Short answer: for a travel day with an RX100 or ZV-1, two NP-BX1 packs cover most city sightseeing; add a third for heavy shooting or cold destinations. To top up, a 10000mAh power bank and a short cable is enough — roughly the energy of four to five BX1 packs. The settings that genuinely help are not a long checklist but three things: turn off Wi-Fi and Bluetooth standby, disable auto review, and use the RX100’s pop-up viewfinder rather than the screen in daylight. Do those three and a single pack gains fifty or sixty shots.
1. Work out the day first
A typical RX100 day is shoot-as-you-walk: many power cycles and short bursts. Every power-on extends the lens and initialises the system, so real frame counts usually fall below the CIPA rating. The empirical values below are a reasonable starting point.
| Itinerary | Expected volume | Suggested packs |
|---|---|---|
| City half day (3-4 hours) | 150-200 shots | 1-2 |
| City full day (8-10 hours) | 300-400 shots | 2-3 |
| Full day plus short video | 250 shots + 20 min 4K | 3 |
| Cold destination (below 0°C) | Same as a full day | 3-4, kept against the body |
| Vlog-only trip | 1.5-2 hours continuous | 3, or external power |
One variable is easy to miss: the ZV-1 draws more than the RX100. The screen stays out, stabilization stays on and a microphone is often attached, so the same itinerary needs one extra pack. Newer RX100 models are also tighter on runtime; the Mark VII’s power zoom drops charge noticeably faster than a Mark III when you zoom in and out a lot.
2. Three ways to top up, and which suits travel
The BX1’s advantage is that these bodies generally support USB charging, so a dock is not mandatory on the road. Each route has trade-offs.
| Method | Time for one pack | Advantages | Limitations |
|---|---|---|---|
| In-body USB charging | About 2-3 hours | No extra accessories, one cable does it | The camera cannot be used while charging |
| Dedicated dock | About 1.5-2 hours | Runs alongside shooting; two bays charge two packs | One more charger and cable to pack |
| Power bank + short cable | Same as in-body | Top up while walking; powers everything at night | Needs 5V/1.5A or better output |
| Third-party pack with USB-C | About 1.5-2 hours | Charge straight from a cable, no dock | Has to be bought specifically; limited choice |
The power bank arithmetic is worth spelling out: a 10000mAh bank is nominally about 37Wh, but after step-up conversion and cable losses roughly 60% reaches the battery, so about 22Wh. Divide by a single BX1’s 4.5Wh and you get four to five packs. A 20000mAh bank doubles that, and doubles the weight — for travel, 10000mAh is usually the better balance.
In practice the least fussy routine is: top up one pack from the bank over coffee or lunch, then charge everything on the dock back at the hotel. You leave the next morning fully charged and never have to do arithmetic on location.
3. Nine settings that save power on a trip
All of these are in the RX100 menus, ordered by how much they affect runtime. Do the lot and a pack typically lasts 20-30% longer.
- Turn off Wi-Fi and Bluetooth: switch them off as soon as a transfer finishes. Bluetooth standby keeps the camera draining slowly even when “off”, which explains the common complaint of losing charge without shooting anything.
- Turn off auto review: showing each shot for two seconds looks harmless but is a high-frequency drain.
- Use the viewfinder in daylight: the RX100’s pop-up EVF draws less than a bright screen and is easier to see in strong sun — two wins at once.
- Set screen brightness to medium manually: auto brightness keeps ramping to maximum on streets that alternate light and shade.
- Set auto power-off to 1 minute: shorter standby beats switching the camera on and off by hand, since every power cycle drives the lens in and out and costs more than it saves.
- Zoom less with the power zoom: the zoom motor is a heavy consumer; decide the focal length before you raise the camera.
- Disable digital zoom and clear image zoom: these keep the processing pipeline busy and cost image quality as well.
- Turn off unnecessary stabilization for video: on a gimbal or tripod, in-body stabilization buys nothing.
- Do not delete photos in camera: reviewing and culling shot by shot on location is one of the heaviest operations you can run. Do it at the hotel on a phone or laptop.
4. Storage, security checks and cold
Lithium batteries must travel in the cabin, never in checked baggage. At 4.5Wh the BX1 is far below the 100Wh declaration threshold, so three or five is no problem, but insulate them anyway: original packaging, a battery case, or at minimum tape over the contacts so they cannot short against keys or coins. For the full rules on quantities and declarations, see the guide to flying with lithium batteries; the rules apply to all consumer lithium packs.
Cold is the most practical problem on a trip. Below 0°C a lithium pack’s internal resistance rises and usable capacity falls; at -10°C it may be only 60-70%. The remedy is plain: keep spares in an inside pocket warmed by your body and swap as needed, and put the camera inside your jacket after shooting instead of leaving it hanging in the wind for an hour. Back indoors, do not power up immediately — let the body reach room temperature and condensation clear first.
Finally, set expectations on quantity. BX1 packs are cheap and small, so carrying one more beats worrying about the level on location. YO’s NP-BX1 is built for exactly this “carry a few without thinking about it” pattern, with honest capacity figures and a price that suits buying three at once. For more on RX100 bodies and accessories, see the NP-BX1 category page.
FAQ
Are two RX100 batteries enough for a trip?
For city sightseeing, generally yes. If you are out all day with a high shot count, or heading somewhere cold, three is safer. Given how small and inexpensive the BX1 is, an extra pack costs far less than a missed photo.
Can I charge an RX100 from a power bank?
Yes, the body supports USB charging. Two caveats: the camera cannot shoot while charging, and the bank needs a stable 5V/1.5A or better output — a low-current bank may be rejected as unsupported and refuse to charge.
Why does the camera show one bar left and then shut down?
Lithium voltage falls quickly at the end of discharge and the body estimates remaining charge from voltage, so the last segment is often inaccurate. Cold or an aged pack makes the jump more pronounced. Counting shots taken is more reliable than reading bars.
Do the ZV-1 and RX100 share batteries?
Yes. The ZV-1, ZV-1 II, ZV-1F and the whole RX100 line use the NP-BX1, so packs, docks and in-body USB charging are all interchangeable. The only caution is not to run old and new packs in parallel for long periods, which can confuse the charge reading.