7D Batt Question

I'd be more inclined to blame the batteries. I shoot LV for several hours (remote shooting with DSLR Controller) with my 5D3 on a single battery, and LV is a real power hog. I went close to the full 2 day (main event) with the 7D2 at RIAT with the 100-400, no problem. These are with real Canon LP-E6 batteries though.

Hey Pag, you say you have a couple batteries, are you using a grip? Wondering if that might be the culprit. Or just bad batteries. I use a canon grip with canon and after market batteries. Never had a problem. I usually shoot 2500 or so shots with my 150-600 Tammy and 7d, is is always on in servo, I charge before they go dead. Got my aftermarket on eBay, DKE or some such. 2400 ma I think, good batteries. Hope you get it figured out.

daverator wrote in post #17720787
Hey Pag, you say you have a couple batteries, are you using a grip? Wondering if that might be the culprit. Or just bad batteries. I use a canon grip with canon and after market batteries. Never had a problem. I usually shoot 2500 or so shots with my 150-600 Tammy and 7d, is is always on in servo, I charge before they go dead. Got my aftermarket on eBay, DKE or some such. 2400 ma I think, good batteries. Hope you get it figured out.

Hi mate, that's interesting - I didn't realize they made aftermarket batts with that capacity? these I have are 1830Mah I think, I have been trying to contact the seller but they are ignoring me on Ebay, I have one other no name batt that came with the cam, but that one has not got as much recharge life in it - its down to one bar on the batt checker in the cam.

P.

If you don't wish to pay for OEM batteries, something which I'm personally on the fence about despite the only spare batteries I've purchased so far being Canon branded, then I would suggest looking through the forums for the widely supported third party batteries. From memory I would go after brands like Wasabi, SterlingTek, and a third brand that is slipping my mind seem to be the most commonly mentioned in a positive light and widely praised. They aren't the cheapest, but still cheaper than Canon by a good margin, and are companies with a reputation of producing a solid product and helping their customers, and I would trust their quality control and manufacturing standards far more than a battery that's only selling point is being dirt cheap.

Picking up a new canon branded battery from a reliable dealer may also be a good idea simply for a reference point. (Or borrowing one from another photographer) Trying to sort out what is going on when there are lots of different variables at play is not a great and fun thing.


Personally I don't see a huge impact on long IS use on my Sigma 150-500, and that lens has a rather long focus throw as well, and I would be exceptionally surprised to hear that the lens you were using drained that so much juice from a normal battery as to impact shot count to such a degree.

Wasabi or STK, whichever I can find for my particular camera. I am on 1 month and probably 1600 shots with one charge using two batteries in a Canon grip. My 7D seems to outlast my 5D3 which in turn outlasts my 7D2. I can get maybe 1000 or so shots with the 7D2 and a pair of batteries but I do work it a little harder at events than the 7D.

Pag if you want decent service, while still getting a good price in the UK I would look at 7dayshop. I get all of my batteries, BP511s for my 300/20/50D in my case, and memory cards from them, as well as my Canon OEM printer ink carts and Canon Platinum+ photo paper. I have only once had an issue, a pack of paper where the outer carton was unsealed. They were quite happy to do a refund/replacement, however when I inspected it closely there was nothing I could see wrong with the paper, so I just kept it, rather than faffing about with it.

Alan

Keeping Servo AF and IS running for minutes chews up a lot of power from the battery. I think we can blame most of this on the shooting technique.

Try not run the camera's AF/IS all the time, but a few seconds before shooting only.

apersson850 wrote in post #17722530
Keeping Servo AF and IS running for minutes chews up a lot of power from the battery. I think we can blame most of this on the shooting technique.

Try not run the camera's AF/IS all the time, but a few seconds before shooting only.

Been trying out another batt today - what I did find (don't know if it has/had any relevance?) but there was a bit of slack in the battery compartment between the lid and the battery, in fact there is a small recess in the batt door cover - inside and this is supposed to push down on the batt lever-lock, I put a piece of paper on this to make a better lever push down.

With my tech I only activate the IS/Focus motor for short spells more like 10 seconds at a time rather than minutes, and like I say I don't have review on either.

P.

Sounds like the aftermarket batteries are not made to spec in size or amp hours. Why not buy OEM or a good known aftermarket brand?

No doubt its the batteries and not your technique. Do you actually know the batteries are dead
or perhaps the camera doesn't care for the batteries you get a false indication. When you recharge
them do you get a one,two or three blink one would indicate a completely spent battery. At any
rate e-bay is good but not for everything and batteries are at the top of that list. Go to a photo
shop and buy a Canon or reputable replacement. Good Luck.

I'm also leaning towards bad batteries. I pay no attention to how long I have the focusing button held down or how long the IS is on. I have the review set to 2 seconds after every shot and I chimp frequently. I've NEVER had a problem on my 7D with battery duration with either the OEM or STK batteries.

I have been doing some reading-up on the batts I have concern with - they are sold through Amazon also and get Full marks in the reviews on there, I was wondering - is registering them to the camera important regarding shot life etc?

P.

No, that's just to be able to see which batteries you are using. It doesn't make any difference on performance.

I would suspect battery. Last weekend I got about 6k shots with the 7D + grip w/ 2 genuine Canon batts and 70-200IS II. Still had one bar showing on batt indicator.

I'm currently trying to get my money back from the seller through Flea Bay, but they are not playing ball as per usual


P.