RAW vs JPG: battery life

[Val]

I seems that battery life is differnent when shooting in different modes like raw, jpg and raw+jpg. Has anyone done any tests?

 

[shorty6049]

i havent done any tests, but i'd assume that just RAW files use less battery than JPEGs because the camera has to compress and sometimes apply noise reduction etc to it, while RAW just throws it straight onto the card

 

[Sw1tchFX]

how much do you use the LCD? that's got a larger impact on battery than your shooting mode.

 

[solrac8126]

how much do you use the LCD? that's got a larger impact on battery than your shooting mode.

also the brightness of the lcd
and auto focus...
ai servo can consume a lot, let's say on a game.
maybe the flash?

i don't know if can be a way for regular people to measure batt life based on raw or jpeg but i don't think it would be noticeable
allthough i agree with shorty6049, that it could take some more power since the processor is used to do some compression and saturation.

 

[sabbath999]

Also, a far more intense user of battery life is IS/VR.

 

[Val]

i havent done any tests, but i'd assume that just RAW files use less battery than JPEGs because the camera has to compress and sometimes apply noise reduction etc to it, while RAW just throws it straight onto the card

I think camera applies some sort of processing on RAW anyway. If i shoot RAW on my camera, settings like saturation and ADR are visible on LCD. Although ofc files are the same on computer.

 

[jstuedle]

The write time is longer for RAW than JPEG. Second to chimping the LCD, writing the file to a flash card uses the most power of any of the cameras functions. (lens functions are another subject.) RAW files use more power to write than JPEG.

 

[Garbz]

Yep jstuedle hit the nail without getting a sore thumb. Processing means nothing. The camera is processing for a split second (ok long shutterspeed NR doesn't count), but processing is literally a matter of milliseconds, as opposed to writing which takes half to whole seconds. In either case the microprocessor is running. This is not a computer processor. It will most likely be running full pelt whether it is writing to the LCD the CF card or processing an image.

What matters is how quickly the overall process finishes.

 

[JerryPH]

I think camera applies some sort of processing on RAW anyway. If i shoot RAW on my camera, settings like saturation and ADR are visible on LCD. Although ofc files are the same on computer.

Your camera is not seeing the RAW file, it is seeing the embeded jpeg file on the LCD.

The RAW file has little to no processing on it... hence why it is called RAW.

There is no measureable difference short of card write time in terms of battery useage between a JPG and RAW file.

There *are* however, things that can easily shorten battery life far more:

- Vibration Reduction or Image Stabilizers
- chimping (a big one right here!)
- auto preview on the LCD
- the brightness setting of the LCD
- the quality/age/condition of the battery installed

These have a MUCH greater impact on battery life than file format.

 

[Mesoam]

its just like a laptop computer...run photoshop and other processes on the battery you won't get as good life if you are just typing a note in word...