One of the most frustrating things about the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera is how fast it runs out of power when using the included battery – they literally run less than 30 minutes of shooting time.

At first, I ordered a bunch of compatible batteries from Patona, but it gets so annoying when you have to change batteries every 25 minutes on a shoot, plus I really wanted to be able to record for a longer period of time, for example a live concert in one take.

So I decided to order this cheap Chinese battery as some users reported it worked fine with their BMPCC, but in my case the battery died within half an hour of usage. Wow! I sent the battery back, but the company claimed they never received my package, so it was a big hassle to get the refund at all.

Second try, I found this battery mounting plate to use with my Sony NP-F970 type batteries. Despite their claim that it works flawlessly with BMPCC, it didn’t work at all with any of my four F970 batteries, not even an original one from Sony. Same story, eventually got the refund, but now I really needed a solution that works – and quick.

Finally I ordered the Anker 2nd Generation Astro Pro2 20000mAh battery and got it within a few days from Germany. In order to be able to use it with BMPCC, you just need to purchase one of the following:

A sigh of relief – this solution works very well with my Blackmagic camera! I love that you’re able to see exactly the percentage of power left, and I’ve never used more than 50% of its power, even if the shoot lasted for hours.

If you decide to purchase either the battery, cable, adapter or the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera, please use the affiliate links below – it doesn’t cost you anything to use these links, but it helps support this site and any future tests/tutorials. Thanks!

Affiliate link – Anker Astro Pro2 20000mAh battery – Amazon USA / Amazon Germany

Affiliate link – Blackmagic Pocket Cinema CameraAmazon USA / Amazon Germany

Affiliate link – power adapterAmazon USA

Affiliate link – power adapter cableAmazon USA

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