Long exposure, timelapse and the woes of battery life

[hamlet]

Today i sat myself down at the local train station to get some long exposure and timelapse photos for a prolonged period of time of a 4 to 6 hour session. Sometime before that at home i packed my gear that made me look like a sherpa, i already started to worry about battery life of my D3200. I sat my tripod down with my camera in focus and in position in front of my directors chair. About 1H30 - 2h into shooting my battery was already dying on me. So my question for this day is: how can i keep my cameras battery in operation uninterrupted for 4 to 6 hours without disrupting my camera? Because the slightest movement would ruin my timelapse. I really enjoy timelapse photography and would like to compose something to give back to the community. I am already starting to paint with light in long exposure, i see so many creative things i can pull off with this.

 

[D-B-J]

Grab a battery grip? Or try and switch out the batteries between shots, quickly?


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[Braineack]

you could grip the camera, that would double the life.

 

[astroNikon]

The d3200 battery grip requires removal the the body battery, but supposedly allows 2 batteries in the grip.

The big question is whether you can replace one grip battery at a time to keep them circulating and keep your power supply continuous .. anyone know ??



I see you expanded your horizons from just hamster photography to everything else. Same with me except I started with my camera pointed to the celestial things then redirected it back to earthly things

 

[hamlet]

That contraption is so large that it covers the tripod screw hole. How can i use that with a tripod?

 

[Braineack]

screw into the bottom of the grip.

 

[D-B-J]

That contraption is so large that it covers the tripod screw hole. How can i use that with a tripod?

There's a tripod mount on the bottom of the grip.

 

[astroNikon]

the grips have the screw hole on the bottom of them like the camera does.

Edit: I'm apparently slow at clicking Save .. got beat by 2 others lol

 

[hamlet]

The d3200 battery grip requires removal the the body battery, but supposedly allows 2 batteries in the grip.

The big question is whether you can replace one grip battery at a time to keep them circulating and keep your power supply continuous .. anyone know ??



I see you expanded your horizons from just hamster photography to everything else. Same with me except I started with my camera pointed to the celestial things then redirected it back to earthly things

Hamtography is a challenging area of expertise for sure. I would actually still be doing sky photography if it weren't for the fact that my country looks like its always Christmas up in the sky at night. The light pollution is ridiculous here.

 

[D-B-J]

Does your battery door have a small rubber piece that allows a wire to come out? They make these "batteries" that are just plastic with contacts that you can attach to a power supply and run off 120volt power.

Amazon.com: Kapaxen EH-5 Plus EP-5A AC Power Adapter Kit for Nikon Coolpix P7000, P7100, P7700, D3100, D3200, D5100, D5200 Digital Cameras: Electronics

Something like that and an extension cord. Or this connected to an inverter in your car.

Jake

 

[hamlet]

Does your battery door have a small rubber piece that allows a wire to come out? They make these "batteries" that are just plastic with contacts that you can attach to a power supply and run off 120volt power.

Amazon.com: Kapaxen EH-5 Plus EP-5A AC Power Adapter Kit for Nikon Coolpix P7000, P7100, P7700, D3100, D3200, D5100, D5200 Digital Cameras: Electronics

Something like that and an extension cord. Or this connected to an inverter in your car.

Jake

There is no wire as far as i can tell. But knowing that there is a screw in hole in the grip gives me all i need. Now to look for a grip that either doubled or triples the lifespan.

 

[D-B-J]

Does your battery door have a small rubber piece that allows a wire to come out? They make these "batteries" that are just plastic with contacts that you can attach to a power supply and run off 120volt power.

Amazon.com: Kapaxen EH-5 Plus EP-5A AC Power Adapter Kit for Nikon Coolpix P7000, P7100, P7700, D3100, D3200, D5100, D5200 Digital Cameras: Electronics

Something like that and an extension cord. Or this connected to an inverter in your car.

Jake

There is no wire as far as i can tell. But knowing that there is a screw in hole in the grip gives me all i need. Now to look for a grip that either doubled or triples the lifespan.

A grip will only double the lifespan, as it'll hold two batteries instead of your current one. No grip holds three batteries.


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[hamlet]

Does your battery door have a small rubber piece that allows a wire to come out? They make these "batteries" that are just plastic with contacts that you can attach to a power supply and run off 120volt power.

Amazon.com: Kapaxen EH-5 Plus EP-5A AC Power Adapter Kit for Nikon Coolpix P7000, P7100, P7700, D3100, D3200, D5100, D5200 Digital Cameras: Electronics

Something like that and an extension cord. Or this connected to an inverter in your car.

Jake

There is no wire as far as i can tell. But knowing that there is a screw in hole in the grip gives me all i need. Now to look for a grip that either doubled or triples the lifespan.

A grip will only double the lifespan, as it'll hold two batteries instead of your current one. No grip holds three batteries.


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That is a bummer, though 3H worth of footage is still better than 1H30. What if i tried astroNikon's advice of changing one battery at a time in the grip? Will it still work with only one battery? Though there is still the danger of moving the camera unintentionally.

 

[D-B-J]

There is no wire as far as i can tell. But knowing that there is a screw in hole in the grip gives me all i need. Now to look for a grip that either doubled or triples the lifespan.

A grip will only double the lifespan, as it'll hold two batteries instead of your current one. No grip holds three batteries.


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That is a bummer.

The plug I linked will give you unlimited power though...


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[astroNikon]

that's why I was wondering if you can swap out one battery.

On my D7000 there is only 1 battery in the grip, but you keep the battery in the camera.
So I have my camera set to use the grip battery FIRST. But I can pull the grip battery out and swap batteries in it, even taking some time to charge one while it uses the body battery.

Though I've never tried it on video or anything. So I was curious if anyone has swapped only one battery in a D3200 grip.