Canon EOS 50D tethered battery life

Hello, is the power consumption of a tethered 50D more than shooting the traditional, viewfinder, way?

When shooting tethered are you using live view or are you just pressing the shutter? If you are using live view on a PC or Mac then yes the battery consumption will go up as live view powers the sensor so you can see the image. If you are just using the PC/Mac to activate the shutter then I can not see it using any more power than normal.

Although I've not measured it i have gained the opinion that tethered shooting will all Canons that I've used (including my 50D) has drawn a bit more from the battery than from just camera alone. Possibly this is because the camera to computer interface is drawing a bit of extra current.
It is difficult to judge because the computer software informs you of low battery when the battery still has enough charge left to power the camera alone for some time. I don't find it a problem although I suppose if the battery was getting old and not holding a good charge then it could be.

mrbubbles wrote in post #13572783
When shooting tethered are you using live view or are you just pressing the shutter? If you are using live view on a PC or Mac then yes the battery consumption will go up as live view powers the sensor so you can see the image. If you are just using the PC/Mac to activate the shutter then I can not see it using any more power than normal.

Oh, I see... I was hoping (naive) that if the camera's live view on the lcd is off (which it is when you use the software) I wouldn't spend battery life but you are correct... the sensor is on power the whole time also at this connection, regardless the display (PC/MAC/camera's LCD). So, I guess, the best scenario is to compose the shot the old fashioned way and then use only the shutter button via the software, or compose via live view and turn it off as soon as possible...