OM1.2: how to save battery time

[elfroggio]

I'm trying to do timelapses by taking images every 30 seconds or every minute, depending on the case.

The problem is with an original OM battery fully charged, I get slightly more than 1 hour. It looks like, most of it, the 'juice' is being used on the LCD which doesn't turn off between images.

I don't want to use an external power pack (another thing to carry).

How do I get the LCD to turn off immediately after taking each photo?

Thanks

 

[drj3]

I don't know if the Backlit LCD setting works with time lapses, but the shortest interval you can set for normal operation is 8 seconds (Menu Gear P5 Backlit LCD). Quick Sleep mode allows settings as low as 3 seconds, but the longest Sleep setting is 1 minute for the camera to sleep for that mode.

 

[Bast Hotep]

Just FYI, I looked up 5000 mah USB-C power banks on Amazon and they are about the size of an AA battery, cost about $10, and weigh less than 5 ounces.

 

[Skeeterbytes]

Not near a camera and can't check—can you turn the panel face-in w/o interrupting the timelapse?

Once did a couple-hour timelapse 20-second interval with the E-M5, no battery issues. Guessing something unintended is gobbling your battery, as OM-1 battery endurance has been outstanding in my uses, compared to all my older m4/3 cameras. (Wifi and BT off?)

Good sleuthing,

Rick

 

[Danielvr]

How do I get the LCD to turn off immediately after taking each photo?

According to the manual, REC View is fixed at 0.5s, but I wonder if you can still turn it off - have you tried?

 

[Will Rose]

You can close the panel, so the screen is towards the body. If you want to peek once in a while, look in the evf. The screen is off when folded closed.

 

[elfroggio]

Not near a camera and can't check—can you turn the panel face-in w/o interrupting the timelapse?

Don't know, will have experiment

Once did a couple-hour timelapse 20-second interval with the E-M5, no battery issues. Guessing something unintended is gobbling your battery, as OM-1 battery endurance has been outstanding in my uses, compared to all my older m4/3 cameras. (Wifi and BT off?)

I'm in airplane mode, so I guess that they are both off.

Good sleuthing,

Rick

 

[elfroggio]

You can close the panel, so the screen is towards the body. If you want to peek once in a while, look in the evf. The screen is off when folded closed.

Inconvenient but I will have to try.

On the OM w/o the lcd panel, if it's on or not.

I used to a fuji before and when in timer mode, the screen would turn on 5 sec before the exposure and turn off after 5s. I did timelapses for more than 4.5 hours (very low battery at that time).

 

[Bassam Guy]

You can close the panel, so the screen is towards the body. If you want to peek once in a while, look in the evf. The screen is off when folded closed.

Inconvenient but I will have to try.

On the OM w/o the lcd panel, if it's on or not.

I used to a fuji before and when in timer mode, the screen would turn on 5 sec before the exposure and turn off after 5s. I did timelapses for more than 4.5 hours (very low battery at that time).

Silent Shutter on

EVF uses more power than the LCD, so use the LCD.

Dim the LCD (or EVF if you insist) as much as possible.

Backlit LCD, fastest possible

Use MF if possible, so no power for AF turning motors. (Eye Find off of you insist on AF)

Sleep settings as aggressive as possible, Quick Sleep on

EVF auto switch, off

AF targeting pad, off

IBIS off if possible

Peaking/Histogram/Level - All VF clutter off

Noise Filter/Reduction off

Save only raw or JPEG but not both

Beep off

 

[elfroggio]

You can close the panel, so the screen is towards the body. If you want to peek once in a while, look in the evf. The screen is off when folded closed.

Inconvenient but I will have to try.

On the OM w/o the lcd panel, if it's on or not.

I used to a fuji before and when in timer mode, the screen would turn on 5 sec before the exposure and turn off after 5s. I did timelapses for more than 4.5 hours (very low battery at that time).

Silent Shutter on

EVF uses more power than the LCD, so use the LCD.

Dim the LCD (or EVF if you insist) as much as possible.

Backlit LCD, fastest possible

Use MF if possible, so no power for AF turning motors. (Eye Find off of you insist on AF)

Sleep settings as aggressive as possible, Quick Sleep on

EVF auto switch, off

AF targeting pad, off

IBIS off if possible

Peaking/Histogram/Level - All VF clutter off

Noise Filter/Reduction off

Save only raw or JPEG but not both

Beep off

will try

thanks

 

[Michael Meissner]

Just FYI, I looked up 5000 mah USB-C power banks on Amazon and they are about the size of an AA battery, cost about $10, and weigh less than 5 ounces.

You need to make sure the power bank specifically has USB C-PD support. If the power bank does not have USB C-PD support, you won't be able to use it for powering time lapse photos.

 

[Bast Hotep]

Just FYI, I looked up 5000 mah USB-C power banks on Amazon and they are about the size of an AA battery, cost about $10, and weigh less than 5 ounces.

You need to make sure the power bank specifically has USB C-PD support. If the power bank does not have USB C-PD support, you won't be able to use it for powering time lapse photos.

Thanks, good point which I had forgotten. Going back to Amazon, I found one about the size of a credit card, which does PD, costs less than $9, and has double the capacity of the first one!

 

[Michael Meissner]

Thanks, good point which I had forgotten. Going back to Amazon, I found one about the size of a credit card, which does PD, costs less than $9, and has double the capacity of the first one!

It might be helpful to mention the name to help others looking for the same thing.

Unfortunately, the last power bank (VRURC) I bought from Amazon I had to return because it did not support USB C-PD. The previous 4 power banks that I have bought from Amazon all support USB C-PD, but they are no longer available, so I can't help you in terms of recommended power banks.

If the battery has 5000mAh, that corresponds to roughly 18.5 watt-hours. A BLX-1 battery has roughly 17 watt-hours of capacity. That means the OP would get a little more than double the runtime (18.5 watt-hours from the power bank, and then 17 watt-hours from the BLX-1 battery after the power bank is drained). Since the OP said they/he/she got an hour of runtime, that would mean possibly 2 hours of runtime.

If the battery has 10,000mAh, that would correspond to roughly 37 watt-hours. Thus you would get maybe 3 times the performance of the original BLX-1 battery.

Now, some battery makers lie, so it might be hard to identify the performance of the power bank from the specifications.

Realistically, 26,000mAh is the largest battery typically available. That is because the limit for batteries in airplane carry-on luggage is under 100 watt-hours.

Plugging in the numbers, that means if you have the largest power bank, and you buy a HLD-10 battery grip and second BLX-1 battery, the best you can hope for is 7 3/4 times the performance of a single BLX-1 battery.

If you have A/C power near the camera, instead of using a power bank, you can use the wall wart that you use to charge the camera. In the OM-1 mark I, this wall wart came in the package. I don't know if the wall wart still comes in the OM-1 mark II package.

 

[elfroggio]

You can close the panel, so the screen is towards the body. If you want to peek once in a while, look in the evf. The screen is off when folded closed.

I went out last night to do my time lapse.

I had to use the lcd panel for the setup and composition. I couldn't use the evf because I was behind the railing of a bridge.

Started and then flipped back the lcd panel.

• Lost the 1st photo, slight move and out of alignment.
• Looks I also lost the last photo by turning off the camera.

Photographed for 1hr 35mn.

Started with a 100% battery at the end it was at 84% remaining!

Thanks

 

[Skeeterbytes]

Big improvement!

Cheers,

Rick

 

[Bast Hotep]

Thanks, good point which I had forgotten. Going back to Amazon, I found one about the size of a credit card, which does PD, costs less than $9, and has double the capacity of the first one!

It might be helpful to mention the name to help others looking for the same thing.

Heh...I usually do that and even link to it, but then I'm usually on Reddit. I didn't know if that was frowned upon here. For some reason I was worried about that. But the one I found was called "Zendure Portable Charger", currently $8.55 in purple.

 

[Michael Meissner]

Thanks, good point which I had forgotten. Going back to Amazon, I found one about the size of a credit card, which does PD, costs less than $9, and has double the capacity of the first one!

It might be helpful to mention the name to help others looking for the same thing.

Heh...I usually do that and even link to it, but then I'm usually on Reddit. I didn't know if that was frowned upon here. For some reason I was worried about that. But the one I found was called "Zendure Portable Charger", currently $8.55 in purple.

From a specs point of view, that produces 20 watts. The OM-1 mark I can handle 20 watts, even though the manual says it needs 27 watts. I imagine the OM-1 mark II would be the same.

Note however, the earlier E-m1 mark III and E-m1x cameras do require 27 watts of power to use USB C-PD.

Also, if you wanted to use the power bank to change batteries with the BCX-1 charger in the background, the 20 watt USB C-PD would mean that you are charging batteries in slow mode.

Finally, the power bank has 4 LEDs to indicate the power level. I find in using power banks where I'm using the camera all day, that I prefer to have a digital display of the amount of power remaining. Having the power bank tell me that it was 13% power remaining is more useful than a single LED that says up to 25% power is available. But for the cost, that looks like a decent power bank.

Given the reviews, it might not last long term, but at the price, I would likely just properly dispose of it, and get the next power bank.

 

[Bast Hotep]

OK, look, I wasn't recommending that particular power bank. My main instinct was to help OP stop worrying about weight or expense of a power bank, so I just found the first light cheap one. He didn't ask for my help either, or I would have done a deep dive into specs for him myself.

 

[elfroggio]

OK, look, I wasn't recommending that particular power bank. My main instinct was to help OP stop worrying about weight or expense of a power bank, so I just found the first light cheap one. He didn't ask for my help either, or I would have done a deep dive into specs for him myself.

I'm the OP.

I'm not looking for a powerbank because I operate in the evenings/nights and at this time of the year it's starting to become humid. I want the ports to stay sealed. I even keep the "dingy" on the flash hotshoe.

 

[Bast Hotep]

I live in Northern California where it's pretty dry so that never occurred to me. Most good USB-C cables I've used were a pretty tight fit to the camera though. Glad you were able to reduce your power usage with all the other good tips you got here!