(from another forum to save effort)
While familiarising myself with the S95's features, it seemed the battery charge
did not last as long as I would like.
I decided to power the cameras from 12V 2.5Ah sealed lead-acid batteries as I
already have a number of them.
External power requires a dummy battery that has a jack socket that is exposed
when you fold back the rubber flap on the battery-cover slider.
You plug a right-angle jack into that.
Problem is, there is only 1mm of space under the left camera on my offset rig.
The solution was to make a custom dummy battery fitted with leads terminated in
1.5mm diameter gold-plated pins.
These easily push through the flap after a star pattern of slits has been cut
with a scalpel.
With the leads removed you can barely see the slits.
The 12v battery powers two Uniross 12V/4.5V 1.5A converters.
(the output voltages available are 1.5/3/4.5/6/7.5/9/12).
The 1.5mm pins were not a tight fit in the socket on the converters output lead
so a custom adapter was made from one of the plugs supplied with the converter.
After soldering it was encased in car-body filler, heatshrink applied and the
'tip' orientation marked with a blob of paint.
The battery and converters are carried in the camera gadget bag that is required
anyway for the rig.
With both cameras on the current consumption is 340mA at 12V.
The battery should power both cameras for at least five or six hours
continuously.
Fitted to a monopod with shoulder brace it provides a very steady platform.
