I’d like to put the record straight and say that the Sony a7 battery life is better than all the reviews say.
A year ago, I bought a Sony a7. Not the Sony a7s and not the Sony a7r, just the plain and bog standard a7. Now there’s a strange description for a 24.3-megapixel full-frame camera with interchangeable Zeiss lenses. The reason I chose the “basic” model was that I was simply looking for a good camera that was more lightweight and portable than my Nikon DSLRs. After considerable research, I decided to give the mirrorless system a try and Sony looked like the best bet. Yes, the Sony a7r does have a lot more resolution at 36.4MP but it is also more expensive and I wasn’t sure if mirrorless was the way forward for me.
During my research, I kept on being scared off by the endless stream of reviews that warned prospective buyers that the Sony a7 battery life was awful. Statements like,
“In real life tests, I would only get about 230 to 250 shots out of a single battery”.
Firstly, what is a “real-life” test and what is not a “real-life” test? Why would a unreal-life test be any different? Anyway, I don’t want this to become a rant.
In the past year of owning and using my Sony a7 (in real-life), I can assure you that I get far more than 230 – 250 shots from a single charge. For example, I enjoy shooting time-lapse sequences which regularly contain either 600 or 800 images, which I can manage easily with one battery. If I couldn’t, all my time-lapse videos would be impossible if the Sony a7 battery life was not up to the task. Even after shooting the time-lapse sequence, I still have enough battery power to take a good number of still images. I’m not sure exactly how many still images I have taken after shooting a time-lapse sequence, but it’s enough not to ever moan about the battery life.
I’ve just realised, as I write this, that I sound like an advert for Sony. Oops! I wish I was.
Here are my “real-life” findings of the Sony a7 battery life:
- I can easily get over 800 shots from one battery;
- I bought extra batteries;
- The camera is a fraction of the size and weight of a DSLR, and so too is the battery. Therefore, it’s bound to have less juice but it’s not as bad as all the reviews say. Honestly, it’s just not;
- The batteries charge a lot quicker than DSLR batteries.
I don’t do camera reviews because there are thousands of others doing them and I’m very grateful. But, I had to make an exception here because I have no idea where this Sony a7 battery life myth has come from.
“Put a hat on. It’s cold outside. Most of your body heat is lost through your head, you know.” Rubbish! Because everyone else say’s it, it must be true?
Some will argue against me because their real-life experience is different from my real-life experience and that’s fine. I’m not saying every single real-life is wrong, I am saying they are not all correct. Otherwise, how would I manage to shoot a time-lapse made from 800 images?
One last thing!
Even if the Sony a7 battery life did last for “only” 230 shots, wouldn’t that be enough for a day’s photography? When we shot film, we only had 36 exposures on one roll of film. It may just be me, but if you’re struggling to make one battery last for a day’s shoot and you can “only” get 230 shots, then maybe you’re taking too many shots. Just a thought!
Conclusion
I love my Sony a7 and I will definitely be upgrading to the Sony a7rii when I’ve saved up enough money and excuses. In the meantime, I’ll keep using my bog standard full-frame 24.3MP Sony a7 for stills and time-lapse with not so rubbish batteries.
Don’t be put off by the Sony a7 battery life nonsense. Please comment below and let us know what your findings and thoughts are. Thank you.
This is a great review and I share your views exactly.
I have had my a7 for less than a week and just have no clue what the talk about “short battery life” is about. It does not exist in my experience.
In fact, the talk scared me into buying 2 extra batteries and a vertical grip – all of which I have not used!
I urge everyone to buy this amazing camera and just enjoy life with it!
And I do not work for Sony.
There is something missing in your review and that is the batteries capability of power storage, I have seven batteries for my Sony a7s when fully charged and stand idle for week or so power has dropped by at leased 25% and will keep on loosing power, this never happens with canon batteries.
Hi, Thank you for the review, I don’t know how old is this post or if you’re monitoring the comments here but anyways I have a few questions to ask you.
I’m a Nikon user as well and I’m looking for a compact and comfortable system to do time-lapse and also with the ability to use my Nikon lenses.
The question is do this camera has a remote trigger port? I’ll be using it with an emotimo TB3 and that device use camera cables to communicate.
The other question is when this camera shoots the RAW’s can you review them on the monitor or you have to enable raw+jpg to do so? I was told that the camera cannot display the raw images on the monitor for review unless you enable the raw+jpg option is that true?
Lastly, can you lock the focus to a certain region during time-lapse sequences and the camera will keep track of it?
Again thank you so much for your review of the battery life, is true there’s a lot of people making nonsense comments and spreading false or inaccurate information out there.
Nuurs,
Thanks for your comment and questions.
In answer your first question, yes there is a port to add an intervalometer or cable release. There is also the ability with the a7 and the a7ii to add an app to the camera that will trigger the shutter for time-lapse sequences.
I can confirm that the camera can shoot Raw only and you can preview the image on the LCD screen. All modern cameras allow this because when they shoot Raw, they create a small JPG image, especially for preview. Therefore, what you have been told is wrong.
As for locking focus during a time-lapse, it is something that I have never tried. Normally, when I create a time-lapse, I have everything set to manual, including the focus.
The batteries are not as good as a large battery found in a DSLR but they are not as bad as a lot of the internet experts report. I can highly recommend any of the Sony a7 cameras for creating stunning time-lapse sequences.
If I shoot in RAW only, my a7 will not display. I am told “image too large to display”.
Frank,
Thank you for your comment. I must admit, I have never heard this before nor have I ever seen it on any camera. My advice would be to contact Sony directly. It sounds like a fault to me.
Martin.
I found that I drained one battery just going through all the menu settings when I first got the camera. I was shocked at how quickly the battery drained. The drop was literally visible minute to minute, I only took half a dozen test shots in this time and bam, dead battery. So its not just the number of shots you take that drains the battery. Timelapse will naturally take more shots per battery as you are not refocussing between shots or reviewing each photo as you go. Nor are you changing settings between images.
The fact remains, relative to many dslrs, the battery life on the A7 is very poor.
You are right, I used to think I did well when I exposed 4×36 slide frames in a day. And I do tend to have many many similar shots now days, but then experimenting with minor adjustments is part of the fun of digital and a great way to learn.
I recently did a Northern lights shoot and left my A7 at home in favour of an AP-C DSLR, simply because of battery life. The constant monitoring on the screen of the changing scene over several hours in sub zero temperatures, use of high iso etc. would have killed the A7 battery too quickly. The other issue is the batteries drain between use. On my canon I can leave a battery for months and it is still almost fully charged. On the A7 batterys can drain significantly in a few weeks. Not so convenient for travel photography.
That said, for the price point the A7 is still incredible value. I have three batteries now which I can rotate and their life can be significantly improved by turning down screen brightness, switching on the aeroplane mode, and tweeking many other power hungry settings. And next time I chase the northern lights, I will take a grip.
Bottom line is the battery life on the A7 is poor. But performance of the A7 is awesome in so many other ways, at the price point, the battery life issue is worth working around.
Kim,
Thanks for your comment. The battery life of the original a7 was not as good as the big DSLR batteries, but I don’t think it was as bad as many were saying. Maybe it was the transition from DSLRs to mirrorless cameras that made the difference more apparent. However, the new Sony a7iii models do not suffer at all from poor battery performance. They can now outlast most DSLR batteries. So, the technology is evolving at a rapid pace.
Martin.