New G12 Owner - some questions

So after returning my Nikon P7000 and reading the forum for the past week, I picked up today a G12 and I am back in camp Canon

When I placed the battery in the camera (out-of-box) the battery indicator showed the battery is full. When when I placed it in the charger, it took it 2 hours to switch from orange light (charge) to green (full). I noticed the instruction guide says the battery ships empty which was kinda strange and I want to make sure I didn't get an open box camera. Did you experience the same thing or was the battery totally empty?
Is there a way to look up the shutter count on the G12?

btw, I was surprised to find out Canon decided not to include a printed manual with this relatively expensive camera. Not sure if this is a cost-cutting measure or the fact they are also in the printers business but, shame on them.

Thanks

I just got a G12 myself and it took the battery about 2 hrs to charge. I never tried it right out of the box and into the cam to see if it showed a full charge. Have fun with it.

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Brad
Windsor.Ontario.Canada
WSSA member#52
Olympus E-Pl1 14-42, 40-140, and Canon 250d.
Manfrotto carbon tripod and RRS head.
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I put my battery right out of the box into the camera. I was able to shoot for quite awhile, but not nearly what it should do. The manual says to deplete the battery between charges, so that is what I did and the next charge, which brought it to full charge, took quite awhile. Unfortunately, I did not time it so can't report on that.
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Daniel Weil
http://www.danielweil.com

If the manual says "completely deplete the battery between charges", does that mean you need to have a fully charged spare battery if you go out with the battery and it only a 25% charge on it?

If yes, does anyone know of a "good quality" battery to use as a secondary backup battery? I just ordered a G12 and did not order a backup battery, that is why I am asking this question.

Dan -- Where does the manual say to deplete the battery between charges? I did see where it advises depleting the battery for long term storage (page 15). I certainly hope you don't have to deplete the battery between charges during normal use.

I believe nicads need to be almost drained every time but not the lithium, since they don't have the memory effect. Sterlingtek is a good place to get spare batteries.
JR
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Nikon F
Argus C44R (gorgeous)
Fuji S100fs
Canon A20, A80, A710, A650, G11
Collections: http://www.flickr.com/photos/25863948@N07/collections/

Lithium batteries do not need to be fully discharged between charges and they do not suffer the same "memory loss" that Nicad batteries did. Hence Lithium are now the better choice and becoming the standard in many electronic goodies.

By the way, it's always a good idea to have a spare, fully charged battery on you. Yes, it means an extra cost, but you'll be glad you did it. Waiting 2 hours to be able to use your camera could miss you an awful lot of photo opportunities.

Lithium batteries have a longer shelf life when partially charged, that is why products are shipped with partially charged Lithium-Ion batteries.

I have the G12, although did not check battery level, but strangely i recently bought the E-PL1 from Jessops and the guy in the shop, opened the new box it was in and stuck the battery in and hey presto it fired up.

I still charged it at home though, interesting point though i guess most have some life in the batteries at time of buying.

Regards Alan,

LiIon batteries are best stored with about 80% charge so I think that's why the often come partially charged. Over-discharge will shorten their life, over-charge can too, extreme abuse can cause them to blow up as happen with some laptop batteries a while ago. But the batteries that come in these camera have protection circuits to limit over-discharge and over-charge. It's one reason I try to be careful about the batteries I buy when I don't buy the brand name, not all circuits are reliable and this is not something that can easily be tested if at all. Also slightly harmful is frequent top offs--i.e. recharging when only a few percent of power has been used, though that wouldn't stop me from topping off if I don't want to risk running out of power for an event.

Although many new batteries leave the factory with a small pre-charge, always assume that you will first have to give it a full charge.

By the way, I also have the P7000 and have no issues whatsoever. Why did you send yours back. I mean to say that I'm loving the G12 (and the G11 for that matter), but I've also come to appreciate the many strengths of the P7000 also. Just curious here.

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I now try to avoid those "fast" chargers for AA and AAA batteries. They get too hot to even touch and shortens their life considerably. Better to have slowly charged spares available so a fast charge isn't necessary, if possible.
JR
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Nikon F
Argus C44R (gorgeous)
Fuji S100fs
Canon A20, A80, A710, A650, G11
Collections: http://www.flickr.com/photos/25863948@N07/collections/

Ever since the advent of the rechargeable battery, an endless series of rumors have circulated about what you're "supposed to" do with your battery. You're supposed to drain it all the way when you use it - you're never supposed to drain it all the way. It will have a memory effect, it won't have a memory effect. You're supposed to store it fully charged, you're supposed to store it fully discharged, you're supposed to store it half charged...

Frankly, I suggest you simply do whatever's convenient, because who knows which of this advice is truly accurate.

A lot of times the information in the manual is outdated and they just didn't bother updating it for a new battery type, which has totally different characteristics vs the older battery type that was used in a different model.

The g12 uses a lith-ion battery, which supposed don't lose much charge just sitting around when you're not using them, don't have a memory effect, and last longer if you charge them often and don't drain them completely.

I recommend just doing whatever's the most convenient.