Z9 Battery Use Where No Access to Power for Multiple Days

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BillW

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I’m going on a trip this spring to the Grand Canyon with a photo group. 12 days floating on the river. No generators allowed except in emergencies. The trip leader says that solar charging has not worked well in the past at the bottom of the canyon. I’m thinking about how to ensure enough battery power for my cameras.

I will take either a Z9 + a Z7II or a Z7II + a Z7. I have an Omni Charge auxiliary battery (73 WH) — testing it now to see if I could get two EN EL 18Ds charged with it, if the batteries start around 20-30% charged.

I generally use my cameras in airplane mode. I can avoid using the built-in GPS on the Z9 (although geotagging would be nice) or adding one to the Z7II/Z7. And I can set the standby timer to shorter than I use for wildlife work. Bringing a Z9 and Z7II would leave me with the most batteries (as I could use both my EN EL 18ds and my EN EL 15s) and I could use the Z7II if I run out of power for the Z9. Probably not much video. Will bring a Nikon AW1 for shooting from the raft.

So far, I have generally used the Z9 for wildlife oriented shooting and have had access to power at the end of the day. I can almost always get a day’s worth of shooting in on one EN EL 18d — 3,000+ shots. Maybe more battery usage in very cold weather (say below 0 F). Shooting on this trip will be much different — far fewer shots and fewer bursts. Rather than using one 128 gb card a day, this trip might need only one or two 128 gb cards in total (I will use the second card slot for back up on this trip — for wildlife work, I generally use the second card slot for overflow and video.)

I have 3 En El 18d batteries and am thinking of ordering 2 more. I have 8 EN EL 15 batteries (of different generations) for my Z7II or Z7.

Has anyone used the Z9 in similar circumstances and if so, how did battery usage go? I understand that circumstances can very a lot. But curious to hear anyway. Thanks.
 
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BarkingBeansCoffee said:
Big ol Anker PD battery. Know it works in Z9; not sure about the others.
Click to expand...
So that link … the power bank could charge a z9 battery 10 times? Wow! Unless I misunderstand these things … I’ve no experience of them. Just curious.

En-El 18 capacity 3300 mAh
PD charger capacity 36800 mAh
so I’m simplistic dividing 36800 by 3300 and say its 10 give or take
 
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Yes, for the Z9, the key is getting power banks that support Power Delivery (PD). If it doesn't list it on the specs, don't trust that it has it. And if it doesn't have it, it won't work.

I have two that I use:

big(ish):
www.goalzero.com

Sherpa 100PD (previous model)

short Best in class, but better. Made for action-packed days when every minute counts, 95 Watt Hours of power help your USB-C laptops, tablets, phones, mirrorless cameras, and more to keep up with your busiest days. features SHERPA 100PD HIGHLIGHTS Airline approved, travel ready Lightweight...
www.goalzero.com www.goalzero.com
(there is a newer version of this)

and small(ish):
www.nitecorestore.com

Nitecore NB20000 QC USB & USB-C 4 Port 20000mAh Power Bank

NITECORE NB20000 20000mAh QC Quick-Charge USB and USB-C Quad Port, Ultralight Carbon Fiber Power Bank
www.nitecorestore.com
(there is a newer version and a newer model also)

but there are lots of options

I haven't paid much attention to the z7/z7ii, but it almost might be better to rent another z9 so you can standardize batteries. Typically you can rent batteries also.
 
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BillW said:
I’m going on a trip this spring to the Grand Canyon with a photo group. 12 days floating on the river. No generators allowed except in emergencies. The trip leader says that solar charging has not worked well in the past at the bottom of the canyon. I’m thinking about how to ensure enough battery power for my cameras.

I will take either a Z9 + a Z7II or a Z7II + a Z7. I have an Omni Charge auxiliary battery (73 WH) — testing it now to see if I could get two EN EL 18Ds charged with it, if the batteries start around 20-30% charged.

I generally use my cameras in airplane mode. I can avoid using the built-in GPS on the Z9 (although geotagging would be nice) or adding one to the Z7II/Z7. And I can set the standby timer to shorter than I use for wildlife work. Bringing a Z9 and Z7II would leave me with the most batteries (as I could use both my EN EL 18ds and my EN EL 15s) and I could use the Z7II if I run out of power for the Z9. Probably not much video. Will bring a Nikon AW1 for shooting from the raft.

So far, I have generally used the Z9 for wildlife oriented shooting and have had access to power at the end of the day. I can almost always get a day’s worth of shooting in on one EN EL 18d — 3,000+ shots. Maybe more battery usage in very cold weather (say below 0 F). Shooting on this trip will be much different — far fewer shots and fewer bursts. Rather than using one 128 gb card a day, this trip might need only one or two 128 gb cards in total (I will use the second card slot for back up on this trip — for wildlife work, I generally use the second card slot for overflow and video.)

I have 3 En El 18d batteries and am thinking of ordering 2 more. I have 8 EN EL 15 batteries (of different generations) for my Z7II or Z7.

Has anyone used the Z9 in similar circumstances and if so, how did battery usage go? I understand that circumstances can very a lot. But curious to hear anyway. Thanks.
Click to expand...
Might wish to look at the V-mount or Mini V-mount battery options. Essentially power banks but with attachments to rig right on cages. Extensively used in video applications. I use the SmallRig VB99.
 
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BarkingBeansCoffee said:
Why keep ordering more batteries when you can charge them with and PD battery in the camera. Lots of choices for those. One big PD battery is like 4-5 camera batteries.
Click to expand...
This is what I do. I simply plug the PD battery into the Z9 at the end of the day and charge the EL18 in camera.

Patrick M said:
So that link … the power bank could charge a z9 battery 10 times? Wow! Unless I misunderstand these things … I’ve no experience of them. Just curious.

En-El 18 capacity 3300 mAh
PD charger capacity 36800 mAh
so I’m simplistic dividing 36800 by 3300 and say its 10 give or take
Click to expand...
You have to take a closer look at the specs. Watt hours(Wh) is the relevant rating. The EN-EL18 is rated 3300 mAh at 10.8 V which is 35.6 Wh. PD batteries are designed primarily for phone charging which is at 5 V. So 36,800 mAh at 10.8V yields 184 Wh so about five full recharges for the EN-EL18 in a perfect world. Realistically I wouldn't count on that many. If I was going to rely on a PD as my only source of power I'd do some testing.

NOTE: Some manufacturers may advertise mAh based on standard Li-Ion battery voltage which is 3.6V. In which case the 36,800 Ah battery listed above is only 100 Wh. Verify the Wh rating to know what you're getting.
 
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Thanks for all the thoughts.

EN EL 18ds are rated at 36 Watt Hours (WH). (EN EL 15s range from 14 WH to 16 WH, depending on the generation — 15, 15a, 15b, 15c.) My Omni Charge power bank (which does PD among other things) is rated at 73WH, which suggests to me that it would charge a fully depleted (of course, I would generally not have a fully depleted battery) EN EL 18d twice, if perfectly efficient, which of course it will not be. I have an Anker power brick that is rated at 45 WH and approved by Nikon. But this would seemingly charge only one fully depleted EN EL 18d plus a bit more, again if perfectly efficient.

I can easily bring an MH-33 charger to use with a USB-C power cable and an auxiliary battery. Not sure if this would be more, less, or the same efficiency as charging the battery in camera.

The other constraint is that FAA/TSA rules do not allow lithium batteries larger than 100 WH in the cabin on a plane (and not at all in the cargo hold), which on its own might charge three EN EL 18Ds if perfectly efficient. If I understand this rule, I could bring more than one lithium auxiliary battery, as long as each battery is less than 100 WH.

I was a math major, not an electrical engineer, and avoided thermodynamics, so I may not be thinking correctly about how far the power in one of these auxiliary batteries will go in charging camera batteries. Dan says above that WH is the relevant measure here. I’m also not sure what level of efficiency I should expect In transferring power from an auxiliary battery to an EN EL 18d — I’m sure it would not be 100% efficient.

I put an EN EL 18d (charged to 20-30%) on an MH-33 connected to my 73 WH Omni Charge battery (charged to 100%) with a USB-C power cable. The Omni charge went from 100% to 38% in the course of bringing the EN EL 18d up to 100%. But I think I was not using the most efficient settings (I think the USB-A port and the magnetic charger on the Omni Charge may have been on, although not connected to anything). I’ll have to test again with better settings and maybe I will be able to count on it to charge up 2 EN EL 18ds if the EN EL 18ds are run down to 20 or 30%.

So I need to think about how many fully charged batteries I am likely to use over 12 days of photography (with all starting fully charged) and how to get to that number with a combination of EN EL 18ds and auxiliary batteries. Will do some more testing.
 
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Patrick M said:
So that link … the power bank could charge a z9 battery 10 times? Wow! Unless I misunderstand these things … I’ve no experience of them. Just curious.

En-El 18 capacity 3300 mAh
PD charger capacity 36800 mAh
so I’m simplistic dividing 36800 by 3300 and say its 10 give or take
Click to expand...
The math works seems to work differently if you use Watt Hours. And then there is the question of what efficiency you get. Will keep testing.

The EN EL 18d is 3300 mAh and 36 WH. My Omni Charge battery is 20,400 mAh and 73 WH. The ratio of mAh suggests maybe 6 charges. But ratio of WH suggest only 2.

Dan suggested that WH was the appropriate number to use.
 
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Just wondering how many images you are planning on capturing With my Z 9 I can easily get 5,000 images from a EN-EL18D battery and not completely discharge it. Of course how you use the camera will greatly image battery life. Conservatively 5,000 images, if you are careful perhaps 7,500. If you are mostly rafting, how much time will you have to use your Z 9.
 
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RichF said:
Just wondering how many images you are planning on capturing With my Z 9 I can easily get 5,000 images from a EN-EL18D battery and not completely discharge it. Of course how you use the camera will greatly image battery life. Conservatively 5,000 images, if you are careful perhaps 7,500. If you are mostly rafting, how much time will you have to use your Z 9.
Click to expand...
don't think of it as # of images, think of it as camera powered on time. an 18d is ~5hrs
 
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BillW said:
The other constraint is that FAA/TSA rules do not allow lithium batteries larger than 100 WH in the cabin on a plane (and not at all in the cargo hold), which on its own might charge three EN EL 18Ds if perfectly efficient. If I understand this rule, I could bring more than one lithium auxiliary battery, as long as each battery is less than 100 WH.
Click to expand...
yes, your device must be 100 WH or less. but you probably don't want more than this. the 100PD i listed, which is airline approved (and there is a marking on the battery which says "TSA Compliant" iirc) is 1.4lbs. you really aren't going to want to lug several of these.
 
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RichF said:
Just wondering how many images you are planning on capturing With my Z 9 I can easily get 5,000 images from a EN-EL18D battery and not completely discharge it. Of course how you use the camera will greatly image battery life. Conservatively 5,000 images, if you are careful perhaps 7,500. If you are mostly rafting, how much time will you have to use your Z 9.
Click to expand...
I would guess 6,000 is in the ball park. Unlike wildlife shooting, I will not do lots of bursts. May do some bracketing in harsh light to deal with shadows and highlights.

I believe I get more shots from my Z9 on a single battery if I shoot lots of bursts than if I do not. I have also gotten as many as 5,000 shots from a single battery shooting the Z9 for wildlife with many bursts.

My impression is that battery life on a mirrorless camera is based on how long the EVF is on and how many shots you take. I can minimize power for VR, as I expect I will not use VR for shots taken from a tripod (most of them). I also do not have to use the Z9’s GPS and probably will not shoot video.

So I expect I will not get as many shots per charged battery on this trip as I am used to getting in my wildlife work. Part of the reason for my questions.
 
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John Navitsky said:
don't think of it as # of images, think of it as camera powered on time. an 18d is ~5hrs
Click to expand...
Makes sense. So to start thinking order of magnitude here — if we shot for 4 hours a day, that would be 48 hours over 12 days. And roughly 12 charged battery cycles, assuming you don’t run the batteries down all the way to 0. So split this need between EN EL 18d batteries and one or more auxiliary batteries to charge them up.
 
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I get several days of use with the EN-18D battery even when using super telephoto lenses with VR. Another option is to get a few Anker powerbanks and use them to recharge the battery inside the camera each night. The power banks are a fraction of the cost of the EN-EL18d battery.
 
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BillW said:
Makes sense. So to start thinking order of magnitude here — if we shot for 4 hours a day, that would be 48 hours over 12 days. And roughly 12 charged battery cycles, assuming you don’t run the batteries down all the way to 0. So split this need between EN EL 18d batteries and one or more auxiliary batteries to charge them up.
Click to expand...
i really like the NB20000 from nitecore (77 Wh) for this kind of thing. Personal experience for reference if it's helpful:

Shot for 5 days in Death Valley (6-8 hours per day with cameras on/idle in some fashion) on 2 EN-EL18's that came with my Z9's and charged them once after about 4 days just to top them off for a milky way overnight shoot. Came away with about 3000 images total to give you an idea of how much I shot for landscape (lots of playing around with focus stacking and bracketing on this trip). I tend to have the shortest sleep/screen off options selected because the camera turns back on instantly and there's lots of waiting usually! I wouldn't review images until getting them onto my ipad.

Still had an OK amount in the two batteries at day 4, but in the cold you never know so wanted to have them topped up. could have gone another 5 days I bet since I was just playing it safe for the last day. i had GPS on, and vibration reduction was mixed use depending if i was handheld or on tripod. You can also shoot while you're charging which is a great benefit if you find yourself running low and i use the NB20000 to power the camera while recording video if i'm in a location i can't access power.
 
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Nimi said:
I think 99 wh is maximum allowable on planes. Coincidently, I just fried my new phone with a 36,800 Anker.
Click to expand...
Correct on the 99 Watt hours limit for air travel. The Anker 28600 recommended by Nikon for Z9 is 96 watt hours. I have one and it works great for charging Z9 battery in camera. I have not used it for multi day events. Test before you go.
 
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I’d either take a battery for each day and or take a battery pack you can plug into the camera for the longer shoots. A solar generator battery would be a good idea as well but size and weight could be of concern. If you don’t want to buy 12 batteries you can always rent them.
 
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My vehicle is fitted with a 108 Ah Lithium battery which charges via the alternator / solar. When parked at a camp site, I can also plug in to shore power.
I have an inverter which allows me to charge laptop, batteries etc directly.

This obviously is my solution when I am driving myself. A built a vehicle around my photography needs.

Enjoy your trip!
 
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A PD powerblock, or more, seems to be the best solution for minimal weight and hassle when travelling. PD is ideal and really simplifies charging the latest USB-C smart batteries. Exemplar is the ENEL18d. As reported above, Nikon officially recommends the Anker.

There are several solutions if the Anker or similar need recharging: solar, vehicle, Mains, bigger PSU.

I have both a 500W and 1000W Jackery, which are extremely versatile. Some advice in these threads

Z9 battery question / wasabi power BTR-ENEL 18 D/ anyone use ?

Lets see, you spend $5,500 on your Z9, $300+ on your Cfexpress card, a minimum of $2500/$8000 for your lens and for $120 savings, you take a chance on loosing your warrantee plus your investment. Check your all risk insurance policy and see if your covered using non Nikon approved batteries.
bcgforums.com bcgforums.com

Solar Chargers for Camera/Battery Recharging ?

Has anyone found a portable solar panel that is capable of recharging a camera battery? I'm most interested in charging a Z9 battery using the USB in-camera charging capability, but there is probably an interest in other systems and the possibility of using any camrea battery charging cradle...
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