Backcountry DSLR Battery Power

Bigred72

Bigred72

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Mar 14, 2012
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I am headed to Havasupai Falls in 1.5 weeks and am contemplating bringing my canon T5i with me, using the 18-135mm lens. I will also have my smartphone and GoPro which I use a rechargeable battery pack. I will be there for three days, not including the hike in our out. I know it depends on how many pictures I take, but I am curious as to what any of you are doing for power. Do you take extra batteries, is there a rechargeable battery pack, what recommendation for solar chargers/unit? I am looking for something long term use in backpacking situations. I've looked into products such as Goal Zero and others but wanted to know what you do.

Thanks for your help!!!
 
I have a few extra batteries for my 6D so I always just bring them and don't worry about recharging. I usually only go through one or two though, even on a pretty long trip. And that is with the GPS on and taking lots of pictures. I'm not sure what kind of charging options exist for that type of battery, but I'm pretty sure you can get no-name batteries pretty cheap for it. Is the T5i the same battery as the 6D, 60D, 5D II, etc?
 
Spare battery. But on a 14 day wind river trip, used a SonyA1, took about 600 pics, never used the spare. Why phone? probably won't work down there. Just turn camera off when you aren't taking pics.
 
I have a t2i, so similar camera. I used 3 batteries on a 7 day trip. That included a few videos, time-lapses, etc.
 
slc_dan said:
I have a t2i, so similar camera. I used 3 batteries on a 7 day trip. That included a few videos, time-lapses, etc.
Click to expand...

I had five batteries with my T2i and while I rarely used more than three, I did burn through them. Spare DSLR batteries aren't too heavy considering the alternatives.

With the 6D I carry three batteries but rarely make it through even one on a single outing.
 
I run through about 3 gopro batteries a day (hero 3). I bring all 5 gopro batteries with me and I recharge them every night with this:

http://www.amazon.com/15000mAh-Portable-Ultra-High-External-Motorola/dp/B00D5T3QK4/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1403021447&sr=8-3

Have you used the gopro much? If not, I recommend getting a good feel for battery life and being really selective with what you film. It's easy to burn through a battery in 45 min if you're not selective. I'd also recommend leaving the wifi off to improve batter life.

You can't beat wasabi brand batteries for spares. Just make sure you have a USB battery charger to work with the power pack linked above (i.e., a wall-wart won't work with it)
 
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Have you had bad luck with non-Canon spares Randy?

I've had mixed results. Back when I was making videos with Canon video gear, none of the many non-Canon batteries I tried were very good. They just wouldn't last very long before they would no longer hold a charge as long as they should have.

But, more recently, I've been using Wasabi brand (very inexpensive) spares for my DSLR and so far, I've not been able to tell any difference between them and the Canon brand. Might be just a matter of time and use before they show their ass, but, as of now, I'm happy with the Wasabi's and wouldn't pay extra for genuine Canon.

- DAA
 
I've used wasabis with my gorpros for 4 years. They've been better than my gopro brand batteries. I have wasabis for my canons too, but I've only had them for 6 months so I can't speak to longevity. So far, I can't tell a difference between my canon and wasabi batteries (other than the price).
 
DAA said:
Have you had bad luck with non-Canon spares Randy?
Click to expand...

It's been a few years since I tried any....but when I did in the past they would just not last near as long as the Canon batteries. Maybe things have changed since then, but I'll stick with the official Canon's for now.
 
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You have more experience with DSLR batteries than I do, by far. I hope the Wasabi's continue to perform.

- DAA
 
Thanks for all of the replies!!! I have been looking at Photive brand and read numerous positive reviews with them. With all of the feedback you all have shared about the Wasabi brand and then looking into it, that looks like the way to go. The stock Canon battery is 7.2 v and 1120mAh, whereas the Wasabi is 7.2 v and 2000 mAh. I can get it off of Amazon at $21.00 for two batteries and a charger. I'll also look into the Wasabi GoPro batteries. Alternative batteries can be hit or miss sometimes as I have used other brands, but Wasabi has consistently received good feedback.

I'll use the GoPro for action shots/cliff jumping and the T5i for most stills and some video. I'll be taking my Manfrotto tripod down with me so i can get some long exposure waterfall shots,etc.

@Nick, the T5i takes the LP-E8 and the 5D takes the LP-E6.

Any other tips or thoughts? I appreciate all of the feedback!!! You all have saved me a bunch of money as I was also hesitantly looking at solar panels which would generally not benefit me in non-backwoods situations.
 
I got a solar charger for free from my work Christmas party last year. I quickly realized however that its actually a whole lot lighter just to take a few extra batteries. My only advice would be to make sure you charge all of the batteries before you go anywhere. :) I've ended up with bunch of dead batteries that I thought were charged more than once.
 
I just realized my link above was broken. If your trip is so long that you have to recharge in the backcountry, I recommend one of these over a solar charger:

http://www.amazon.com/15000mAh-Portable-Ultra-High-External-Motorola/dp/B00D5T3QK4/

I take it on almost every trip over 2 days. I use it to charge my phone (gps), DSLR batteries, and gopro batteries for the trip. It's 15000mh, so it'll fully charge 10 GoPro batteries. It's not lightweight, but it's the best solution I've found aside from carrying 15 gopro batteries (which would be lighter, but expensive and take up a lot of room).

I also end up using these battery packs all the time when I'm not camping. Super helpful for car trips, or times when you're on the go and you forgot to charge your phone. They charge way faster than 12v or regular usb adapters.
 
x2 on battery packs like the Anker Steve linked to. I bought a smaller one for backpacking called the Jackery Bar. It' sonly 5600mAh but plenty to fully charge my iPhone 2 or 3 times. I used a friend's Anker on my last Powell trip and it was nice. I'll probably be picking one up at some point.
 
I have the Antigravity PPS battery pack . More than I'd want to carry backpacking at about 11 oz., but it's hella handy for all kinds of stuff. I mainly bought it as a vehicle jump starter and cheap and easy psuedo dual battery setup for my vehicles (if my Jeep won't start after sitting and running my fridge for a couple days, for example). But it charges phones and powers laptops quite well too and that is actually all I have really used it for. Haven't had anyone need a jumpstart since I got it.

- DAA
 
@DAA - I've been looking for something like that to use on the boat. I just added a dual battery system for extra redundancy but a little pack like that would be good peace of mind. I wonder if it could still do a jump after it's charged a few phones.
 
I would purely guess that it would still do a jump after one or two phone charges. Watching some of the youtube videos of guys torture testing it by doing jumpstart after jumpstart after jumpstart, it's a pretty amazing little brick. But, it comes with a 12V charger, too - so you can keep it topped off whenever your motor is running.

On road trips I keep it plugged into the 12V port in the back seat and the kids can use it at will to charge their devices and it stays pretty well topped off. I would imagine you could do pretty much the same thing on your boat.

- DAA
 
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