microdrive - battery life

[petiot]

Hi
once month ago i asked if using a IBM microdrive would reduce the battery life on a d30. Well, since a microdrive uses moving part the theoretical answer was "yes"

since then i bought a microdrive, and my opinion on this it that using a microdrive reduces the number of shot that can be taken with a battery fully charged by approximatively 20% (compare to a 128MB cf Card)

I plan to make some real tests (by curiosity) (exact number of picture taken in controlled condition) but if someone already has spend sometime on it!!!

[Roger_Cavanagh]

Dan,

I appreciate your scientific curiosity, but if you are going to run tests in controlled conditions, I am assuming you will not be taking pictures of anything worthwhile. So you will be "using up" several hundred shutter cycles on your precious D30 for data that will surely be of academic interest only.

If you are a pro, then you will surely ensure that you have ample supplies of CF space and battery power in case you miss that vital shot. If, like me, you are an enthusiastic amateur, just buy a battery grip and extra battery and go out with your camera and know that you can shoot all day.

When I make a photographic excursion, the most images I've ever shot in one day is around 500. More usually it's 300 or so. There has always been plenty of juice left in the batteries and that's with IS lenses and plenty of histogram checking.

One good thing about the BP511 is that you can charge it up as often as you like, full or empty without damaging it.

Regards,

[boBquincy]

When I received my microdrive (as part of the D30 rebate) I just *knew* I had to test it. A quick trip to Walt Disney World and Blue Spring State Park gave me an excuse to shoot about 800 images in 24 hours! As I recall, the battery quit at about the 500 point (with very little use of the flash).
I have the LCD screen set to 2 seconds and the power-down to 2 minutes.

boB

[petiot]

thank you.

Why should i worry about "using Up" shutter cycles?? is there something i dont know??

Thank you

Dan

[Roger_Cavanagh]

petiot wrote:
thank you.

Why should i worry about "using Up" shutter cycles?? is there something i dont know??

Thank you

Dan

Dan,

No particular reason, I just recall reading that shutter life was around 150k cycles, so using up 1-2k of these for no great gain didn't seem very worthwhile.

Regards,

[mrchips]

Actually the 1D has a 150k shutter click life, if I remember the D30 and D60 are 70k life expectancy.

Denny

[petiot]

Oh now i see, why i shouldnt waste shutter sycle.
thank you for the tip.
by the way, when the shutter comes to the end, is there any way to replace it?

thank you

[mrchips]

petiot wrote:
by the way, when the shutter comes to the end, is there any way to replace it?

thank you

Sure the camera can be rebuilt but I consider heavy use of a camera 7 to 10k shutter clicks a year. I doubt I will have my D60 more than 2 to 3 years so I wouldn't worry about it.

Denny