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Sony A7R II Tips for Longer Battery Life + Field Experience
The Sony battery packs a good amount of power into its small size. The much larger Nikon D810 battery offers 1.8X the milli-amp-hour capacity.
Nikon EN-EL15: 7.0V X 1900 mAh = 13300 mAh
Sony NP-FW50: 7.2V X 1020 mAh = 7344 mAh
Based on mAh ratings, the Sony A7R II shooter will need twice the number of batteries as with a Nikon D810. For your author, that means three batteries, four to play it safe, more if shooting video, doing long exposures in the cold, etc.
Recommendations for extending battery life:
- Menu #3: . This disables WiFi features.
- Menu #6 (Toolbox): (with the self timer delay, there is little need for the remote control if the goal is simply to avoid disturbing the camera).
- Menu #6 (Toolbox): . The camera goes into low-power sleep mode after this amount of inactivity.
- Turn the camera off when not in use. This saves power immediately, rather than relying on the camera to enter sleep mode. This may seem obvious, but it is all too easy to leave the camera on between pictures.
- Disable IBIS: on a tripod your author has found that image stabilization is unwise (all brands, all types), particularly for long exposures. Image stabilization takes power, so if shooting at high shutter speeds or on a tripod, disable IBIS.
- Remove the battery when stowing: the On/Off switch is too easily flicked to On when stowing the camera (when pulling the camera from a daypack, your author saw that it was On several times). When stowed and with the camera On, any button press activates the camera and this will drain the battery with regular jostling (as in a pack or similar).
- Keep batteries warm (in cold conditions). The batteries are small and thus it is easy to keep two or three or more of them warm in a pocket.
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