476 shots on a charge

We hear so much about The D7 series and their battery life. Here is some more. I had a new set of batteries from Office Max. They were just labelled “Digital”, 1800 MaH, and since I had never heard of this brand I was a bit doubtful. However, they were only 9.95 for four.

One their third cycle I decided to use my D7i to archive some documents. (That’s not what I bought it for!) It is much faster than scanning, especially as some of the documents had to be imaged on both sides. So I set the camera on a good tripod, with the remote, and set up some blocks to roughly guide the pages into the correct place. The LCD was off. I used Manual Focus, Aperture Priority, f6.7, and just worked though the piles. Quality did not have to be very good, just legible, so I set the size to 1280x960 and quality to Economy, with iso 200. We were in ambient light near a window late on a cloudy day.

I only checked in the EVF about every 20 shots, so I do not know exactly when the white battery indicator came on, but it was before 310. The red battery light showed before 384, and the camera eventually stopped shooting after 476 images.

I think there is some danger of losing images from the card if the batteries exhaust completely, so I generally do not do this. However, in this case it would have been easy to repeat any images lost. In fact the card was fine. So:

1 How many shots you get on the D7i depends on what you do with it.
2 Digital batteries from Office Max must be OK.
3 The battery warning lights are a bit previous, at least on my camera.

That's phenomenal! Thanks for sharing your test & results. I'm surprised you didn't use text mode from the Program button if you were doing B&W. I don't know how file sizes would compare, but reproductions of text I have done have come out great. Neat! - Jean R

engbert said:

We hear so much about The D7 series and their battery life. Here
is some more. I had a new set of batteries from Office Max. They
were just labelled “Digital”, 1800 MaH, and since I had never heard
of this brand I was a bit doubtful. However, they were only 9.95
for four.

One their third cycle I decided to use my D7i to archive some
documents. (That’s not what I bought it for!) It is much faster
than scanning, especially as some of the documents had to be imaged
on both sides. So I set the camera on a good tripod, with the
remote, and set up some blocks to roughly guide the pages into the
correct place. The LCD was off. I used Manual Focus, Aperture
Priority, f6.7, and just worked though the piles. Quality did not
have to be very good, just legible, so I set the size to 1280x960
and quality to Economy, with iso 200. We were in ambient light
near a window late on a cloudy day.

I only checked in the EVF about every 20 shots, so I do not know
exactly when the white battery indicator came on, but it was before
310. The red battery light showed before 384, and the camera
eventually stopped shooting after 476 images.

I think there is some danger of losing images from the card if the
batteries exhaust completely, so I generally do not do this.
However, in this case it would have been easy to repeat any images
lost. In fact the card was fine. So:

1 How many shots you get on the D7i depends on what you do with it.
2 Digital batteries from Office Max must be OK.
3 The battery warning lights are a bit previous, at least on my
camera.

Click to expand...

I picked up three sets of these from the local Office Max a while back and have been using them. They were the first batteries I bought, so I didn't know they were good, but I was getting about 150 shots with flash in the studio.

They had a one-hour charger with the same brand name but it was lousy. I bought a $12.95 conditioning charger at Radio Shack and have been getting outstanding performance out of them (that is until I switched to the DPS9000 which I now use for the first 500 or so shots).

Glad to know they're good batteries.

Clay

Thanks Jean

I omitted to mention that I did use the Text mode.

Jean Ricket said:

engbert said:

We hear so much about The D7 series and their battery life. Here
is some more. I had a new set of batteries from Office Max. They
were just labelled “Digital”, 1800 MaH, and since I had never heard
of this brand I was a bit doubtful. However, they were only 9.95
for four.

One their third cycle I decided to use my D7i to archive some
documents. (That’s not what I bought it for!) It is much faster
than scanning, especially as some of the documents had to be imaged
on both sides. So I set the camera on a good tripod, with the
remote, and set up some blocks to roughly guide the pages into the
correct place. The LCD was off. I used Manual Focus, Aperture
Priority, f6.7, and just worked though the piles. Quality did not
have to be very good, just legible, so I set the size to 1280x960
and quality to Economy, with iso 200. We were in ambient light
near a window late on a cloudy day.

I only checked in the EVF about every 20 shots, so I do not know
exactly when the white battery indicator came on, but it was before
310. The red battery light showed before 384, and the camera
eventually stopped shooting after 476 images.

I think there is some danger of losing images from the card if the
batteries exhaust completely, so I generally do not do this.
However, in this case it would have been easy to repeat any images
lost. In fact the card was fine. So:

1 How many shots you get on the D7i depends on what you do with it.
2 Digital batteries from Office Max must be OK.
3 The battery warning lights are a bit previous, at least on my
camera.

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Thanks engbert! You have just created one more plus in my decision to buy 7Hi. Should not be worse than 7i, lololo...

Plamen

engbert said:

We hear so much about The D7 series and their battery life. Here
is some more. I had a new set of batteries from Office Max. They
were just labelled “Digital”, 1800 MaH, and since I had never heard
of this brand I was a bit doubtful. However, they were only 9.95
for four.

One their third cycle I decided to use my D7i to archive some
documents. (That’s not what I bought it for!) It is much faster
than scanning, especially as some of the documents had to be imaged
on both sides. So I set the camera on a good tripod, with the
remote, and set up some blocks to roughly guide the pages into the
correct place. The LCD was off. I used Manual Focus, Aperture
Priority, f6.7, and just worked though the piles. Quality did not
have to be very good, just legible, so I set the size to 1280x960
and quality to Economy, with iso 200. We were in ambient light
near a window late on a cloudy day.

I only checked in the EVF about every 20 shots, so I do not know
exactly when the white battery indicator came on, but it was before
310. The red battery light showed before 384, and the camera
eventually stopped shooting after 476 images.

I think there is some danger of losing images from the card if the
batteries exhaust completely, so I generally do not do this.
However, in this case it would have been easy to repeat any images
lost. In fact the card was fine. So:

1 How many shots you get on the D7i depends on what you do with it.
2 Digital batteries from Office Max must be OK.
3 The battery warning lights are a bit previous, at least on my
camera.

Click to expand...

Your excellent results are no doubt attributable to not using autofocus or the LCD, the largest power drains, and only using the EVF sparingly. Great nevertheless, but not typical usage.

Speaking of batteries, yesterday the MAHA MH-C401FS 100 minute "cool" charger I ordered from Thomas Distributing arrived. It is featured on the DPReview "News" page, but here is my mini-review:

The unit, which cost about $55 with a set of 4 - 1800 MaH batteries and shipping has 2 and 5 hour charging modes. Each battery has a micro-processor controlled charging circuit. That the photo on the news page doesn't show is the humungous wall-wart transformer the charger unit connects to. The size is dictated by the rapid charge current of 1000MA. If my math is correct that's 1 AMP? Also included is a 12V cord for use in the car which should be quite useful for trips. I charged the included MAHA 1800Mah batteries using the slower 5 hour mode, and as advertised the green "ready" lights appeared about 5 hours later. The batteries were cool to the touch.

I purchased the MAHA charger because I didn't think the supplied Sanyo or my myriad of other chargers were up to the task of refueling the newer 1800 - 2000 MaH cells and had read many good reviews and user comments about the MAHA chargers. I also found a DigiPower DPS-9000 at a good price at BestBuy a few days later. There is a photo with it on my camera at:



; if you haven't seen one.

So now armed with four sets of NiMH and the DTP-9000 I can swagger (or stagger) and proudly say, "Battery problems with a D7Hi? Listen Buddy, I ain't got no stinkin' battery problems.", as I use my LCD with abandon.

Chuck Gardner

engbert said:

We hear so much about The D7 series and their battery life. Here
is some more. I had a new set of batteries from Office Max. They
were just labelled “Digital”, 1800 MaH, and since I had never heard
of this brand I was a bit doubtful. However, they were only 9.95
for four.

One their third cycle I decided to use my D7i to archive some
documents. (That’s not what I bought it for!) It is much faster
than scanning, especially as some of the documents had to be imaged
on both sides. So I set the camera on a good tripod, with the
remote, and set up some blocks to roughly guide the pages into the
correct place. The LCD was off. I used Manual Focus, Aperture
Priority, f6.7, and just worked though the piles. Quality did not
have to be very good, just legible, so I set the size to 1280x960
and quality to Economy, with iso 200. We were in ambient light
near a window late on a cloudy day.

I only checked in the EVF about every 20 shots, so I do not know
exactly when the white battery indicator came on, but it was before
310. The red battery light showed before 384, and the camera
eventually stopped shooting after 476 images.

I think there is some danger of losing images from the card if the
batteries exhaust completely, so I generally do not do this.
However, in this case it would have been easy to repeat any images
lost. In fact the card was fine. So:

1 How many shots you get on the D7i depends on what you do with it.
2 Digital batteries from Office Max must be OK.
3 The battery warning lights are a bit previous, at least on my
camera.

Click to expand...

Chuck,

thanks for posting the pics of the 7Hi with the DPS-9000. Is there a reason why the jack on the DPS9000 faces outwards since the inputs to the 7Hi is at the back? Also, what did it cost you at BestBuys?

Stan,

Good point I overlooked. Thanks to a tip from a forum member (sorry I forget who to credit) I now turn the DTP-9000 around so the plug is in the back and loop the cord clockwise around the front of the battery and back to the camera power socket. It is a tight fit, but it works.

Chuck

stan said:

Chuck,
thanks for posting the pics of the 7Hi with the DPS-9000. Is there
a reason why the jack on the DPS9000 faces outwards since the
inputs to the 7Hi is at the back? Also, what did it cost you at
BestBuys?

Click to expand...

Thanks for the credit Chuck. I'm glad my little tip worked out for you. I too have extra batteries in my camera case just in case I run the DSP-9000 down but so far I haven't needed them. I have two cameras...the 7i and the Olympus C-2500L which is a wonderful macro camera...and I use the batteries in the Olympus. Unfortunately the C-2500L has a door that would break off easily when used with the DSP-9000 so we don't want to risk it. My husband takes wonderful photos with the Olympus while I'm learning the in and outs of the 7i.

Chuck Gardner said:

Stan,

Good point I overlooked. Thanks to a tip from a forum member
(sorry I forget who to credit) I now turn the DTP-9000 around so
the plug is in the back and loop the cord clockwise around the
front of the battery and back to the camera power socket. It is a
tight fit, but it works.

Click to expand...

chuck,
Could you let me know what you paid for the DPS-9000 at BestBuy?
Thanks,

Chuck Gardner said:

Good point I overlooked. Thanks to a tip from a forum member
(sorry I forget who to credit) I now turn the DTP-9000 around so
the plug is in the back and loop the cord clockwise around the
front of the battery and back to the camera power socket. It is a
tight fit, but it works.

Chuck

stan said:

Chuck,
thanks for posting the pics of the 7Hi with the DPS-9000. Is there
a reason why the jack on the DPS9000 faces outwards since the
inputs to the 7Hi is at the back? Also, what did it cost you at
BestBuys?

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

stan said:

chuck,
Could you let me know what you paid for the DPS-9000 at BestBuy?
Thanks,

Click to expand...

The price card on the shelf read $79.95 but I rang up at the register at $59.95. I smiled and said, "Thank you very much."

Chuck

stan57280 said:

Chuck Gardner said:

Good point I overlooked. Thanks to a tip from a forum member
(sorry I forget who to credit) I now turn the DTP-9000 around so
the plug is in the back and loop the cord clockwise around the
front of the battery and back to the camera power socket. It is a
tight fit, but it works.

Chuck

stan said:

Chuck,
thanks for posting the pics of the 7Hi with the DPS-9000. Is there
a reason why the jack on the DPS9000 faces outwards since the
inputs to the 7Hi is at the back? Also, what did it cost you at
BestBuys?

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Best Buy in San Diego didn't carry the DPS-9000 so I got mine at CompUSA for $79 plus tax.

Chuck Gardner said:

stan said:

chuck,
Could you let me know what you paid for the DPS-9000 at BestBuy?
Thanks,

Click to expand...

The price card on the shelf read $79.95 but I rang up at the
register at $59.95. I smiled and said, "Thank you very much."

Chuck

Chuck Gardner said:

Chuck Gardner said:

Good point I overlooked. Thanks to a tip from a forum member
(sorry I forget who to credit) I now turn the DTP-9000 around so
the plug is in the back and loop the cord clockwise around the
front of the battery and back to the camera power socket. It is a
tight fit, but it works.

Chuck

stan said:

Chuck,
thanks for posting the pics of the 7Hi with the DPS-9000. Is there
a reason why the jack on the DPS9000 faces outwards since the
inputs to the 7Hi is at the back? Also, what did it cost you at
BestBuys?

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Chuck Gardner said:

The price card on the shelf read $79.95 but I rang up at the
register at $59.95. I smiled and said, "Thank you very much."

Click to expand...

i love it when that happens.
good luck
bill