5 Week Time Lapse

[jimharrison.film]

I've been asked by a friend to record a time lapse for an office refurbishment from start to finish for the company he works for. The refurb will take 5 weeks so the camera will be set up in the same position for the entire time, but it will only be capturing for 9 hours a day, 5 days a week.

I will be using a 60d with ML's intervalometer.  The camera will be plugged in to the mains for the 9 hours of shooting and I was looking at an ACK-E6 to do this.  I have seen the official canon one on ebay for £167, but there are also aftermarket solutions for as little as £15. 

So I have three questions:

Will the camera be safe if I leave it plugged in to the mains for 9 hours a day, taking a shot every 2 minutes?

Has anyone had any experience with aftermarket ACK-E6's or strongly advice against them?

I have no idea what to charge for this, so does anyone know what the going rate should be?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[ilguercio]

I have one of those aftermarket wall adapters and it works fine for me. I don't know about the 60D though as the newer cameras have a chip inside the battery but i guess even those ripoff adapters have managed to solve the problem. No real need to buy the original Canon ACK-E6 since it's just a dummy battery with a voltage regulator along the wire.
I managed to record a video for 16 hours straight on my 50D at 0.25 fps (because i would have run out of memory and time at 30 fps) and it didn't faint ever. If you want to be sure about it not getting hot put a fan over it or shade it and avoid direct sun. Tinfoil is good, it will reflect all the sunbeams. About the price you can charge, no idea.

[Pelican]

I'm using a cheap chinese ACK-E6 clone. It is very well built and its overall quality feels like the original Canon.
It doesn't contain any chip so you have to OK the camera's question at every start.
The camera can work with it 24 hours per day without overheating or other problem.
You can charge at least your equipment's rent value for five weeks.

[Francis]

Pricing is always a complicated issue. A lot depends on the usage of the video (like is it just a promo thing for the company's website or is it going to be shown at a trade show or company meeting). Also don't sell yourself short when you take into account the amount of time and thought you are putting into the setup and execution as well as your special knowledge needed. Are you planning on going to the site every day and starting and stopping the time lapse? How far will you have to travel to do that? How much risk is there for theft or vandalism leaving your gear in a vulnerable place for 5 weeks? How much post production will it require?

I would start off by asking their budget and going from there.

[jimharrison.film]

Thanks for the quick responses guys.  Ideally, I will be going to the venue every day to check over the gear and start and stop it, but travel is an issue. 

My friend assures me that the place is safe and secure enough to leave the equipment there.  If it wasn't, I'd have to pack the equipment away and use the ghosting function to set up the same shot again. You gotta love ML!

[Michael Zöller]

Also, you will be doing 6750 pictures. The camera will be on for many many hours. It will have an impact on your camera. Or do you want to use silent pics?