rothwells
Forum Enthusiast
We are a small church that is using 3 A7III cameras with HDMI->SDI adapters to do services.
We have been using a PD power bank plugged into the cameras to continuously power the cameras. It works pretty well with the exception that the camera's internal battery (which is required) uses a little more power than the USB-C input gives. This is normal.
The issue is that even when the camera is turned off the internal battery still discharges slightly. The camera people at the church aren't exactly broadcast engineers so (right or wrong) the camera internal batteries are sometimes not charged each week after a service. Of course, eventually, this means that sometimes on Sunday morning, the camera's battery will be nearly dead.. When that happens no amount of USB-C input will power the camera.
Yes, the best solution is to simply take the camera batteries out of the camera each week and put them in the charger, then put them back in the camera each week. Again... easier said than done, depending on the volunteers.
So, I bought V-Mount batteries with dummy batteries. They would GREAT -- except for one teeny, tiny problem..... the camera doesn't KNOW it's a dummy battery. It thinks its just a battery and the power saver kicks in... really bad in the middle of a church service. It looks like the most you can set the power save to is 30 minutes.... Am I missing something -- like another setting somewhere that tells it to NEVER power save? What is the point of a dummy battery if you still have to "tickle" the camera to prevent it from going to sleep?
Thanks for any help. Yes... Ideally we'd have spent $200,000 and done the video system right but when given a budget of only $15,000 for everything I had to punt.
We have been using a PD power bank plugged into the cameras to continuously power the cameras. It works pretty well with the exception that the camera's internal battery (which is required) uses a little more power than the USB-C input gives. This is normal.
The issue is that even when the camera is turned off the internal battery still discharges slightly. The camera people at the church aren't exactly broadcast engineers so (right or wrong) the camera internal batteries are sometimes not charged each week after a service. Of course, eventually, this means that sometimes on Sunday morning, the camera's battery will be nearly dead.. When that happens no amount of USB-C input will power the camera.
Yes, the best solution is to simply take the camera batteries out of the camera each week and put them in the charger, then put them back in the camera each week. Again... easier said than done, depending on the volunteers.
So, I bought V-Mount batteries with dummy batteries. They would GREAT -- except for one teeny, tiny problem..... the camera doesn't KNOW it's a dummy battery. It thinks its just a battery and the power saver kicks in... really bad in the middle of a church service. It looks like the most you can set the power save to is 30 minutes.... Am I missing something -- like another setting somewhere that tells it to NEVER power save? What is the point of a dummy battery if you still have to "tickle" the camera to prevent it from going to sleep?
Thanks for any help. Yes... Ideally we'd have spent $200,000 and done the video system right but when given a budget of only $15,000 for everything I had to punt.
