GX7: How many photos can be taken in electronic shutter mode with the LCD off on one battery charge?

TimCamera wrote:

What intervals are you thinking of shooting? (What were the intervals your G5?) What is the ambient temperature (or are you heating the camera/lens if cold outside)? You're using fixed aperture, shutter speed, ISO, WB, and manual focus, right?

Thanks for the info.

My intervals are about 2 to 4 seconds. I usually take timelapses in the morning. The temperatures have been -5C to 10C. I do not heat the lenses. I am still a novice and didn't know that was an option. I usually shoot in manual mode with all settings fixed. Nothing is in auto mode. I have been taking sunrises and of course the lighting is only good for a portion of the timelapse. I don't have any PP knowledge so I want to get as much as I can in camera. The ability to change the settings remotely on the GX7 is one of the features that appeals to me. I'm sure the WiFi will chew through the battery though.

Then I'm going to guess you'll get about the same number of photos between the G5 and GX7. The CIPA ratings are fairly close (320 G5 vs 350 GX7), but the G5 has a stronger flash, included in the CIPA rating but not in your time lapse. (That's assuming same setting, same features, same ambient conditions, and same lens used in the time lapses).

Sounds like you know that temperature makes a difference in battery life. Some people heat their lenses to prevent condensation; it only takes a couple degrees higher than ambient to do this. Hand warmers can help with this. They also can be used to warm the battery and extend the battery life. I haven't done this, though.

Sun rise is one time you might want to use A mode instead of manual, especially if you use a PP that can handle flicker, such as GoPro's free app, VirtualDub + plugins (also free), or LRRimeLapse + LR or Adobe Camera Raw (LRTimeLapse is free up to 400 frames per vidieo). (What software are you using? GoPro is surprisingly easy, but not much control, fine to start out with.) Sun rise/set is about 20 stops of light, more than 1/8000 to 4 sec covers (15 stops). As you've seen, using all manual can only capture a short period of it.

I can definitely see why you'd like to use the wifi (-5C!), but yes it'll drop your battery life. No formal testing here, but 50% with 4 sec intervals seems believable.

Oh, one thing able using computer PP to produce the final video. Most need consecutive numbers in all the file names, but when panasonic adds a new number folder after "filling" the current folder, the image file name changes from Pxxy0999 to Pxxz0001, a jump of 9002! LRTimeLapse and the GX7 in camera conversion handle this fine, VDub doesn't (I'm not sure about GoPro) and you'd need to batch rename them to consecutive numbers. LRTimeLapse also can use RAW files, which also can help bring out a lot more with only a little PP.

However you decide to do it though, have fun, and enjoy your results!