Sony a7RII battery draw with EVF and LCD

This is a continuation in a series of posts on power consumption in the Sony a7RII. The more recent incarnation of the series starts here.

Now that I know more about how the camera works, I thought I’d go back and look quantitativly at the camera current draw with the EVF and the LCD enabled.

We’ll do the LCD first, because it’s simpler:

• Brightness = -2: 275 ma
• Brightness = -1: 287 ma
• Brightness =  0: 295 ma
• Brightness = +1: 305 ma
• Brightness = +2: 318 ma

The brightness is not a huge influencer of battery life.

With the EVF, the brightness depends on whether the camera thinks your eye is at the finder, and the brightness of what’s displayed:

• Brightness = -2, no eye detected: 223 ma, eye detected, black: 292 ma, eye detected, 18% gray: 432 ma
• Brightness = -1, no eye detected: 223 ma, eye detected, black: 294 ma, eye detected, 18% gray: 432 ma
• Brightness = 0, no eye detected: 223 ma, eye detected, black: 294 ma, eye detected, 18% gray: 435 ma
• Brightness = +1, no eye detected: 223 ma, eye detected, black: 295 ma, eye detected, 18% gray: 435 ma
• Brightness = +2, no eye detected: 223 ma, eye detected, black: 297 ma, eye detected, 18% gray: 438 ma

I am surprised at the numbers for the 18% gray (obtained by removing the lens and setting the camera to autoexposure); I would have thought there would be a greater dependence with the brightness setting.