Got this from Colby Brown Facebook. This lets you turn off the rear LCD and only have the EVF on until you use one of your buttons to switch to the LCD. Another push of the button takes you back to viewfinder only. Should save massive amounts of battery.
Go to the menu system (Gear 4) and choose either monitor or viewfinder on. Choose one of the three options, I have it set for viewfinder which turns off the LCD monitor. In this case it is really turned off using no power at all. Then go to custom button settings and assign finder /monitor select as an option. I have it assigned to the AEL button. When you push the AEL button the viewfinder goes off and the LCD goes on, push it again and the LCD goes off and the monitor goes on.
I used it all morning and still have 89% battery, works great.
dennishh wrote:
Got this from Colby Brown Facebook. This lets you turn off the rear LCD and only have the EVF on until you use one of your buttons to switch to the LCD. Another push of the button takes you back to viewfinder only. Should save massive amounts of battery.
Go to the menu system (Gear 4) and choose either monitor or viewfinder on. Choose one of the three options, I have it set for viewfinder which turns off the LCD monitor. In this case it is really turned off using no power at all. Then go to custom button settings and assign finder /monitor select as an option. I have it assigned to the AEL button. When you push the AEL button the viewfinder goes off and the LCD goes on, push it again and the LCD goes off and the monitor goes on.
I used it all morning and still have 89% battery, works great....Show more →
While this is neat, I'm not sure what this helps, as turning off LCD will enable EVF, which I heard is no less power hungry.
There needs to be a way to power off both display devices.
For example, when I do a 5 minute long exposure, the screen (either of them) stays powered on, increasing heat noise and decreasing battery life, for absolutely no reason.
rcamargo wrote:
The evf uses less power than the LCD, according to what i've read before.
From the A7RII manual:
[Power consumption (while shooting)]
When using the viewfinder: Approx. 3.2 W
When using the monitor: Approx. 2.7 W
Using the OP method will actually turn both finder and monitor OFF as long as my eye is not up against the finder. This could potentially save battery life.
Your welcome,Thought this might be of interest. I have no idea whether it helps or not but just the fact only one of the electronic viewfinders/monitor are being used seem to make quite a difference to me. When I just tried turning off the monitor, before this tip, there was always some info still presented on the LCD which makes me feel there has to be some battery savings here. If both the monitor and you finder were on you would be using 2.7w and 3.2w making a total of 5.9. So without that combination be using 3.2 instead of 5.9 with just the viewfinder on. Here's another example of Sony listening to all of our complaints and actually doing something about it.
Exactly. When the monitor is on the viewfinder is off. You raise the camera to your eye and the monitor goes off and the view finder on. The method above now forces the camera to use the evf instead of the monitor which actually uses more power, not less
The saving is in that removing the camera from your eye, will turn off the EVF, while the LCD will stay off. in the 'normal' mode, the LCD will turn on when you take away the camera from your eye, so although it uses less power, it uses a lot more then when neither is on.
I think Sony should release a firmware update to a 4th option for viewing option... button activate: the camera is always in stand-by and ready to take picture, but neither the EVF nor the LCD is on until a set button is pressed.
The reason why I think A7* gets lousy battery life is really because there's always something power-hungry on as long as the camera is set to on. Why not go the DSLR approach? but since we don't have OVF, allow us to wake the viewing option (either EVF or LCD) at a touch of a button.
This should greatly improve the battery life of A7 series.
I assume that assigning a button to switch between EVF and Display turns off the sensor used to turn the EVF on automatically which would save a little power. Or maybe I'm wrong.
Sep 01, 2015 at 07:54 AM
Steve Spencer Online • • • • • • • Upload & Sell: On
I find that my A7 II turns on so fast that shutting it off when I am not shooting is what really saves the battery. I haven't missed a shot yet, because I had to turn it on, YMMV. This customization would be really useful for people who are bothered about the sensor for automatic switching--it has always worked perfectly for me, but I know it hasn't for others. I know people have asked for just this functionality.
Steve Spencer wrote:
I find that my A7 II turns on so fast that shutting it off when I am not shooting is what really saves the battery. I haven't missed a shot yet, because I had to turn it on, YMMV. This customization would be really useful for people who are bothered about the sensor for automatic switching--it has always worked perfectly for me, but I know it hasn't for others. I know people have asked for just this functionality.
+1
I do a number of other power saving strategies, but this one is the best IMO. In my experience the A7rII boots up even quicker than the A7II, making it even better.
Steve Spencer wrote:
I find that my A7 II turns on so fast that shutting it off when I am not shooting is what really saves the battery. I haven't missed a shot yet, because I had to turn it on, YMMV. This customization would be really useful for people who are bothered about the sensor for automatic switching--it has always worked perfectly for me, but I know it hasn't for others. I know people have asked for just this functionality.
+1
This is one of the big upgrades from the A7R - turn on time is much much shorter AND the on/off switch is in a much more convenient place. I turn it off, then when I want to use it as soon as my right hand grips the camera my index finger turns it on and by the time the EVF is up to my eye it's ready to go. Though not needed due to the long battery life of my D800 when left on, I do this all the time with it and now my muscle memory is the same with the D800 or A7RII regarding the on/off switch. I also have found the EVF/LCD monitor auto switch is much more well behaved on the -II.
Thanks for the tip. I will have to try this when I go out shooting and see if it makes any difference. I usually turn it off as well but there are times when I am shooting with 2 cameras and ended up leaving the camera on for extended period of times as I am switching between cameras regularly. In this circumstance, the Sony's batteries don't last all that long. Now I have it set to EVF only and switch to LCD only if I press a button to switch to LCD. When my eye is not up against EVF, EVF also remains off so hopefully this will work out well when I forget to turn off the camera or switch cameras regularly.
Okay, these are the numbers from Gary Friedman's excellent book, where he slapped on a voltmeter to the a7:
With LCD on: 235 mA
With EVF on: 252.5 mA
With both displays OFF:201.75 mA (not sure what this means, will e-mail Gary)
AF with FE lens: 360 mA (peak)
AF with A-mount lens (screwdriver blade): 360 mA (peak)
Display Quality Standard 312.2mA
Display Quality High 373.5 mA
Deactivate Monitor: No Power Savings
Airlplane Mode: No Meaningful difference when shooting
I believe the airplane mode belief comes in from those he keep their cell phone near their camera and NFC attempts to sync. Other than that, Airplane mode does nothing, because it doesn't "search" for a signal until it has been triggered.
There are more measurements in Gary's phenomenal book such as differences in LCD brightness. Get his book. Awesome resource.
