We've just posted a little mini-review of the Canon ACK-E6AC ac power adapter for use with the 5D Mark II and 7D. It's a nice little piece of kit and if you're not familiar with it, this review will show you how it integrates.

Canon ACK-E6 AC Power Adapter Review at DVInfo.net (http://www.dvinfo.net/article/acquisition/canon-eos/ack-e6-ac-power-adapter-review.html)

Comments, corrections and feedback welcome!

I'll bet that with the right kind of battery, you could hack the cable to jack into a large external "DVD Battery" and it'd work for hours and hours without the need for AC and using much cheaper and larger batteries. I run my R44 off a cheapo "DVD Battery" that is connected via a hacked cable, and I can continuously record without AC power for probably 10 hours non-stop using 24-bits and four channels of phantom. Anyway, just a thought for those interested in these types of things. Not sure what the power requirements are for the 5D2, but I bet you could find a battery putting out the necessary DC to make it work. Just saying...

There are definitely other DC power adapters (Canon makes a DC cable, but we haven't gotten one to review) and other manufacturers make cables to connect to power packs that have been discussed here on the forums. This solution is mainly useful when you're in a fixed location or you're doing a really long shoot, like time-lapses.

Depends where you're doing the time lapse I guess. I could imagine many locations where no access to AC would be possible, but using a killer DC source would do the trick just fine, heh!

I had bad luck with my ACK-E6 AC Adapter. It was very noisy (it was gargling and whistleing) and not usable for quiet studio video shots. I guess I should have returned it and demanded a replacement but instead I opened it up (don't do that) and tried to fix the noise by putting some super glue on the transformer windings (silly I know). I had no success and ended up cutting off the exotic plug and soldering the cable to a $15 third party 7.5 V / 1 A power adapter.

Here's the DC coupler alone for a reasonable price:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/590425-REG/Canon_3352B001_DR_E6_DC_Coupler.html

and here's a ready-made 12 V to 7.2 V adapter for use with 12 V camcorder batteries:
Switronix XP Cable for Canon 5D/7D DSLR :: HDSLR Accessories :: Camera Accessories :: Equipment Sales :: Abel Cine Tech (http://www.abelcine.com/store/product.php?productid=1001783&cat=940&page=1)

I bought this and my review is as follows…


Works fine.




Avey
theactionhouse.com

I just bought the cable part of the kit (with a dummy battery on the end), which cost £53, from Warehouse Express - part no. DR-E6. What a pity Canon couldn't stretch to fitting a DC socket on the camera!

Anyway, it seems to provide the only (?) way of getting an external 7.4v supply into the camera.

The camera consumes about 70mA when it's not doing anything, but that rises to 700mA with live view switched on. A 6000mAH 7.4v Li Po battery would run the camera for about 80 hours in normal or 8 hours if using live view.

Note: Lithium Polymer (Li Po) batteries need special chargers, are explosive and can self-ignite!! All batteries, especially ones designed to work at high discharge rates, are dangerous.