Dumb battery question

[Txaggie08]

So I just upgraded to a non ID 70-200 F/2.8L today. GREAT lens, and having f2.8 is UNHOLY!


But.....well the blasted camera sucked it's battery down today. I was showing half charge when I got to the party I shot at(I got it in , didn't even get to open it, went to the party and started shooting LOL) today, and my battery is pushing dead at this point. That's very unusual, probably twice the batt consumption I'm used to(I had it on for maybe an hour, took approximately 50 exposures, no flash).

Is it the lens or was my battery meter reading funny? If it's the lens, looks like I will be looking into a battery grip asap.

I have a question on those as well. If I'm just looking for a larger capacity, should I just nab one of the cheap ones?

 

[soylentgreen]

It's the battery. the non-IS lens would not drain that much power. I had a battery that showed full charge once and after a few frames, it was running on empty. Dunno how accurate the meter really is.

 

[Big Mike]

Bigger lenses may use more battery power because they have to move bigger, heavier pieces of glass. I'm not sure how power hungry the USM is on that lens.

That being said, the battery was probably close to empty when you started. I have also found that when I see 'half power' on the battery power icon...I might run out at any time.

 

[therustytracks]

yea the battery meter is definitely unreliable on my 30d and my girlfriends 40d. Both will show a full charge even though the battery needs charging, but when you start taking pictures the meter drains very quickly. I've had my battery in for about a week now, i haven't used it every day but it probably has about 3 hours worth of usage on it right now and it's still showing a full charge, when it's really about time to recharge. you'll know when your battery is dying though. the first sign on my camera is the autofocus just stops working, or starts to have trouble focusing.

 

[Stratman]

You would think that by now, these companies could come up with a decent battery indicator !! Seems like every brand has this problem eh?

 

[ScottS]

Not Nikon !!!

They have nifty battery meters in the camera ( D200 ) that show the exact charge of the battery, and the status... IE: how many shots have been taken on that battery, and if the battery is performing at optimum level...

Only drawback is that you have to use Nikon batts for this to happen. It wont work with off bran batts.