Battery Life on Gripped Mark III

[dbvirago]

Fully charged the batteries on Friday. Probably shot about 200 frames, mostly testing things and going through the manual. Spent some time in menus setting things up. Batteries at about 3% and 30%, so I'm doing a fresh recharge. Just based on my memory, this feels like less charge than I got out of one battery in the 40D. What is others experience?

Thanks

 

[kathyt]

So, you had 2 fully charged batteries in your grip? I have never ran out of battery power yet at an all day affair. I always carry spares, but I have never had to switch over. Even in my Mark ii's.

 

[Bitter Jeweler]

Same here, I've never experienced that. I can go a full day photo safari on one battery.

 

[TheBiles]

I can easily get 2000 clicks on two full batteries. Something sounds wrong.

Sent from my Droid DNA

 

[dbvirago]

Sorry, if I wasn't clear. The batteries have been in there for 4 days, but nowhere near 2000 clicks. Battery was in the car during day, but temps were 40s to 50s. Just put in recharged - I'll monitor closer over the next few days.

 

[Tony S]

A few things could affect it like this, first that comes to mind is that the camera was not turned off after being used. Outside of the menu setting, how much time was spent chimping the images you took? Are the batteries Canon or third party branded? Are you sure they had a good full charge to start with?

 

[dbvirago]

Good points, Tony. I don't turn the camera off, just let it go to sleep. That's how I always did it with the 40D, but if this guy is using more power, I'll change that habit. I had it at 4 min, changing it to 2 min. Not much chimping, but I did drop the preview from 4 to 2 seconds. They were fully charged, but they were 3rd party, Velo, came in a B&H bundle. Canon battery in this time and 2nd one on order. I'll use the Canon's as main and Velo as backups.

Also, checking it this morning, I just noticed the shutter count on Battery info screen. What's the process for applying shutter count to different batteries? Took 5 frames. 1st shot to 1st battery, next 4 to 2nd???

Thanks everyone

 

[bratkinson]

Non-Canon batteries are one possibility, as is non-Canon grip. I've read here and elsewhere that some non-Canon grips draw current even when shut off.

I haven't drained 'em yet, but I shot 1200 or so frames on my 5D3 with Canon grip + batteries and was still above the 40% mark as I recall. I recharged them, took 500 more, and barely used 20% of the charge. As for how the grip decides which battery to use for which shots? Magic? I had expected identical numbers of shots on each, but that's not the way it does it.