# D3100 battery life for time lapse



## Basalt (Mar 29, 2012)

Using my D3100 and a manual macro lens I'm planning on doing some timelaspe for some schools outreach projects at work - Plants bending towards the light over a 7-12 hour period, I want things to be smooth when played back so I'm reckoning on a shot every 1-2 mins. 

I'll need the flash up as I'll have oblique lighting for half of the sequences- I'm planning on using the built in flash with a diffuser.

Will I need to get an external power supply or is the battery likely to hold out if freshly charged? I'm reluctant to buy a power supply unless I have to as I've already had to fork out for the timer rig.


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## markj (Apr 2, 2012)

simply an educated guess, I would think a fully charged battery going in to your project would be enough. The battery I used in my d3100 seemed to last forever. Considering 60 shots per hour times 12 hours or 720 exposures. Go for it.


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## analog.universe (Apr 2, 2012)

I'm not quite sure how the flash will play in..

When I do sequences like this though, one thing I do is turn off the LCD auto-preview after an image is snapped, in order to save battery.


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## Mrgiggls (Apr 2, 2012)

One option is to get an external grip. In the absence of a second Nikon battery, you could use Energizer Ultimate Lithium.  They'd probably offer you the most shooting time of any AA cell.


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## KmH (Apr 2, 2012)

According to your D3100 user's manual (page 204), in single frame release mode (CIPA Standard) the battery will last approximately 550 shots:
Using default settings,
One shot every 30 seconds,
after shot, rear LCD is on for 4 seconds max,
exposure meter is turned off after rear LCD is off and before another shot is taken,
flash unit is fired at full power every other shot.

So, if you go into the menus and set up your D3100 so the rear LCD doesn't come on at all, manually focus the lens, turn off the lens VR, have the exposure meter turn off as soon as possible after each shot, and set the flash unit to a TTl mode, you just might get 720 shots out of a fully charged battery.

Note: Auto Focus and VR use camera battery power.


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## Basalt (Apr 11, 2012)

Thanks for the advice, my timer finally arrived today and after a brief period of trial and error ( in which I discovered not to leave the thing on rapid shot ) I've got some nice sequences of moving plants. The flash is definitely essential - I tried without and variations in available light turn to an annoying flicker but with everything else turned off I'll get plenty of footage.

Battery grip is definitely a next purchase - possibly two if I feel up to tinkering with a Dc supply

cheers


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## Basalt (Apr 13, 2012)

I'm impressed - set it up early today a frame a minute on three houseplants, finally got fed up at 900 photos and the battery indicator claims 2/3 full - that's with the kit lens, Af and stabilising off and all displays off but auto exposure on with the flash up, saving as Jpeg.


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## Forkie (Apr 14, 2012)

We want to see the result!

:addpics:


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## Basalt (Apr 15, 2012)

The long sequence was boring - bad choice of plants for it. This was a three hour sequence of a chilli plant taken from about 6pm till 9 - so as it was going dark and the plant was 'going to sleep'

chilli20fps.mp4 video by hardboiledparrot - Photobucket

Lot of trouble with bg light levels varying but it was more a test of principle.

Next project - I'm borrowing a bunch of carnivorous plants and I'll be setting them up in a light tent to give a more photographic background. I plant to use the macro on a sundew leaf as it curls around a captured insect.


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## ZapoTeX (Apr 15, 2012)

Quite nice video! Makes me want to try something similar!


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## Basalt (Apr 16, 2012)

The timer cost a tenner through ebay, same build quality as a cheap tv remote but that hardly matters. 
Ain't good for the wear and tear on the shutter mechanism though - I'm buying a Brinno ( dedicated TL camera ) for general use and reserving precious shutter actuations for pretty subjects. Did some nice Tls of amoebae under the microscope at work but I'd get in trouble for putting research data on the web.


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## Forkie (Apr 16, 2012)

That was great!  It's like the plant was breathing!  Apart from the fading light at the end I'd say you had a good result!


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## Basalt (Apr 16, 2012)

Yeh, getting the light levels even seems near impossible between frames when using natural light - the flash was firing but even so it doesn't quite work hence going down the light tent route for the next one. The room was completely dark at the end of the session, dread to think what the neighbours must have thought with a flash going off every 30secs.


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## Forkie (Apr 16, 2012)

Basalt said:


> dread to think what the neighbours must have thought with a flash going off every 30secs.



Next time, shout "It's aliiiiivveee!" at the top of your voice.  See what happens.


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