole system I am making for this great camera.

The cost is $75.00 including an aluminum plate that will interface with my kit. It uses 2 L-slots for 4mm screws as a quick release system, that can easily be used with most cheese plate systems.

I will post photos here soon and they will be on my store later this week. This is a solution I am making in conjunction with Alex Dolgin. We also sell the Swit batteries, that I like better tha the Sonys.

I will post a link on this forum as soon as the store is set up. But for now if you are in a rush contact me directly. You will get between 4 to 6 hrs out of each of these batteries.
 
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