5 IMPORTANT Tips for Better Battery Life! Sony a7 IV, a7R V, a7S III

Looking to get a little more battery life out of your Sony Alpha camera? While many cameras that utilize Sony's NP-FZ100 battery like the a7 IV, a7R V, and a7S III all benefit from having good battery life, there are still some tricks and features you can use to unlock even greater, longer lasting running time. And for those shooters that cover all-day events such as weddings, private parties, etc., getting an extra minute or two of battery to capture a key moment can be crucial.
In this tutorial, I'll go over five important features you can use to extent the battery life of your Sony camera. Specifically, I'll demonstrate these features using my Sony a7 IV, but many/most of these should exist in all other Sony mirrorless cameras like the a1, or FX3 and FX30 (excluding viewfinder options) that use the new Sony menu system. That said, the vast majority of these features will also exist in Sony cameras that use the previous menu system like the a7 III, a7R III, a7R IV, a6100, a6400, a6600, and so on.
Do you have a favorite tip of the five mentioned that you prefer, or another one you rely on for better battery life? Feel free to let me know in the comments below. Also, subscribe to catch many more tips and tricks videos around Sony Alpha cameras that are coming in the near future!
0:00 - Intro
0:42 - #1: Airplane Mode
1:41 - #2: Power Save Start Time
2:38 - #3: Monitor Brightness
3:48 - #4: Select Finder/Monitor
4:40 - #5: Display Quality
5:19 - Conclusion
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[@danielsouza351]

thank you so much! the VF Manual save my life! I think just you talk about that clearly!

[@andrewsaraceni]

No problem Carlos, glad it helped you!

[@DasGrimbo]

Ty ty! Just got my RV today and these tips helped.

[@andrewsaraceni]

No problem, congrats on the purchase!

[@IMDABROWN]

Great information. i recently started using tip 4.

[@andrewsaraceni]

Thanks! Yeah, I usually adjust Select Finder/Monitor depending on what I'm shooting (e.g. photo vs. video).

[@gpdoyon]

Airplane mode mapped to my favorites menu for the win!

[@andrewsaraceni]

That's a smart move!

[@veselinvasilev9362]

Thanks!

[@andrewsaraceni]

No problem!

[@MartinV.]

Great Video

[@andrewsaraceni]

Thanks Martin!

[@jeipi22]

Thanks

[@andrewsaraceni]

No problem!

[@kevbell5346]

Thanks for your advice - I'll be using most of the settings you've recommended. I have discovered a better option for my A7R v, that suits me for switching the display monitor on and off: In Menu > Settings > DISP (Screen Disp) Set > Monitor, scroll down and select 'Monitor Off'. Then all that is required to turn the monitor on or off is to simply toggle 'DISP' on the back of the camera until the monitor is off.

[@andrewsaraceni]

No problem, that's a good trick!

[@evgenkolosov6911]

Thank you for this very useful information. I heard that on some camera models, the viewfinder consumes the battery faster than the monitor. That do you think about this?

[@andrewsaraceni]

No problem! That might depend on the camera make/model, I could easily see that being the case if you're using the higher viewfinder display quality option.

[@mickue]

great information which helps, but the battery life of my A7RV still sucks tbh. I ended up with a 3rd party battery grip.

[@andrewsaraceni]

Thanks, battery grip will definitely help. Are you comparing battery life with other cameras, other Sony models you've had?

[@YTNinjaIT]

Hi, how did you get that battery percentage on your screen? I have a7 4 and I was unable to find that option.Thanks

[@andrewsaraceni]

Might want to check what batteries you're using - I know Sony will limit and only show bars vs. full percentage for third-party batteries vs. their official NP-FZ100s.

[@lythnork6131]

When you charge the camera via USB C how long it takes from 0 to 100% charges?

[@andrewsaraceni]

Good question - I've found it's usually roughly double that of using the dedicated Sony charger, which is 2-2.5 hours. So about 4-5 hours.

[@fnthm]

I think worst thing is Monitor/Finder automatic. it happens with a6000 and 6700: causes battery drain faster than you could imagine. My a6600 didn't have this problem, but on a6000 and in my new a6700 I had to set Monitor in Manual.

[@andrewsaraceni]

Yeah, it's a lot easier to trigger that unintentionally on the smaller APS-C (or a7C) bodies than on the main a7 models.

[@maproductiondubai]

a7IV has good battery life?

[@jarmaxpro]

I guess that depends on your definition of 'good'

[@andrewsaraceni]

Overall I would say so. I have a separate video around battery life of the a7 IV vs. other models on my channel.