AA batteries with the E-PL6

Guy Parsons wrote:

alexisgreat wrote:

I've now got two OEM BLS-50 batteries for the E-PL6 but I find myself recharging the batteries twice a week.

Do you turn the camera off when not shooting? The battery life is determined by the amount of time the camera is turned on, not by the number of shots taken. Mucking around chimping the results or fiddling with menus all take time and drain the battery.

With my same camera E-PL5 I probably could do a busy day on holidays with one battery or maybe might have to change late in the day.

Yes, I think I'm doing something wrong- basically I go into Review mode for an hour after a shoot and go through the results (using the magnify option) to examine the results in the LCD, I'd say up to an hour gets spent doing this every day.

Prior to this I was fiddling with menus quite a bit but since you've helped me with MySets, that problem should now be behind me (Thanks!)

Does so much charging shorten the life of the batteries?

Usually they are good for about 500 charge cycles before they decline to about half capacity. Usually takes some years (3 to 5?) and by that time we usually move on to new cameras anyway.

Thanks, I saw that mentioned somewhere in the literature, and I think I heard or saw someone say that if you dont use the batteries enough that will also reduce their life. As an example, the venerable old BLM-1 (which were built like a tank!) will last about 10 years regardless of how much you use them. I bought a pair for my C-7070 which I purchased in 2005 and they've just now started to lose capacity and need recharging every couple of days regardless of how much or how little I use them. I bought two more BLM-1 with the E-520 which I purchased in 2008 and they still go two weeks between charges and when I put them on the charger, it takes them four hours to charge! I think time it takes to charge them is a sign of how much capacity they have?

I also heard something about not letting batteries stay fully drained for any length of time- that reduces their lifetimes- they should be stored at 60% capacity.

Digital cameras are definitely much different from film- with film cameras, we used them for decades or more! I know people that used the same film camera for 35+ years!

I've been worried about that since with my other cameras I dont recharge batteries more than once a month.

Depends on the camera type, mirrorless really are time related battery drainers.

I see that now, I was thinking it's because mirrorless cameras have a more compact battery since being light is a selling point- and you use the LCD much more than you would an EVF (which our cameras do not have).

I had a thought- with my E-520 I had bought an Ownuser Grip which allows you to use AA batteries with the camera...........

I for one was glad to see the end of AA batteries in cameras, pain in the neck. Bad enough I still need to use them for flashes, and I do use Eneloops or direct equivalents.

Regards....... Guy

I'd like there to be some standardization of Li Ion and Li Poly so the same batteries can be used in many different camera types (and brands!)