How do you manage battery life?

LooseLatitude · Apr 29, 2016

You have an hour to take pictures/video. Do you look around for something to shoot and then turn the camera on, take a shot, and turn it off? Do you leave the camera on and let it go to sleep? Sleep after a minute? Five minutes? Do you leave the camera on the whole time?

Just curious to see what others do and reasons why.

If I'm taking pictures I like to leave the camera on the while time, LCD off and use ovf. For video I let it go to sleep after 5 minutes.

Henry Falkner · Apr 29, 2016

With Morris dance performances where I am playing the accordion with the camera recording on top, I only stop and start the videos, to prevent the camera from timing out after 29 minutes (currently it is the Olympus SH-2 pocket travel zoom).

Last year at the New Plymouth Festival of Lights I got 1 hour 32 minutes of camera video, without changing the battery (Olympus SH-1).

With Morris dance practices I switch off the camera when a discussion seems to go on for some time before the next dance.

With the Muriwai Beach gannet colonies, I switch off the camera when I walk over to the other viewing gallery.

So, whether I leave the camera on or turn it off depends on how I judge the situation.

Slightly related is, the CIPA rating for the Olympus SH-1 and SH-2 is 380. If I have to change brands in the near future, I will reject models below a CIPA rating of 350.

Henry

trungtran · Apr 29, 2016

I normally just buy extra batteries.

I treat it the same way as storage. If there is any chance that I will fill up a memory card. I bring an extra card. If there is any chance that my shooting session will take more photos than the battery is capable off. Then bring extra batteries. Its always good to have a backup anyway.

This of course depends on the camera and the cost of the batteries. I had a Canon 40D with 2 extra batteries. I took marathon photos a few times, it was good for 3000 jpgs for a 2 hour session. Third party batteries were less than 10 dollars a pop.

My current cameras are EOS M and M3. The M sucks batteries so i also have 2 extra batteries for it. Each battery is good for 200 shots.

DSLR I let it sleep on its own. Mirrorless, i turn it on when i need to take photos and off as soon as the shot is done.

rtex42 · Apr 29, 2016

Always on, sleep after 1 minute. I shoot birds and don' t always have time to turn the camera on and come to life.

richiebee · Apr 29, 2016

I do concert photography and leave my cameras on for the entire show. I always start with fully charged batteries and I carry one spare (which I've never needed). I'll often take 600-1,500 images over 2-3 hours, split between two cameras. I've never ended a concert with less than half battery power from either of my cameras and normally there's not more than one bar gone. I check the LCD every now and then to make sure I'm on track, and tend to spend intermission deleting the obvious duffers, using the LCD for that 15-20 minutes of quick review, but I'd call my use of the LCD "economical"

If I'm doing portraits, I might take 100-400 shots, but I hardly ever charge a battery specifically. I'll just take that camera with what ever life the battery has and carry a spare that's usually at least half to three quarters full just in case. I've never needed to use the spare. I often switch my camera off between long "scene changes" whether that be a costume change, or moving around the room/lights. I check almost every shot or series of shots on the LCD after taking them, unless I'm shooting tethered.

If I'm shooting scenery I frequently turn my camera off between shots, not for any particular reason - probably just self consciously because scenery is all I used to shoot in the days of early digital cameras when they ate through batteries like crazy.

Ron Poelman · Apr 29, 2016

When wondering whether your toy is happy or not
becomes part of your shot set-up,
you have to question your priorites.
Leave everything set to 11, that's what you bought it for.
--
Ron.
Volunteer, what could possibly go wrong ?

Bob Janes · Apr 30, 2016

I was a bit paranoid on using my first mirrorless cameras, so combined switching off at any opportunity with carrying lots of spares.

The power switch on my camera is around the shutter release and I seem to have got into the habit of switching off and on as the camera comes up for use - I now only seem to run through batteries at about the same rate as when I used a conventional DSLR...

NZ Scott · Apr 30, 2016

I turn off my cameras for two reasons.

I shoot Micro Four Thirds, which as I'm sure you know are small mirrorless cameras with sub-par battery life compared with DSLRs.

This is the first reason I'm in the habit of switching the cameras off between each shot - to save battery life.

For this reason, I will only purchase cameras with on-off buttons or switches that can easily be reached with my right finger.

By using this method I can get 800+ shots out of cameras that have CIPA ratings of 220-330

The second reason I turn off M43 cameras between shots is that they have touchscreens. If I leave the camera on, and it rubs against my body, sometimes it will activate the touchscreen and take photos without my knowledge.

My current most-used camera is a GM5.

S

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Mike CH · Apr 30, 2016

My camera doesn't eat batteries like they were breakfast croissants, it turns on respectably fast, and it has sensibly large batteries.

So I shoot as I want to, sleep is set to about 2 minutes, but I mostly turn the camera off and on in between, and then I carry a spare battery - hardly ever used though.

I can get up to 400-600 images on a single battery without worrying about the battery, including frequent use of live view.

Regards, Mike

tcg550 · Apr 30, 2016

I just checked, my NIkon DSLR is on right now with a full battery. I haven't used it in several days.

When I'm at an event I always carry a spare, some events last for several hours and hundreds of photos, I never turn the camera off and I've never had to switch batteries.

What kind of camera only gives you an hour?

And if you know that about your camera why not just carry spare batteries?

Mike CH · Apr 30, 2016

Small bodied cameras with room only for smaller batteries. Combine that with having EVFs or live view only that require permanent power and you have cameras that last shorter than other cameras.

There is a downside to everything.

My old LUMIX F20 ate batteries like there was no tomorrow...

Regards, Mike

Mark B. · Apr 30, 2016

I have mine set to sleep after a few minutes; I honestly forget how long. The time for it to wake is insignificant. Otherwise, I 1) turn the camera off in between shoots and 2) always have a spare battery.

Mark

Bob Janes · Apr 30, 2016

Depends how busy you are in that hour...

I think even if your camera is really good on batteries, carrying a spare is a good idea - I used to carry spare mercury cells back in the days when SLRs ran for 2 years on one set.

Glen Barrington · May 1, 2016

I bought two spare batteries for my E-M10 on Amazon, for around $12 USD each. And one of them came with a charger. They don't weigh hardly anything, they don't take up much room, and they work just fine.

In my mind, this is a non issue.

Szumi · May 1, 2016

I keep spare batteries in my car. I have two cameras with internal gps that will drain the battery dead if I forget to disable the radio.

I also carry an inverter that I can use to top off my batteries when I'm on the road. One of the nice things about buying a 6D and a 7DII is I have two chargers for the same battery family so one charger stays out in the car.

merops · May 1, 2016

I usually take a spare battery with me, unless I'm very sure I won't need it. Then I can play to me heart's content until the first battery runs out. Only when I put the spare in do I have a quick think about whether I need to alter the way I'm using the battery to avoid running out altogether. As the first battery usually doesn't run out, I can shoot in an unconstrained way the whole day.

If I'm on a trip, I usually recharge the battery every night, even if it's not running low.

If I buy a new camera etc, I think about spare batteries when I buy it. If I already have a good idea of how I will use that kind of camera, I will usually buy at least 1 spare battery: OEM if the camera's really expensive (Nikon D800e), or good aftermarket if it was cheaper. If I'm not so sure how I'll use it, I get it, try it out, and then order spare batteries as necessary. Three or four days ago I bought a Gopro for a specific task. I've tried it out, and It works for what I wanted it for, but it's now obvious I need a spare battery and charger. I've just ordered them.

barrym1966 · May 1, 2016

I always turn the camera off when I am not using it, but it always has a battery grip and 2nd battery fitted so probably dont need to

RedFox88 · May 1, 2016

When the battery gets low, I charge it. That's how you "manage" battery life!

Mike CH · May 1, 2016

Let me add a suggested fix:

And when the next wall socket is an unknown or impractical number of kilometres away? ;-)

I guess there is a bit more to the problem than '... I charge it' after all...

Regards, Mike

ksrk · May 1, 2016

I decide to turn the camera on , off as per my wish . In a location/situation which is promising for photographic opportunities I hate to set a default sleep/turn off LCD ever. I carry two spare batteries , fully charged at any time.

How do you manage battery life?

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