Battery Tests - Canon VS Digipower VS Sterlingtek

keith204

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So I have a pair of Canon BP-511 batteries, a pair of Digipowers (Best Buy Brand), and finally a pair of Sterlingtek's.

I decided to put these to the test today, to see just how many shots I could get out of each pair. My 40D takes about 108 shots in a row, at 6.5fps. Yes, the buffer is 75, but by the time you're at 75 shots, already part of the buffer has been cleared as the camera has written some images to the card.

The process is simple. I have 2 of like batteries in my grip, fully charged, and hold the shutter down until the buffer fills up. I await the buffer to clear, and fire away again. When a card fills up, I just swap, and my wife formats the card on our laptop so that no time is wasted. Here are the results.

Canon BP-511's (2 batteries)

Test 1: 3022 shots
Test 2: 3001 shots
Test 3: 3480 shots
Test 4: 3334 shots
Test 5: 2599 shots
Test 6: 3252 shots
Test 7: 3250 shots
Test 8: 3163 shots
Test 9: 2939 shots
Test 10: 2833 shots

Total after ten charges: 30,873 shots in 10 charges

Digipowers

Test 1: 2554 shots
Test 2: 2488 shots
Test 3: 2541 shots
Test 4: 2501 shots
Test 5: 2575 shots
Test 6: 2302 shots
Test 7: 2529 shots
Test 8: 2285 shots
Test 9: 2322 shots
Test 10: 2110 shots

Total after ten charges: 24,207 shots in 10 charges

Sterlingteks

Test 1: 3950 shots
Test 2: 3844 shots
Test 3: 4005 shots
Test 4: 2033 shots - something must've gone wrong here
Test 5: 3790 shots
Test 6: 4010 shots
Test 7: 4003 shots
Test 8: 4025 shots
Test 9: 3888 shots
Test 10: 3920 shots

Total after ten charges: 37,468 shots in 10 charges

My conclusion. The Sterlingteks certainly outperform the Canons, and most definitely the Digipowers. The Sterlingteks did show in test 4 some weirdness, as noted...which makes me wonder if their inexpensive price tag is showing through. Nonetheless, the Sterlingtek batteries provided 23% more shots per 10 charges than the Canons did.

Tomorrow I'll use a friend's Nikon D300 to perform the same tests. Has anyone else done similar tests on a Nikon?
 
I have all Digipowers(used to work at BB) and I would get 4000 shots out of them at first and then it sharply dropped after 2 or 3 chargers to about what you're seeing. I haven't done extensive testing as you have though, but it's good to know about the Sterlingtek.
 
OK, Time for a new shutter?:wink:

NO really, do you realize that your shutter will wear out whether you are taking Pulitzer Prize winning photos or just testing a battery?

Dude, you just used up a quarter of your cameras shutter life (more or less if it will really get 150,000 actuations)

Please don't do this again (even if the Nikon will take it. ;))!!!
 
I'll raise one to you :cheers: for doing it to the Canon 40D but for the love of god don't ruin the D300.
 
Here in America, it's April Fools day. I just had to start up some bull to get a few people riled up, couldn't help it.
 
I'll raise one to you :cheers: for doing it to the Canon 40D but for the love of god don't ruin the D300.

hey... what's that supposed to mean!?
 
LOL OK, got me. But on a forum where anyone and everyone drops by I am still going to err on the side of caution. ;)

I was, however, trying to figure out IF I took that many shots, could it have actually been done in one day? (with switching memory cards and such) but don't really want to calculate real numbers...
 

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