External Battery for DSLR

bigd · May 21, 2015

I'm climbing in July and won't have access to a charger for 7 days. I want to power my 6d and/or 60d with an external power source. Any ideas?

Buckster · May 21, 2015

For the costs and weights involved with alternate power sources beyond something that can be used with a vehicle or a Sherpa, your best bet is probably just extra batteries.

astroNikon · May 21, 2015

Extra batteries due to the small size and they hold a charge a long time.

For hiking in no man's land for electricity (charge, GPS, batteries for flashlight, etc) for a variety of means I also use foldable solar panel, and there's a small battery on the lower part of my backpack frame that charges up while hiking with the panel on the top of the pack. But considering how long it takes to charge a camera battery anyways, it's just better to bring extras (plus they weigh less than my setup).

Dave442 · May 21, 2015

And keep from using the rear screen, turn off IS if not needed, don't use the flash.

bratkinson · May 21, 2015

I'm wondering how new (or old) your batteries are. I'm thinking that at most, an extra pair of batteries for your camera(s) is sufficient. Due to weight considerations, I'd take only one camera, as well.

For what it's worth, when I had a gripped 60D with genuine Canon batteries, I'd get about 2,000 frames before becoming a bit worried about the charge level. My gripped 5Diii with genuine Canons gets maybe 2,500-3,000 on a full charge (I've never ran the batteries until 'dead'). By now, you should have a pretty good 'feel' for how many shots per charge you get out of your batteries. Buy enough batteries to provide that many shots.

Derrel · May 21, 2015

Yes...carry two extra genuine Canon batteries that have been broken in a bit. I would buy them immediately, and get some charge/discharge cycles under their belt and test their reliability.

table1349 · May 22, 2015

Weight it weight. This can replace a bunch of extra batteries down to two. Sherpa 50 Solar Kit Complete Solar Kits Goal Zero

Sorry linked to the wrong one the first time.

Alexr25 · May 22, 2015

gryphonslair99 said:
Weight it weight. This can replace a bunch of extra batteries down to two. Sherpa 50 Solar Kit Complete Solar Kits Goal Zero

Sorry linked to the wrong one the first time.

As you rightly say weight is weight.
Going by the specs the inverter weighs 544gram, the solar panel 726gram making an all-up weight of 1.27Kg not counting the weight of the actual battery charger.
My EN-EL15 battery weights 79gram, so I could carry more than 16 batteries for the same weight as the solar kit plus charger. Also realistically you are looking at it taking 2 days to charge each battery.
If I was going up the Amazon on a 6 month safari then the solar kit might make some sense, but for a 1 week climbing trip??

table1349 · May 23, 2015

Alexr25 said:
gryphonslair99 said:

Weight it weight. This can replace a bunch of extra batteries down to two. Sherpa 50 Solar Kit Complete Solar Kits Goal Zero

Sorry linked to the wrong one the first time.

Click to expand...

As you rightly say weight is weight.
Going by the specs the inverter weighs 544gram, the solar panel 726gram making an all-up weight of 1.27Kg not counting the weight of the actual battery charger.
My EN-EL15 battery weights 79gram, so I could carry more than 16 batteries for the same weight as the solar kit plus charger. Also realistically you are looking at it taking 2 days to charge each battery.
If I was going up the Amazon on a 6 month safari then the solar kit might make some sense, but for a 1 week climbing trip??

If you look at what they stated it takes one to two days solar time to charge the storage battery. The storage battery will fully charge 5 camera batteries. If you start out with a full battery all you would need to do is top off the battery each day or so.

Alexr25 · May 23, 2015

gryphonslair99 said:
If you look at what they stated it takes one to two days solar time to charge the storage battery. The storage battery will fully charge 5 camera batteries. If you start out with a full battery all you would need to do is top off the battery each day or so.

That may well be true but if I had a choice of climbing with a couple of 3oz. batteries or a 3lb solar charging outfit I know which I would prefer.

Microbois · May 23, 2015

You can use the power of a 18v cordless tool with a USB adapter, such as Milwaukee (#49-24-2371) and Dewalt (#DCT4103). Plug it in into a USB battery charger such as OAProda USB charger selling for less than 20$, and your problem is solved. Those Li-ion batteries are light, they pack a considerable amount of energy, and if used to recharge tablets and smart phones, you could possibly recharge a lot of them on a single charge. Obviously, if you don't owe any cordless tools from those manufacturers, you'll have to buy 1 or 2 batteries, the charger, and the USB adapter, and that will set you back around 200$ to 250$.

I've been on a 10hr bus trip last month and brought 2 of those batteries with me. One battery was used almost continuously to recharge smartphones and tablets, on the way up and back, and low and behold, the battery was just half discharged when I came back home. Those batteries pack enough energy to power motors to drill hundreds of holes in lumber, so recharging batteries is nothing.

If you ever decide to go that way, make sure you get their 5.0Ah battery, and not a lower Ah battery. They have 4.0Ah, 3.0Ah, and slim packs of 2.0Ah. You would just have a smaller reserve of energy for the same battery weight/size. I just looked at the weight of a 5.0Ah Dewalt battery, and it's 1.4 lbs (635 grams). Seems to be lighter than other proposed solutions but all those pounds are adding up too, so you have to think about it.