Sony Alpha6000 autonomy on mapping missions

Posted by Aeropixel on June 2, 2015 at 3:12pm

Hello folks!

I'm using a Sony Alpha6000 on my plane for mapping missions and I find the autonomy of that camera batery very poor, making at best about 350 pictures per full batery.

I've tried everything to extend that batery's life like turning On Plane mode, turning off viewing the shot pitcures, etc, but can't squeeze much more.

This is such a great camera that is a pity that one can't take that many pictures without replacing the battery, so I was wondering if anyone here uses it and has some "secret" to perhaps power it during the flight, just one can do with a Gopro.

Any ideas?

Thanks

António

3691211650?profile=original

You need to be a member of diydrones to add comments!

Join diydrones

Tags: 6000, a6000, alpha, mapping, mission, sony
Email me when people reply –
Follow

Replies

  • Aeropixel June 3, 2015 at 6:03am

    Thanks to Eli Cohen and Iskess I searched around and I've found the cleanest solution for this problem in this video.

    Thank you guys!
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OXD3ENA_UA

    P.S. - Needless to say, of course, one needs to buy the respective dummy battery for his camera. 

  • iskess June 2, 2015 at 7:46pm
    I just bought a cheap dummy battery off ebay and a 7.2v regulator from Pololu. I stuck the little regulator inside the dummy battery and attached it the aircraft's battery pack.
    • Cioro > iskess August 28, 2015 at 10:49pm

      Can you provide a link for Sony A6000 dummy battery, cheaper than LanParte's?

    • Aeropixel > iskess June 3, 2015 at 5:46am

      Oh my, I think this is exactly what I need!

      Never thought that "dummy" batteries actually existed, searched for it and there it is!
      Thanks a lot!

  • Eli Cohen June 2, 2015 at 3:29pm

    At first I thought you could buy an AC adapter for it and hack it to a battery, but it looks like it's a very pricey accessory. http://store.sony.com/ac-adaptor-zid27-ACPW20/cat-27-catid-All-Came...

    Found the info at: http://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/53723534

    There are also generic chargers out there that cost less $$$

    You might be able to get a spare battery, cut it apart, reverse engineer an original and wire the new one up to an external battery....

    Or just land and swap batteries....

    Or get a new camera :)

    • Eli Cohen > Eli Cohen June 2, 2015 at 3:36pm

      this might be exactly what you need: http://www.diyphotography.net/how-to-make-a-dslr-battery-run-4-time...

    • Aeropixel > Eli Cohen June 2, 2015 at 3:57pm

      Thank you very much!

      That is very interesting indeed! If I could quadruple the autonomy that would be serious talking!
      I just wonder why they make those awesome cameras with such weak batteries, and don't even have an expensive "alternative".

      In case of uav mapping, making several flights just to change the camera battery is such a drag, specially because the plane's autonomy isn't that much of a problem anymore.

      I hope someone finds the best alternative of all, i.e. making it charge like if it was charging by usb, like it's done with the gopro and the only limitation becoming the memory card!

      If I can't make it, it seems that unfortunatelly I'll have to replace it by another camera, most probably with much less resolution.
      Anyway thanks a lot again! You've been very helpful! If you find anything new, please don't hesitate in showing us the good news! :D

      Cheers,

      António

This reply was deleted.