AA batteries with the E-PL6

I've now got two OEM BLS-50 batteries for the E-PL6 but I find myself recharging the batteries twice a week. Does so much charging shorten the life of the batteries? I've been worried about that since with my other cameras I dont recharge batteries more than once a month.

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 see that Ownuser made a grip for the E-620 camera also, and according to B&H the BLS-50 battery is compatible with the E-620 so I should be able to reverse engineer the E-620 Ownuser grip to make the AA battery holder part usable with the E-PL6 shouldn't I? I'm thinking of buying that grip just to see if this will work or not. Thoughts?

I found it on sale in two places.

http://www.gladsbuy.com/hld-5-e620-battery-grip-for-olympus-e620-e-620-hld5.html

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ownuser-Battery-Grip-Holder-BH-E620R-for-Olympus-E-620-E-600-camera-/281418924244

edit: the first grip might be a different one since the one on sale at Gladsbuy mentions it holds six AA batteries (like my E-520 grip) while the one on ebay says it holds eight AA batteries.  Hmmm, which to get?  I have sixteen Eneloops batteries so I have plenty for either grip.

TheEye 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.

I have 4 batteries for my E-M1 and I often charge one or two daily.

Does so much charging shorten the life of the batteries?

Rechargeable can be recharged a few hundred times before becoming useless. The more often you charge, the sooner they will be come defunct. But so what? They don't cost a fortune.

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

You're a worry wart.

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 see that Ownuser made a grip for the E-620 camera also, and according to B&H the BLS-50 battery is compatible with the E-620 so I should be able to reverse engineer the E-620 Ownuser grip to make the AA battery holder part usable with the E-PL6 shouldn't I? I'm thinking of buying that grip just to see if this will work or not. Thoughts?

I don't see an advantage in AA size rechargeables over the OEM batteries. To get the proper voltage, you have to put the AAs in series. What capacity do you expect?

Do you really want to make your E-PL6 larger and heavier?

The increase in capacity will be worth it, in other cameras in which I've used Eneloops, the capacity of these batteries was far greater than Li Ion batteries (in some cases 2000 or more shots before I had to recharge) and they are also rated to over 2000 charge cycles before they become defunct.

I found it on sale in two places.

http://www.gladsbuy.com/hld-5-e620-battery-grip-for-olympus-e620-e-620-hld5.html

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ownuser-Battery-Grip-Holder-BH-E620R-for-Olympus-E-620-E-600-camera-/281418924244

edit: the first grip might be a different one since the one on sale at Gladsbuy mentions it holds six AA batteries (like my E-520 grip) while the one on ebay says it holds eight AA batteries. Hmmm, which to get? I have sixteen Eneloops batteries so I have plenty for either grip.

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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!)

Guy Parsons wrote:

alexisgreat wrote:.

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!)

Typically a camera is good for maybe 2 or 2.5 hours on time, so you have half wiped out the battery by reviewing. I never do that, I just take it home and review on the computer.

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.

Batteries can last for ages stored, but need to be stored at around 40% capacity, then once a year fully chargers, then reduced to 40% and out back onto storage. Nice work if you can manage all that without going insane.

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?

Not really, some chargers are slower than others. The faster chargers lessen the battery life, the slower chargers are healthier for the batteries.

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.

No, stored at 40%.

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!

The camera was a vehicle for the film, it was the film that slowly made advances.

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).

LCD or EVF are both serious battery drainers. The secret is.....

1. Turn on camera
2. Take the shot
3. Turn off the camera (if not needing it for, say, more than half a minute)
4. Back to step 1.

What if I'm taking a long series of shots? I remember you told me awhile ago that setting the camera to burst mode places strain on the shutter and shortens its life but I discovered a work around; if you keep the shutter half pressed through the shot, the focus stays locked and you can take one shot at a time with the focus continuously locked for as long as you want. This wouldn't wear down the shutter like continuous mode and shorten its life? My E-520 can't do that- I suspect no DSLR can because of the mirror having to move up and down. I'm now using this feature to do exposure bracketing (7 frames, 0.3 ev interval), in single frame mode, you keep the shutter half pressed and you can quickly take the whole series, one frame at a time, with the shutter locked and the camera sorts them in order of increasing exposure (except for the first frame, which is the median of the exposures.) In shutter priority mode, I found that it alters the ISO- which is what I want. In manual exposure mode (which I haven't tried yet), would I suspect it would change the shutter speed?

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!)

Ha, ha, universal world peace will happen long before that.

Regards........ Guy

Probably! I'd settle for Universal RAW format (although Pentax does use .DNG)

Hey no one answered my question from earlier, if I get that E-620 AA grip do you think it's possible I could alter it to use on the E-PL6, especially with AA batteries?

Guy Parsons wrote:

alexisgreat wrote:

What if I'm taking a long series of shots? I remember you told me awhile ago that setting the camera to burst mode places strain on the shutter and shortens its life but I discovered a work around; if you keep the shutter half pressed through the shot, the focus stays locked and you can take one shot at a time with the focus continuously locked for as long as you want. This wouldn't wear down the shutter like continuous mode and shorten its life?

Unless you have an M4/3 camera with fully electronic shutter, then in any burst mode the focal plane shutter is always clattering away. It's what you hear when you shoot.

But what if you dont have burst mode turned on and merely keep the shutter half pressed and just take the next shot as soon as the prior one is saved?  Is there a benefit to doing that in terms of less shutter wear?  If you could estimate, what would you say is an average number of pictures you take per day with the E-PL5 or E-P5?

My E-520 can't do that- I suspect no DSLR can because of the mirror having to move up and down. I'm now using this feature to do exposure bracketing (7 frames, 0.3 ev interval), in single frame mode, you keep the shutter half pressed and you can quickly take the whole series, one frame at a time, with the shutter locked and the camera sorts them in order of increasing exposure (except for the first frame, which is the median of the exposures.) In shutter priority mode, I found that it alters the ISO- which is what I want. In manual exposure mode (which I haven't tried yet), would I suspect it would change the shutter speed?

I never use exposure bracketing so I don't know what goes on. I take one shot (carefully) and leave it at that.

My issue is that with 1/3 stop ISO and changing lighting conditions, I never quite know which ISO to use and found the best results by underexposing somewhere between 1 and 2.3 stops.

Probably! I'd settle for Universal RAW format (although Pentax does use .DNG)

DNG seems to be a weird dead end that is rarely used by camera makers.

I also read somewhere that weatherproof is another dead end because camera makers do not honor water damaged cameras regardless!

Hey no one answered my question from earlier, if I get that E-620 AA grip do you think it's possible I could alter it to use on the E-PL6, especially with AA batteries?

Seems like an impossible and/or cumbersome task.

What's wrong with having some spare batteries and keeping the camera switched off most of the time to make the batteries last longer?

Regards..... Guy

I think I may have gotten it to work, reviewing only a small subset of the total number of pictures the camera took- got the camera to last on one battery for a week and a half!

Guy Parsons wrote:

alexisgreat wrote:

But what if you dont have burst mode turned on and merely keep the shutter half pressed and just take the next shot as soon as the prior one is saved?

No need to wait for saving, the buffer allows them to pile up a bit.

Is there a benefit to doing that in terms of less shutter wear?

No benefit at all. The shutter is still working. Just try listening to the camera, each exposure cycles that shutter. Only cameras with fully electronic shutters avoid clattering that horrible focal plane shutter.

That noise is rather annoying, at first I thought the racket came from the IS doing its thing because the noise is different when doing a 4 sec exposure, when I assume no IS is being used, even when IS is turned on (as per the specs on the camera, which state that IS is not active at exposures longer than 2 sec.)  These shutters are good for about 50,000 actuations?  That's rather impressive considering all that noise!  Although I dont think any Olympus mirrorless camera's shutter is actually rated for number of actuations- all their shutters are probably about the same in terms of durability.

If you could estimate, what would you say is an average number of pictures you take per day with the E-PL5 or E-P5?

Varies dramatically from 0 today to maybe 400 or so on a very busy holiday at an interesting location. Burst or bracketing is basically never used by me.

Sounds like an average of 100-200 a day, although I'd lean towards the 100 considering that I wager the busy holidays at interesting locations are not nearly as common as the more mundane days!

My issue is that with 1/3 stop ISO and changing lighting conditions, I never quite know which ISO to use and found the best results by underexposing somewhere between 1 and 2.3 stops.

I try to stay with ISO 200, but if the light gets a bit lower then I move to the other MySets that use auto ISO with various limits. Forever fiddling with ISO just wastes time, trust the auto ISO but set sensible limits.

Do you find that certain situations require  you to use negative exposure compensation a lot?

Also, I was just starting to get into the other modes- one that I found interesting was the Art mode and Art bracketing- does the camera just take one image in this mode and generate 13 images with different filters from that one image?

In the scene modes, I also found sunrise/set mode interesting because it makes the reds really pop, and movie special effects- although I dont know how to activate the special effects. Olympus movie modes are rather pedestrian anyway- the only things I like about them is that they zoom on the LCD and they dont take up much space on the card even at full resolution.

I also read somewhere that weatherproof is another dead end because camera makers do not honor water damaged cameras regardless!

Maybe so, but any camera needs some proper care by the user. Seals should be replaced every year I guess. I've never used weather proof cameras, have been out in the rain and never had problems. Just a matter of being careful and drying the camera off afterwards.

I remember you said that you've used your E-PL5 even during the rain and you just had to wait for it to dry and it was fine.  Do nonwaterproof cameras like it have seals too?

[battery life]

I think I may have gotten it to work, reviewing only a small subset of the total number of pictures the camera took- got the camera to last on one battery for a week and a half!

Works best if you take a picture and turn off, do not do needless reviews or deletes in camera. Sort out the mess later at home.

Yes, I am trying to limit it to 10 min or less of total review time per day, just enough to know I dont need to reshoot and then it's off time.

Regards......... Guy

Guy Parsons wrote:

alexisgreat wrote:

That noise is rather annoying

It will all go away when global shutters arrive sometime this century (or next).

Been waiting for that ever since the first mirrorless 4/3 cameras came out.

. at first I thought the racket came from the IS doing its thing because the noise is different when doing a 4 sec exposure, when I assume no IS is being used, even when IS is turned on (as per the specs on the camera, which state that IS is not active at exposures longer than 2 sec.)

The shutter sounds like a train crash, the 2 axis IBIS sounds like a coffee grinder.

The older Evolt cameras sound just as bad..... and their SSWF was just as loud (although shorter in duration.)

These shutters are good for about 50,000 actuations?

Maybe.

That's rather impressive considering all that noise! Although I dont think any Olympus mirrorless camera's shutter is actually rated for number of actuations- all their shutters are probably about the same in terms of durability.

Consumer shutters seem to be 30,000 to 50,000 rating, but in reality the life does vary from that by a factor of plus/minus 100%.

Sounds like an average of 100-200 a day, although I'd lean towards the 100 considering that I wager the busy holidays at interesting locations are not nearly as common as the more mundane days!

There's no such things as an average for me as every day is different and when on holidays the daily totals vary dramatically. Last holiday was driving in Ireland and UK and when driving there's less shots taken. Prior to that was using trains in Japan and lots more taken because I'm not holding the steering wheel. One day I may plot the usage per day for each holiday and see if some Bell curve develops or not.

Now I see why your cameras got so wet- all that time spent in Ireland and the UK! I dont believe I saw the sun even once when I was there.

Do you find that certain situations require you to use negative exposure compensation a lot?

Not often, but sometimes minus 0.3 to possibly as far as minus 1.0 occasionally to get some highlights sorted.

Also, I was just starting to get into the other modes- one that I found interesting was the Art mode and Art bracketing- does the camera just take one image in this mode and generate 13 images with different filters from that one image?

Art bracket - yes, if you have then all selected then take one shot and the camera sits there looking at you while it grinds away creating a mess of variously weird looking jpegs.

They dont have a bracketing option for scene modes, I suspect this is because some of them actually require different exposure settings (aperture/shutter speeds) to be used.

In the scene modes, I also found sunrise/set mode interesting because it makes the reds really pop, and movie special effects- although I dont know how to activate the special effects. Olympus movie modes are rather pedestrian anyway- the only things I like about them is that they zoom on the LCD and they dont take up much space on the card even at full resolution.

I remember you said that you've used your E-PL5 even during the rain and you just had to wait for it to dry and it was fine. Do nonwaterproof cameras like it have seals too?

No seals. The E-PL5/6 are holey bodies, plenty of places to leak in. I kept wiping the rain off and when I got home later then sat the camera with lens on in front of a mildly warm air-con outlet for an hour or so before putting it away again. Always make sure lens barrels ar ewiped dry before un-zooming or collapsing the lenses.

I suspect that kit lens is very leaky and those who use it on the weather resistant EM-5 or EM-1 are actually defeating the purpose of the seals- weather resistant lenses must be used on those cameras.

Yes, I am trying to limit it to 10 min or less of total review time per day, just enough to know I dont need to reshoot and then it's off time.

I use the 2 second auto review as good enough most of the time to see that all is OK, occasionally if in doubt I may review and peer a bit more magnified, but that's rare. I usually shoot and scoot and sort out the mess on the computer later. The E-P5 has been my most reliable camera when it comes to shock and shake and AF etc so usually I just shoot and turn off and never look at the review until back on the computer.

Regards........ Guy

That should be an option I set up, I have it currently set to 1 sec review.  Is there anyway to set the auto review to automatically go to magnified view?  Do you have yours set up that way or to highlights/shadows?

Guy Parsons wrote:

alexisgreat wrote:

Now I see why your cameras got so wet- all that time spent in Ireland and the UK! I dont believe I saw the sun even once when I was there.

Can't remember much rain at all in Ireland /UK, certainly didn't obstruct us at all. Wasn't too bad a summer visit in 2015. Nicer summer was exactly 50 years before when I was in London for computer training in 1965. That was a good one.

The bad day was windy and rainy on a vintage sailing ship in sunny Sydney Harbour.

I remember the really good summers out there being in the 80s and 90s, most of the recent ones have been cloudy, must be bad timing.

They dont have a bracketing option for scene modes, I suspect this is because some of them actually require different exposure settings (aperture/shutter speeds) to be used.

Of course, that would be totally crazy.

Anyway, I take normal photos, as realistic as possible or slightly enhanced at times. The arty bits and sceney bits just don't work for me at all, they have been replaced by a range of useful MySets in my case.

Yes some of the Olympus art filters are very garish, and their "fish eye" filter doesn't have much of a fish eye effect, I guess I'll have to get the real thing. BTW I saw some converters up on B&H photo that screw onto the kit lens to go wider or deeper (screw on converters like compact cameras use)- are these any good? It says they are specifically made for PEN cameras, and one of them lets the kit lens go wider, to 11mm. The "specifically made for PEN cameras" part makes me puzzled- why wouldn't they work on the E-Mx series, especially if there are just screw-on converters for the kit lens?

I suspect that kit lens is very leaky and those who use it on the weather resistant EM-5 or EM-1 are actually defeating the purpose of the seals- weather resistant lenses must be used on those cameras.

Leaks at mount, at the zoom and focus rings and the sliding barrels. A sieve is better protection.

But normal care and protection, or a carefully arranged plastic bag is 100% better.

I actually dont ever remember shooting in the rain, and even when it's cloudy I dont shoot unless it's snowed recently. Cloudy weather always makes the colors look drab to me.

That should be an option I set up, I have it currently set to 1 sec review. Is there anyway to set the auto review to automatically go to magnified view? Do you have yours set up that way or to highlights/shadows?

No auto magnify (there is a dedicated Magnify button on E-PL5/6, E-P5 to use when needed), but I do take notice of the blinkies both in live view and on review.

Regards.......... Guy

What's the longest you can set the auto-review for? I like the one with the four histograms and picture info on it but the picture itself looks too small, it fills the LCD though in shadow/highlight mode. You can see the blinkies in both.

Life's too short.  I go out with a handful of batteries in my pocket.  I never switch the camera off, I have auto review on, I use the LCD constantly for managing my settings , I chimp sometimes, When the battery life is getting low.  I change the battery.  I can take 100 pictures in a day.  I go home put batteries on charge, some of  them I estimate, have been charged 500 times +.   And most importantly I don't worry.

Trevor Carpenter wrote:

Life's too short. I go out with a handful of batteries in my pocket. I never switch the camera off, I have auto review on, I use the LCD constantly for managing my settings , I chimp sometimes, When the battery life is getting low. I change the battery. I can take 100 pictures in a day. I go home put batteries on charge, some of them I estimate, have been charged 500 times +. And most importantly I don't worry.

Well, it's good to know your batteries go well beyond 500 charges! How old are they? You haven't even experienced any shortening of the time between charges?

I bet you dont even set the LCD to turn off if you dont use any of the buttons within 1 minute  I have it set to that and the backlight turns off after 30 sec.

alexisgreat wrote:

Trevor Carpenter wrote:

Life's too short. I go out with a handful of batteries in my pocket. I never switch the camera off, I have auto review on, I use the LCD constantly for managing my settings , I chimp sometimes, When the battery life is getting low. I change the battery. I can take 100 pictures in a day. I go home put batteries on charge, some of them I estimate, have been charged 500 times +. And most importantly I don't worry.

Well, it's good to know your batteries go well beyond 500 charges! How old are they? You haven't even experienced any shortening of the time between charges?

I bet you dont even set the LCD to turn off if you dont use any of the buttons within 1 minute I have it set to that and the backlight turns off after 30 sec.

Difficult to say how old they are, I don't keep track but I've had G5,G6 and G7 which share the same battery so some might be 5 years old but average age is probably a couple of years.

No I don't set it to switch off.  I find it incredibly irritating if it's not on when I want it.

The battery life does deteriorate both on OEM and third party batteries over time, but a long time.  I have never stopped using one because of reduced life.

Trevor Carpenter wrote:

alexisgreat wrote:

Trevor Carpenter wrote:

Life's too short. I go out with a handful of batteries in my pocket. I never switch the camera off, I have auto review on, I use the LCD constantly for managing my settings , I chimp sometimes, When the battery life is getting low. I change the battery. I can take 100 pictures in a day. I go home put batteries on charge, some of them I estimate, have been charged 500 times +. And most importantly I don't worry.

Well, it's good to know your batteries go well beyond 500 charges! How old are they? You haven't even experienced any shortening of the time between charges?

I bet you dont even set the LCD to turn off if you dont use any of the buttons within 1 minute I have it set to that and the backlight turns off after 30 sec.

Difficult to say how old they are, I don't keep track but I've had G5,G6 and G7 which share the same battery so some might be 5 years old but average age is probably a couple of years.

No I don't set it to switch off. I find it incredibly irritating if it's not on when I want it.

The battery life does deteriorate both on OEM and third party batteries over time, but a long time. I have never stopped using one because of reduced life.

I think it should be around 10 yrs of useful life, my older batteries only last a couple hours.  Maybe batteries manufactured more recently have even more than 10 yrs useful life? OEM over third party of course.