60D Battery Life ?

I went out shooting tonight with 2 fresh charged batteries loaded in my battery grip. I was using ND Grad filters and was using live view to position the filters. I had live view on a lot. I was shocked when all of a sudden I was totally out of batteries. I only took 40 or so shots but had live view displayed for a lot of the time. From the time I made it to the beach to the time the batteries were dead was no more than 1 hour or so. I am thinking that having the live view on that much ate the batteries up. What do you think? Also both batteries are brand new. 1 was fully charged and the other 95%. Thanks!

Also, I have the LCD brightness all the way up, and not sure if it matters or not but I was taking raw+jpg.

I believe your extended use of live view (especially at full brightness) should explain it. I'm not quite sure if shooting RAW+JPEG would make a noticeable difference in power consumption though.

I usually get around 1500-1700 shots with my gripped 60D without using live view.

Of course, however, your batteries may be tired and they may not be giving out as much juice as they used to. How's the batteries' recharge performance?

Are the batteries third party batteries or genuine Canon batteries? You also say that the batteries were "brand new", did you fully charge them before use? Sometimes, you need to charge batteries a few times before they achieve their full capacity. What are the capacity ratings of the batteries in Amp/Hours? Are they both the same?

jtack wrote in post #14414216
I went out shooting tonight with 2 fresh charged batteries loaded in my battery grip. I was using ND Grad filters and was using live view to position the filters. I had live view on a lot. I was shocked when all of a sudden I was totally out of batteries. I only took 40 or so shots but had live view displayed for a lot of the time. From the time I made it to the beach to the time the batteries were dead was no more than 1 hour or so. I am thinking that having the live view on that much ate the batteries up. What do you think? Also both batteries are brand new. 1 was fully charged and the other 95%. Thanks!

Also, I have the LCD brightness all the way up, and not sure if it matters or not but I was taking raw+jpg.

I can shoot for almost all day with the battery grip and 2 batts in my 60d, though live view is a killer, approximately 4-5 hours with the screen on all the time for me and about 1000-1500 shots

My 3rd party batteries last a lot longer than Canon though I always take three spares

Thank you everyone. The batteries were new but fully charged. One is a canon batter they other a 3rd party. Also, I did not turn the power on the battery grip. The other kind of weird thing is that I put one battery in the charger and it was fully charged in less than 2 hours and the other one in about an hour. Should charging be so quick?

I get around 1500 shots with AI servo and no live view. I would say the live view is draining your battery. Try lowering ur brightness and shut off time.

I have two batteries and I only charge them every 6-8 weeks. I can get well over 2000 and probably 3000 with the two batts. I use liveview and video mode about 10-20% of the time.

jtack wrote in post #14415742
Thank you everyone. The batteries were new but fully charged. One is a canon batter they other a 3rd party. Also, I did not turn the power on the battery grip. The other kind of weird thing is that I put one battery in the charger and it was fully charged in less than 2 hours and the other one in about an hour. Should charging be so quick?

as long a TWO hours !

If the batteries are of different capacities, the one with the lower capacity may cause the second one (higher capacity) to drain faster.

what grip are you using ? it could be draining the batteries even when it is off

I use genuine Canon batteries and the most exposures I've got are 2,998 in both single and servo modes! Not that anybody asked or is concerned... Yes almost 3,000! I average around 2,000, but I don't use live view often. So yes, I think you have a problem somewhere! Using a grip- I expect at least 1.75 times battery life!

It may be related to this thread, but long exposures and using IS equipped lenses drain the battery! I read that tid bit on this forum and I thought it was b/s, but it's not! If I used my screen for an hour, I'd be worried about developing hot pixels!

Not that I'm telling the OP how to use his or her camera, it's more like FYI or my 0.25!

tkbslc wrote in post #14415807
I have two batteries and I only charge them every 6-8 weeks. I can get well over 2000 and probably 3000 with the two batts. I use liveview and video mode about 10-20% of the time.

this is my experience as well.

Still using the same batteries from past Sunday's airshow. (AI Servo + high-burst)

2101 shots taken on each battery so far and both batteries read 49% remaining.

So 4202 shots taken.

jtack wrote in post #14414216
I went out shooting tonight with 2 fresh charged batteries loaded in my battery grip. I was using ND Grad filters and was using live view to position the filters. I had live view on a lot. I was shocked when all of a sudden I was totally out of batteries. I only took 40 or so shots but had live view displayed for a lot of the time. From the time I made it to the beach to the time the batteries were dead was no more than 1 hour or so. I am thinking that having the live view on that much ate the batteries up. What do you think? Also both batteries are brand new. 1 was fully charged and the other 95%. Thanks!

Also, I have the LCD brightness all the way up, and not sure if it matters or not but I was taking raw+jpg.

i recently took over an hour of HD video on my 60D while using a using a grip and tripod. Both Canon batteries were fully charged at the start. When gripped, they seem to discharge in tandem, since both batteries had well over half of their power left by the time I finished. That was after a whole hour of video with live view on. Something is not right with your batteries. I personally never use third party batteries.