Can a script improve battery life in time lapse mode?

[Tore]

When I compare the running time of 60 second time lapse with 1080P video, I get 106 minutes vs 96 minutes on a single battery. Might as well shoot video for my use case then.

My question is, is it possible to control the power mode of the camera with a script or otherwise make a script to improve the running time of a time lapse?

What I am looking for is having a time lapse covering as large time window as possible, 1 photo every minute (or every 5 minutes) would be enough, so going into standby mode in between photos would make a lot of sense. Access to external power does not exist and I would have to carry all batteries so I want it to be as efficient as possible. Thanks.

 

[Andy_S]

turn off LED, turn off wifi. All i can suggest except external powerbank...

 

[Tore]

Thanks for your reply.
Yes, wifi was off during my simple tests. I will try turning off all LED to see what difference that will make. Ideally I would want to capture 9-10 hours per day for 10-12 days which means I'm currently looking at having to carry ~60000 mAh, a quite substantial amount even with powerbanks.
I will keep my eyes open for any firmware updates or new findings that may improve this.

 

[Andy_S]

there is no way this camera can last for HOURS without external power supply, half a day for over a week? Grab a car battery and you still be short.

 

[vikingsail]

in fact i used a 13000mAh power bank to supply the camera during a timelapse shot from 3am to 11am.
in 8 hours the powebank was only used about 30% of its battery. it still shows 3 out of 4 LED lights after the process.

 

[Tore]

I just tested with a rather new 10000 mAh power bank and got 1138 photos or almost 19 hours. Earlier I tried turning off all LED but didn't really notice any difference. I still feel there is something remarkably inefficient about the time lapse mode but maybe that's just me. After all, it is primarily meant for shooting video.

 

[vikingsail]

I just tested with a rather new 10000 mAh power bank and got 1138 photos or almost 19 hours. Earlier I tried turning off all LED but didn't really notice any difference. I still feel there is something remarkably inefficient about the time lapse mode but maybe that's just me. After all, it is primarily meant for shooting video.

I have the same feeling. It seems the camera just does nothing to save battery between the shooting intervals..