What external batteries are you guys using with the a7 Series?

K

krizard

Active member
Anyone who owns a a7 series Sony camera knows that one of the bigs problems is the battery. And i've also been there, shooting a short documentary while charging batteries at the same time... its awful.
So i've decided to buy an external battery pack, but I would like some help from you guys.
I've been searching around the web and the only one that looked ok was the varavon a7s battery package.

Has anyone here tried the Varavon?
What can you recommend me around the same price point?

Thank you :)
 
If you do a search on here, there's a lot of random info about various power options.

Some people like the USB solutions (which are pretty inexpensive) and some like D-tap power (like myself).

For the past 2 years, I have used these two to power the a7RII, a7SII and a6300.

12+ hours from this combo. And I like this battery because it has threads on each side to sit between a tripod plate and a camera.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/770053-REG/Switronix_PB70B_PB70B_PowerBase_70_Battery.html

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1124620-REG/indipro_tools_ptsa7_p_tap_to_sony.html
 
I think a lot of people use USB charging off of cellphone power banks. I enjoy DIY projects, so I'm going to mount this NP-F battery plate to my rig, connect it to a dummy battery, and slap on an NP-F970 battery. The plate's DC port is technically a charging input, but it backfeeds current from the battery, so it can be used as an output or you could wire in a separate DC output. I'm still waiting for some odds and ends to arrive from China before I assemble everything together; I'll post pictures and a write-up in the DIY section when it's finished.
 
I've been using the varavon for my a7s ii, it works well as long as it's not outside in the summer heat here in Texas, it drains much faster then. Normally I get about 3 hours before it is depleted. It did require a slight modification to the trip of the output cable to keep it from losing power when you touched or moved the cable, this video shows you how to fix that problem https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-fSQkDAiVQ&t=1s
 
Just purchased a handful of USB power banks for extending run times on the A7Sii, A6500, and RX10ii. With a single Sony battery in the camera, I'm getting about 2.5-3 hours of continuous recording run time shooting 4K 100mbps with all of the cameras (also using the Open Memories clip length tweak).

I purchased some really nice Anker 10,000mAh USB battery banks, but they did not output enough amps to the Sony cameras to be useful and run times were only about 90 minutes. I took a risk and purchased some RAVPower 6700mAh packs, and they do provide enough power - about 2.5-3 hours before the internal Sony battery is exhausted.

Hope this helps. It seems that not every battery bank is created equal.
 
NorBro said:
If you do a search on here, there's a lot of random info about various power options.

Some people like the USB solutions (which are pretty inexpensive) and some like D-tap power (like myself).

For the past 2 years, I have used these two to power the a7RII, a7SII and a6300.

12+ hours from this combo. And I like this battery because it has threads on each side to sit between a tripod plate and a camera.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/770053-REG/Switronix_PB70B_PB70B_PowerBase_70_Battery.html

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1124620-REG/indipro_tools_ptsa7_p_tap_to_sony.html
Click to expand...

thanks man. I'll take a look

Edit: B&H doesn't ship batteries to my country :( , I guess I'll have to go with a DYI or the power bank setup.
 
Last edited:
Nate Haustein said:
Just purchased a handful of USB power banks for extending run times on the A7Sii, A6500, and RX10ii. With a single Sony battery in the camera, I'm getting about 2.5-3 hours of continuous recording run time shooting 4K 100mbps with all of the cameras (also using the Open Memories clip length tweak).

I purchased some really nice Anker 10,000mAh USB battery banks, but they did not output enough amps to the Sony cameras to be useful and run times were only about 90 minutes. I took a risk and purchased some RAVPower 6700mAh packs, and they do provide enough power - about 2.5-3 hours before the internal Sony battery is exhausted.

Hope this helps. It seems that not every battery bank is created equal.
Click to expand...

Thanks man.
this looks cheaper and more suitable for me, B&H doesn't ship the varavon to my country, because of some restrictions.
Any online guide on how to setup the power bank usb to dummy a7s battery setup?
 
I bought the Atomos Power Station which can connect to the camera and has a dummy battery that goes into the battery compartment. Then you can attach up to two Sony NP-F970 batteries to provide power.
 
Just Fyi it is not B&H - it is the new (about 3 years or so) transportation industry regulations tightening up Li-Ion batteries restrictions. It is illegal to ship them out of the country using US Mail. Fedex/UPS accept them but the cost is astronomical.
 
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