Battery life of VBG6PPK with HMC151?
 

I need to buy a long life battery for my 151 as the standard battery is hopeless for any shoot that lasts over an hour.

How many hours will I get with a VBG6 battery?
The spec say 230 minutes.
Does anyone find this reflects the true life of the batteries?

I'm thinking of doing a few weddings with this camera so I'm considering buying 2 batteries, to be safe.
How I miss the 10 hour battery life of my VX2100 :)

Hi Richard

That's surprising ..I use the 2450mah batteries on my 72's and the camera tells me there is 120 minutes left and I have run them right down to having 5 minutes left and they certainly so supplied the time stated.

The bigger battery should last you roughly 4 hours of shooting and according to others here they are saying "it lasts all day" ... I shoot weddings on two HMC72's with the standard batteries and seldom need to recharge at the reception (although I do!!)

Are you basing your battery condition on continuous running maybe or stop start operation ???? In either case the bigger battery should technically never die at a wedding!!

Chris

I was a little harsh on the standard battery. I just checked mine and it currently says 91 minutes left. Don't think I've recorded anything on this charge.
The camera and battery were second hand so who knows how many hours this battery has under its belt.

Think I'll go with a single battery for the moment. I need to extra money for an external sound recorder anyway.

The 151's included charger seems very slow. I don't think it would have a hope of recharging the VBG6 in time for use at a reception.

Hi Richard

Mine are around 9 months old now and when charged the cam shows anything from 117 - 121 minutes

Yes they take absolute ages to charge (around 3 hours) but being Li-Ion you CAN top 'em up!! What I do is once I get to the reception and have done the bridal entrance which is a two cam shoot, I grab the main camera battery and put it on charge immediately as the guests will now have dinner and mundane activities until the speeches start. That normally allows about an hour's oomph back into the battery again just in time for the speeches (again a two cam shoot)...after that if I need to, I can charge again fully as the rest of the wedding is just done on my B-camera.

If you think about it are you REALLY going to shoot more than 180 minutes of footage across two cameras??? I normally shoot around 40 -50 minutes on the main cam (ceremony + speeches) and around 60 -70 on the second camera. I forgot to ask if you are doing single camera shoots so if you are then you can still do a quicky top-up while the guests (and you as well) are eating. However it might be an idea to grab another battery if you are running just one camera but DON'T buy the standard battery..it's almost the same price as the big one!!!

Chris

Getthe big battery. You'll be kicking yourslef if you don;t.

Why in the hell did Panny not just give us the big batt in the first place. Not like it really would have cost them much and I would still have ordered another.

Hi Denny

Funnily enough the HMC152 that we get here comes with the big battery!! Maybe they heard your cries???

The price difference here retail is a mere $21 between the standard battery and the big one!!

Chris

For the price they probably charged you Aussies, they probably thought they would have to give you the big battery. lol

I order my camera from the USA because the Canadian price for the camera is ridiculous. Still haven;t seen my "free" SDHC card yet though.

Hey Denny

The prices from the right sources are not too bad at all!!

Around AUS$4100 is the going price and spare batteries are AUS$220.00

Buying from retail camera houses here they are nearly AUS$5500!!!!! Yeah you are lucky, I see Amazon sells them for $3450!! At that price you can afford to buy a few more batteries!!!

Chris

er more like $3229 from full compass. At least last fall. :D

In Canada at the time it was like $5800 CAD. Since our dollar has been between the mid 90's to par.... Well you don't have to be a match wizard to get that math.

Hey Chris. I have a buddy near Perth. He's Canadian and is marrying a girl from Perth area. He's working in one of the Hospitals there.

She took one look at our pathetic min wage and said No WAY! to moving here. lol

I think anyone shooting for a living should IMHO really have 2 of the larger batteries per camera. I shoot a lot of concerts lately with a pair of HMC150's and the big battery is pretty much gone after 3 hours of steady shooting, with perhaps 30 minutes charge left on it.

So I say get two big Panasonic batteries. One is there as a back-up, in case one suddenly decided not to hold a charge or gets dropped and ceases to function (that's happened to me on a job--not real fun). Batteries are cheap compared to the cost of losing footage or the opportunity to capture it.

Hey Denny

Small world!! My step-son is currently living in Montreal ..he decided to take a break from Australia and spend 2 years in Canada.. he loves it and his French is getting quite good too!!

Yeah, he is also complaining about the low pay!! His work visa expires in January next year so I'm not sure what he plans to do!!

Chris

I built an external battery pack for those long shoots.

Aussies love Canada. Canadians Love Oz. We really should form our own EU like organization. Or at least agree we can work in either country. SO much for the "common wealth" btw. My friends Dad can't get his UK disability pension if he lives in Canada but can if he were to move to the USA. Go figure..

Hi Denny

Details please???? If you run your battery pack external (into the DC input jack socket) can you use just standard 7.2 volt lithium packs??? I read somewhere that the DC input needs 7.3 to run. I was wondering how the camera handles the annoying "this battery cannot be used in the camera" scenario or is that just disabled if you use the DC in??? With the price of Panny batteries it would be worth making up a big fat pack that could be strapped to the camera back actually for a fraction of the price of the Panasonic batteries... I'm assuming that with an external pack you don't get any "time left" indication????

On the Australia/Canada issue, your mate's new lady will be even less inclined to move to Canada now as our minimum wage level was just increased to $570 a week (based on $15.70 per hour) Canada still has totally awesome landscapes..picture perfect but I couldn't take the cold...for me anything below 60F is freezing!!

Chris

I use 12v packs stepped down to 7.5v. I use the power cable that usually runs from the charger to the cam. I had to splice in my own connector as I could not find a female that matched the stock one.

7.2v should work too.

If Aussies are such temperature wimps then why are all our ski resorts mostly staffed by your comrades? ;)

A few years ago y our min wage was equel to $17 CAD/hour. Ouch. Oor min wafe is $8 and hasn;t changed in 8 years (when they raised to from $7.50).

I should get you to "sponsor" me for a visa. haha. How big is your company? :D

Hi Denny

Thanks!! I was looking at going the 12v pack route too. We can get very neat Li-Ion packs here that are used to power CCTV cameras and I was actually thinking of making some sort of battery mount on the back of the cam. Did you buy the 12v to 7.5 regulator or make it yourself?? Funnily enough the packs I already have that I use to power my LCD's have Panasonic cells inside ...I can get a 4400mah pack and charger for under $40 here so that would be a cheap pack to have (they also have bigger ones)

Not all Aussies are wimps..just me!! I'm a Summer person!!! Unfortunately the "company" is just me and the wife so we hardly qualify as a "big corporation" ... Actually they are dropping the sponsorship deals now. It seems that the easier way to get into Oz (unless you are a brain surgeon) is to become an Afganistan refugee!!! They seem to have no problems...the bride I did a wedding for 2 weeks ago is from Manchester as is struggling with visas despite the fact they are both highly qualified!!

The step-son will have to exit Canada early in 2011 as his working visa is only valid for 2 years and he has used up 18 months already!! He still says he loves it there. I must admit I would mind seeing beautiful BC!!!

Chris