Nikon D 7000 - 'run-time interval mode'

does anyome know how long the camera will operate from it's battery in interval mode? Envisage taking 1 frame every 5 mins?

Short answer: no idea.

 

Longer answer: I suspect this could be quite a long experiment to do. I wouldn't expect the camera to be drawing much current between intervals, but how close to the stand-by current depends very much on the details of the hardware and how Nikon implemented it. I'd hope for "hours"; I don't know that I'd expect "days", but it wouldn't surprise me. Since there are reports that some just leave their cameras on (with the meter timed out) the whole time - not something I do - if it doesn't last as long as you hope, an external trigger with an interval function might substantially extend things.

 

How long do you need it to last? Or are you planning on recording for a whole year and trying to work out how often to replace the battery?

..record for 3 weeks. Mains supply is tricky. I can test battery later on this week. There's also a mbd 11 grip so you have two batteries. Maybe this will help or ease battery swap.

The grip sounds like a good idea - it can't hurt. If you get a test result, I'll be interested to know how you get on. How soon do you need it to work? (Do you actually have time to test beforehand?)

 

One other thing: temperature has a significant effect on battery behaviour - if it's likely to get cold (especially at night) then you might at least want to wrap the camera up a bit, if not provide some other form of heating (such as a chemical hand warmer, although obviously not too close). It might also fend off condensation, if there's a possibility of that being a problem. Of course, I've no idea whether you're talking about doing this inside or out!

 

I'm intrigued to know what you're doing, but I realise you might not want to say. :-) (Plus I'm not exactly answering your question... I hope someone else can.)

 

Good luck, regardless.

One more thing: a shot every 5 minutes for three weeks is over 6000 shots. CIPA battery life tests assume using the flash and doing some chimping with the LCD, but I'd still say that's a lot of exposures to try to get out of one (or two) batteries - and I'm assuming you have memory card space; the CIPA figure for a D7000 is 1050 shots. If you didn't need at least one change-over I'd be surprised.

 

Is the camera being left in the middle of nowhere? I wondered whether you could tether it or use an Eye-Fi card. That would make the battery life worse, but since you'd be shipping images off the camera live, you'd know if a shot failed. You'd also have the images if anything happens to the camera. Less a worry if you're leaving it in a room, but you did say the power supply was unreliable, so I'm using my imagination. :-)

The camera will be on a balcony. It's away from prying hands but also the mains supply. No 'chimping' nor flash. Hope to 'hot swap' cards as they fill up. Interupting the power will probably require the intervalometer to be started over/reset so there would be a slight time-error in the TL - maybe not serious though. Toying with idea of running it off a car battery - turned down to 7.2v or whatever.

Seems reasonable. Depending on where you are, I stand by the idea of protecting it from the elements. I'm not sure I generally trust car batteries not to flatten themselves over three weeks (they don't really have the lithium ion infinite shelf life), but it's not like you need to start a car from it at the end. I think I'd just check whether the camera can run for 48 hours on its internal battery, and if it can, swap the battery daily (and swap out cards at the same time). If it won't last that long on its own, or if you can't get there that often, you might be on to your bigger battery - I just don't really trust much to run for weeks at a time without something happening. Cosmic rays and all that. But then I'm quite paranoid. :-)

..an interesting and attractive possibility has been suggested: solar power.

Seems reasonable. Depending on where you are, I stand by the idea of protecting it from the elements. I'm not sure I generally trust car batteries not to flatten themselves over three weeks (they don't really have the lithium ion infinite shelf life), but it's not like you need to start a car from it at the end. I think I'd just check whether the camera can run for 48 hours on its internal battery, and if it can, swap the battery daily (and swap out cards at the same time). If it won't last that long on its own, or if you can't get there that often, you might be on to your bigger battery - I just don't really trust much to run for weeks at a time without something happening. Cosmic rays and all that. But then I'm quite paranoid. :)

Agree to this, i guess that if a camera remains in the open air for this long a period in one stratch, you also might want to check if a lens ( or filter) cleaning is required , wind and dust will possibly clog up the view otherwise ...

...a question about the Nikon's built-in interval timer: the frame counter only allows up to 999 frames to be entered - but a collegue has suggested the camera just keeps on going after this, but the 'number' goes back to zero. Has anyone noticed /tried??

..an interesting and attractive possibility has been suggested: solar power.

 

Unless the camera is going to be under a light (or you're in the Arctic circle), I'm not sure how that'll help?

 

...a question about the Nikon's built-in interval timer: the frame counter only allows up to 999 frames to be entered - but a collegue has suggested the camera just keeps on going after this, but the 'number' goes back to zero. Has anyone noticed /tried??

 

I don't think I've even entered any specific starting number, but I believe the file numbering is four digits, so you're fine up until frame 9999. After that point I'll be impressed if you've not changed memory card (and you'll have gone longer than your three weeks). I've wrapped my cameras a few times (not my new D850 yet, although I'm making alarming progress towards it) and it just goes back to 0 - so you need to be a little careful if you rely too much on the file name. Sorting by date solves the basic problem.

neil_grant said: ↑

..an interesting and attractive possibility has been suggested: solar power.

Unless the camera is going to be under a light (or you're in the Arctic circle), I'm not sure how that'll help?

...it means the camera can be run for long periods without being connected to the mains (which is a problem) and without being disturbed to change batteries.

neil_grant said: ↑

..an interesting and attractive possibility has been suggested: solar power.

Unless the camera is going to be under a light (or you're in the Arctic circle), I'm not sure how that'll help?

...it means the camera can be run for long periods without being connected to the mains (which is a problem) and without being disturbed to change batteries.

 

I'm hoping you mean with a solar charger trickle charging an external battery (otherwise you'll have no power at night), which slightly complicates the power behaviour if you're trying to use the battery at the same time, since you need a higher - but intermittent - current charging the battery from what it's providing as output. Not very difficult, but an active voltage regulator of some sort rather than just a drop-down resistor (dredging up some very ancient memory of basic electronics). If you're providing external power, I'd have thought the car battery solution is easier (although it would be nice if Nikons could be powered over USB for this kind of thing).

 

If there's a battery in the body as well, you might be able to swap the second battery in an MB-D11 grip without ever un-powering the camera. Unless the battery life is short (on experimenting) or it's really hard to get at the camera, I'd be inclined just to visit it every day or two and swap the battery and card just after a shot.

 

Have you had the chance to experiment yet? I'm curious to know how long the battery does last.

..we've thought of the night-time situation - my electronics expert has already made something like this for a Canon, so he may be able to adapt it. I like the idea of just 'leaving it' to get on with things and not risk moving it during a battery change. Also, bad weather and annual leave - no problem!

The D7000 has been recording on battery+interval mode 1 photo every 5 mins for about 30 hours - there's about 1/3 power left.

Ahah! Well, I hope the adaptation works if needed, but it sounds as though you should be okay doing a daily card and battery swap (if that's acceptable to you) without needing external power. Good to have some idea of how fast it gets through them - I genuinely had no idea, so thanks for sharing.

 

Best of luck with the project.

50 hours: 1 spot left on battery, about 600 photos taken. Disconnecting camera for other uses today.