Early battery warning on SX100 IS?....

[RoyR]

Greetings to all...I am a brand new digital photographer as of last week. I've owned an Olympus OM1 and an Olympus Infinity clamshell P&S...my two main cameras thru the late 70's and early 90's, when I kinda got out of photography.

Anyway...to my question.
I bought a new SX100 IS which gave me a low-battery indication after only a few hours of messing with the camera at home*. I was reading the manual, testing focus, zoom, features, etc, and took maybe 40 indoors test shots, most without flash. I noticed the blinking battery warning maybe...oh...3 hours after I started all this. The camera was NOT on continuously during this time. I changed to a different set of NiMH batteries (2100mAH) and got the warning again the next afternoon. Again, I'd only taken a few dozen shots, this time all without flash.

I called Canon, and the guy said my experience might indicate a problem, and there "could be a wire loose".

So, I returned the camera and received another one yesterday. This time, after a total of about 2 hours with the LCD on continuously as a test (still image review mode, one image showing), and taking several shots, I got the battery warning again.

Is this normal? The manual notes battery life as "approximately 400 images" or "approximately 10 hours playback time." This sounds like I could use the LCD for many more hours without a problem.

Does anyone have personal experience in this matter you can share? I think my batteries may be smaller than Canon's (3000mAH, I'm guessing, based on the part number), but this still seems like sub-par battery life. BTW, my batteries have only about 15 cycles on them so I think they are good.

Is my camera faulty or is this just something I should learn to live with on an SX100IS? I'm OK with shorter battery life, but I want to ensure my camera is not defective. I like the camera and it seems to take great pictures, in my limited casual testing.

Best regards,
Roy

* Other camera settings: LCD at 50% brilliance; max resolution; super-fine JPEG compression; focus-assist light enabled.

[FusionFrank]

I am pretty new to the digital photography hobby, but I too have an SX100 IS, I had a similar experience with batteries like you described. I bought Energizer Lithium batteries and so far have shot about 350 pics with them and the battery light has not come on yet. They are a little pricey, but I bought the value pack at Sam's Club (12 batteries for about $18.00).

[prcrstn8]

The batteries supplied with the camera are a joke, as you have discovered. The 16mB card (or 32mB card that some people got) is too.

Extensive discussion of that here -
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=412339

I'm with Frank - I like Energizer Lithiums, I don't want yet another electronic toy that requires a charger when I travel. But most people seem to prefer rechargeables - just make sure to charge them before use, they are usually NOT fully charged when you take them out of the box.

[RoyR]

I know lithiums are great and I know my NiMH batteries are charged...thanks for trying to answer my question.

What I want to ascertain, primarily, is whether or not my new camera is malfunctioning or whether it has abnormally low battery life compared to other examples of this model. I'm looking for peoples' specific experience with this model camera and what type of life you get out of typical NiMH batteries under typical operating circumstances.

[lensmen]

The IS in your camera sucks a lot of juice.

Against the other A series which has 4 batteries, our SX100 has only 2. You will also notice the longer flash recycling time in due course.

yeah, always carry that extra batteries with you . Lithum or NiMh.....

[slukaczyk]

My experience with this camera is that although the low battery indicator comes on seemingly early it continues to take pictures and function normally. Recently had occasion to take > 200 pictures in 1 day and although the indicator was flashing right off the bat all pictures were downloaded and checked out OK. Sometimes the warning would disappear for a while after turning the camera off then back on and I have yet to see what happens when the batteries do finally give out. BTW I am using Energizer 2500mAh NiMH batteries w/cheap Chinese charger. Steve

[lensmen]

BTW I am using Energizer 2500mAh NiMH batteries w/cheap Chinese charger. Steve

I suspect that the cheap chinese chargers does not give full charge.
To support the "30mins / 60 mins charge" claims, there is no saying that it will be 80% charge. (to reach 100% charge, it will take very very long time).

There is a model from G-brand which says 15mins, but the fine print says - let the battery remain in the charger for another. We checked and found that it is 15mins @ 60% charge.

Hence you batt seems to be running out of juice.

[Big Hands]

Leaving the camera on with it in 'live view' mode with the LCD on sucks the most juice.

I do not leave the camera on in this mode for long periods and I don't have battery issues.

Without knowing what someone is doing, it's hard to say you should be able to leave it on for "x" minutes. It really depends on what you are doing.

I use 2500mah NiMh cells and have never had to use more than a single set during a single day of shooting.

Read your manual and learn how to use settings that will conserve power. You can set it to shut off when you're not actively shooting. You can turn the LCD off until you need it even if you have the camera still turned on.

If you're doing these things and still running out of juice, then you may be having issues that are not normal.

[RoyR]

My issue was with what I thought was a false-indication of low battery power...not particularly the fact that the batteries ran down too fast.

I returned the camera and got another. This one (same model) runs much longer before showing the low-battery warning and the warning stays on once it first comes on. So I think it is reading correctly now. (I'm using the same NiMH batteries and charging them the same way.)

I simply wanted a more accurate battery gauge, which was why I returned the other camera. What good is a battery warning if the battery is nowhere near rundown?

Anyway...problem solved...faulty camera.

Thanks for the feedback...

Roy

[lensmen]

Thanks for sharing Roy.


Anyway...problem solved...faulty camera.

[lensmen]

was having a snappy time during the weekend.

my set of 2700mAh batteries lasted more than 600 shots yesterday. In between were lots of ON/OFF, pause for "that right moment" & bracket shots.

The temp around me was about 30degC, batteries is about 3 months old.

Cheers

[mullhawk]

there is a CHDK beta for that camera, that will give you a more accurate readout of how much battery life you have
Also I recommend Eneloops as far as batteries go, I know I can get at least 800 pictures on one full charge in my S5, and they will stay charged forever while sitting in your bag or camera.

[RoyR]

there is a CHDK beta for that camera, that will give you a more accurate readout of how much battery life you have
Also I recommend Eneloops as far as batteries go, I know I can get at least 800 pictures on one full charge in my S5, and they will stay charged forever while sitting in your bag or camera.

What is a "CHDK beta"???????

Some way of flashing the camera's operating system?

[Yogesh Sarkar]

http://chdk.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page

[RoyR]

Thanks!
I had no idea such a thing existed for cameras like this!

[lensmen]

there is a CHDK beta for that camera, that will give you a more accurate readout of how much battery life you have
Also I recommend Eneloops as far as batteries go, I know I can get at least 800 pictures on one full charge in my S5, and they will stay charged forever while sitting in your bag or camera.

CHDK site I had just visited. However, I am a firmware-challenged person and have no idea what I could do / use with my camera.

I could only tell that my camera is "Firmware Ver. 1.0.0.0"

Advise appreciated

[mullhawk]

here try this
http://www.zshare.net/download/144164364e46c041/
and read this
http://chdk.wikia.com/wiki/SX100IS

it technically is not firmware due to the fact that it doesn't install on your camera, so you don't have to worry about ruining anything, just load it on your sd card and off you go. If you don't like it or it isn't working properly yet take it off the card and it's gone...

[lensmen]

mullhawk,

thanks for the pointers. will try it over the weekend.

cheers.

Jimmy

[dadams312]

CHDK site I had just visited. However, I am a firmware-challenged person and have no idea what I could do / use with my camera.

I could only tell that my camera is "Firmware Ver. 1.0.0.0"

Advise appreciated

The beta you can use is 1.0.0c I believe. It does show you a percentage of battery life, but you have to set the max/min voltage of your particular battery to get an accurate reading.

It also lets you save as a RAW format, plus a number of other features that are extremely nice to have.

[RoyR]

thanks for all this info. I had missed the main point about the CHDK program running only from the SD card.

So...is it safe to say that using CHDK will NOT, under any circumstances, corrupt the camera's internal firmware or operating system? If I have a problem and if I delete the CHDK files from the SD card, then everything is back to the way it was?

I'm stressing this point because I'm really fussy with my PC. I'm always leary of loading new software, because once you change something, it's changed forever! I'd like to protect my camera as well.

But, it sounds like the CHDK programming is completely reversible...100% guaranteed....right??

--Roy

[mullhawk]

I won't guarantee anything out of my control, but they say it is 100%, it doesn't install anything just runs the program right off of the card, so yeah you are safe...

[toronado455]

The IS in your camera sucks a lot of juice.

So, if you disable the IS function, can you save juice while using the camera on a tripod?

It would be nice if there was a battery meter somewhere showing the battery life remaining, instead of just a warning light that appears once the batteries are depleted.

[lensmen]

So, if you disable the IS function, can you save juice while using the camera on a tripod?

It would be nice if there was a battery meter somewhere showing the battery life remaining, instead of just a warning light that appears once the batteries are depleted.

This is true but I rather have the IS active all the time, and carry spare batteries along. I am not as young, strong & steady handed as I used to be. PLUS I paid for that very important feature, have to use it.