External battery pack for Canon G6?

[gardenstate]

I recently upgraded from a Canon S400 to the G6 (which is my 4th upgraded Powershot). While using the S400, I purchased an external battery pack from Digicom that was equivalent to about 5 internal batteries. When the S400 was used with an external flash ( I have a Quantum Plus battery pack powering a Vivitar 285HV flash with Wein digital slave) -- very fast recycle time!

I noticed that the BP-511A battery in the G6 does last a while but the flash recycle does get slower over time. Does anyone know if an external battery pack is available for the G6 that would allow extended shooting and fast recycle time? Perhaps it could supply the needed 9.5V DC that normally comes from an external AC/DC adapter.

[Bryan Bedell]

http://www.steadypower.com/catalog/honda_eu1000.php?osCsid=6b68d99b2ac1b8325309d898b2 23822b

but seriously, the G6 battery is rated something like second best of all consumer digital cameras, if you really find yourself burning through it so fast that you need an external battery pack, maybe it's time to buy a pro setup.

Bryan

[gardenstate]

thanks for your comments. I was hoping for a battery pack to clip onto my belt. The 30lb unit you linked to might have me "walking funny."

I'm not rich enough yet to buy a nice DSLR like the D20 but would like to find ways to reduce the flash recycle time so that I do not miss anything while shooting (especially when photographing young children).

At a recent photo shoot of a 2 year old girl, I needed to use the hi-speed photo mode WITHOUT flash and ambient light inside of her home. It would have been great to use the G6 with a fast recycling flash in this situation.

[Bryan Bedell]

Nice Photos... hey you're in the suburbs, can I bring my daughter over? Your house is a lot cleaner than mine.

If the flash recycling is the problem, maybe get an external flash with a battery pack for the flash? If such a thing exists (and I think I've seen those) it would probably be easier to find and give you more flexibility, since the flash is the bottleneck, not the camera...

B.

[gardenstate]

Thanks for the comments on the photos.
sorry, the house is not ours and belongs to people we know.
At this photo session, I had a Vivitar 285HV flash with a WEIN digital slave sensor and Quantum Plus battery pack for fast recycle. The slaved unit only fires after the camera flash goes off. Soooo... I still have to wait for the camera flash to recycle.

Come to think about it...I may have to save my pennies (about $200 worth) to buy an on-camera Canon EX flash and an adapter to allow it to be powered by my Quantum pack....

[gardenstate]

just got a call from Jerry at Quantum Instruments. They make an external battery pack for the Canon G1-G5 series. If I want to powerup the G6 camera, I need to do the following:

Purchase their Turbo 2+2 battery (has 9.5V)
Buy the AD1192 cable from Canon
Send the cable and $21 to Quantum Instruments
They will modify the cable to work with the Turbo unit...

the cost of a Canon flash and adapter for my current battery pack is starting to sound like a cheaper alternative....

[Andy_T]

Just to inform you, the internal flash recycle time on the 20D is not any faster than on the G series ... it uses the exact same batteries (but most likely needs a bit more power).

Best regards,
Andy