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Battery Life on the Digital Rebel XT

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katzen

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Hi, we just bought the Digital Rebel XT about a month ago. If the battery is fully charged does anyone have experience with how long it will last? We will be traveling in Europe for 3 weeks and I will be taking tons and tons of photos each day. I've read on a few other sites that it's good to have a back-up battery. We haven't bought one yet as I'm not 100% sure we need a back-up. I thought I would ask you all if you have experience with battery life on travel and/or taking tons of pictures per day. Thank you for your help!

We also have a 1GB and a 2GB memory card and plan on downloading each night onto the laptop (small one) as well as an external hard drive (40GB).
 
Thank you Jan. I was thinking along the same lines as you. We charged it when we first bought it a month or so ago ... and are only now charging it for the 2nd time. Granted, we haven't been taking too many pictures .... but I think we'll be ok if we charge it every night. We still need to purchas the adapters. thanks!
 
Generally I get around 800-900 shots per charge without flash, but it depends a lot on how recently the battery was charged.
katzen said:
Hi, we just bought the Digital Rebel XT about a month ago. If the
battery is fully charged does anyone have experience with how long
it will last? We will be traveling in Europe for 3 weeks and I
will be taking tons and tons of photos each day. I've read on a
few other sites that it's good to have a back-up battery. We
haven't bought one yet as I'm not 100% sure we need a back-up. I
thought I would ask you all if you have experience with battery
life on travel and/or taking tons of pictures per day. Thank you
for your help!

We also have a 1GB and a 2GB memory card and plan on downloading
each night onto the laptop (small one) as well as an external hard
drive (40GB).
Click to expand...
--

 
I get on an average about 500 shots (mixed flash and non-flash)

I don't use AI servo that much and I don't have an IS lens (both of which would use a little more battery power).

I rarely view images on the LCD - except for a quick histogram review after the shot (4 secs avg.)
 
katzen said:
Hi, we just bought the Digital Rebel XT about a month ago. If the
battery is fully charged does anyone have experience with how long
it will last? We will be traveling in Europe for 3 weeks and I
will be taking tons and tons of photos each day. I've read on a
few other sites that it's good to have a back-up battery. We
haven't bought one yet as I'm not 100% sure we need a back-up. I
thought I would ask you all if you have experience with battery
life on travel and/or taking tons of pictures per day. Thank you
for your help!
Click to expand...
you need at least one backup battery. I would buy 2 of them. you can also get the sterlingtek batteries for about 15$ each.

I would get a portable storage devise like the Hyperdrive if your external hard disk is not powered and autonome. with the hyperdrive you can transfer and store a 1gb card in about one minute and half and a 2gb card in about 3 minutes. Other portable devise can be very very slow and take up to about 20 minutes for a 1gb card which make them unuseable in the field.

the battery life of the Hyperdrive is very good too and it takes regular alkaline AA if needed too..so that's a very convenient devise.
katzen said:
We also have a 1GB and a 2GB memory card and plan on downloading
each night onto the laptop (small one) as well as an external hard
drive (40GB).
Click to expand...
--



http://www.pbase.com/zylen
 
don't have a battery grip yet, but can you use AA battery in those? then you don't have to worry too much about recharging
 
You should be able to easily get by without a spare battery, provided that you've got a plug adapter so that you can plug your charger into the local outlets.

However, a second battery is cheap insurance. If your battery fails (something I haven't actually ever heard of happening with such a new battery), you'll have another battery to fall back on. Trying to find a store that sells NB-2L or NB-2LH batteries might be a bit of a challenge. Besides, with a second battery in your bag you can be absolutely positive that you won't run out of juice in the field no matter how much you chimp and review (although again, that has never actually happened to me).

For me, the second battery is a big convenience. I can be using the camera while I'm recharging the other battery.

You doubt that you'd regret not having a second battery, but considering the low cost of Sterlingtek batteries I'd suggest that you get one.
 
Thank you for all the replies!! I went to the sterlingtek website and found the battery (Canon NB-2LH 1100mAh Equivalent Battery) for the Canon Digital Rebel XT camera for $14.99. I just want to confirm that this camera is good. I always get a bit weary (not sure why) when using 'generic' items ... with my luck I'll go to Europe and it won't work or something ... I just want to make sure others have experience using this battery with their Canon Rebel XT. Why is so cheap compared to the original Canon battery? Also, is there anywhere to buy this other than on-line .. like a retail store?

Thanks again for your help!
 
My experience is that the battery life is awesome, of course I use the battery grip and I have three sets of batteries (total six). I would not want to take a trip and not have enough battery life.

If I were you I would take at least one spare, and charge both in the evening, assuming that you don't have the battery grip. If you have the grip I would have at least two sets and make sure that you can charge them every night if you need too.

It has always been my opinion that you can't have enough batteries. You may need the spare when you least expect it.

Some may feel this is overkill but I like to play it safe :-)

--
Chris Grant
http://www.chris-grant.smugmug.com
 
I agree with the others. I would never go on a trip with only one battery. I bought two batteries from ebay merchants (eforcity and others) for about $7.00 each (including shipping). These batteries seem to work as well as the original Canon, and I have used them extensively.

Todd
 
Get 2nd Battery
Get the Grip
Get Rayovac 15 Min AA Batteries

Your Set. If you cannot charge the Camera Batteries you have backup plan (buy AA). They are sold everywhere.

You can buy the Gereric Grip for 1/2 the price

DM
 
Before we went to Alaska and the Yukon 3 weeks ago I went to Canadian Tire and bought a 150watt. Power Inverter for the car. We were camping so each night I would plug in the inverter and charge my batteries. The inverter was $30 and iMO well worth it. At 150 watts it can even power up a laptop in the car so it's quite a handy thing to have anyway.

--
Check out my photo gallery !!

http://www.vandervalk.ca
 
katzen said:
Thank you for all the replies!! I went to the sterlingtek website
and found the battery (Canon NB-2LH 1100mAh Equivalent Battery) for
the Canon Digital Rebel XT camera for $14.99. I just want to
confirm that this camera is good. I always get a bit weary (not
sure why) when using 'generic' items ... with my luck I'll go to
Europe and it won't work or something ... I just want to make sure
others have experience using this battery with their Canon Rebel
XT. Why is so cheap compared to the original Canon battery?
Click to expand...
I bought the Sterlingtek batteries a week ago. Finished trying the third today. None lasted longer than 200 shots, though each said it was rated 1500mAh. I usually get 500-600 shots per Canon battery, including LCD review, etc., in the same conditions. (Factor in I barely touched the LCD with the Sterlingtek and it's even worse.)

Someone else recently reported an even lower total, decreasing further with recharge.

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/readflat.asp?forum=1031&thread=19181691

You might get lucky, but it does sound like they have a bad batch or something currently that's not working too hot. I would err on the side of caution regarding how long Sterlingtek batteries ordered recently will actually last.

I'm not happy. I myself leave in 4 days for a month, and was counting on these working with some reasonable reliability.
 
hey, i travelled Europe for 3 weeks on 2 batterys in a battery Pack.

Just take your charger and you will be sweet. it hink you get around 700-800 depending on flash and stuff.

Pre Battery
 
Update: Thank you for all of the responses. We went to Best But and bought a DigiPower Rechargeable Battery (Canon NB-2L). It is 'supposedly' good for 450 pictures per charge. We figured as a 'back-up' it wasn't that bad. It cost around $38.00. I hope this works.
 
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