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Most of the Canon cameras can be used on an external power supply.

The aim of this page is to help those who want to use a non-Canon PSU or an external battery power supply to run their cameras. This is essential for very long exposures, and for scripts that run continuously, monitoring a scene, for example, in a security camera or wildlife setting.

Please could people add in the pin polarity and voltages that their model of camera can run on.


Camera model Pin polarity Stated voltage Peak current Waiting Half press Full press Zooming Playback
Monitor on Monitor off Monitor on Monitor off Monitor on Monitor off Monitor on Monitor off
A560 Outer pin -ve 3.15V 720mA 360 70 450 340 500 530 210 150
A590 Outer pin -ve 3.15V
A720IS Outer pin -ve 3.15V 920mA


To calculate the time a battery will last, take the capacity of the battery, then divide by the average current drawn.


For example: A monitoring application has the LCD on all the time, and is wired to a 1400mAH battery pack. Sitting in the half-press mode for almost all the time, this means the battery will last roughly 1400mAH/450mA = 3.1 hours. The same camera attached to a 12V SLA with 40AH capacity will last for roughly 40/.45 = 88.8 hours or 3.7 days. (Note that this ignores losses in the battery discharge and gains from voltage conversions.)

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