5D Mark III Battery Life

Hey everyone, I just upgraded from a Nikon D7000 (kit lens and 35mm 1.8) to a 5D Mark III and 70-200 IS II and boy am I loving it! I do have one question/concern though: the battery seems to drain rather quickly (at least compared to my D7K.) I've taken ~150 shots and maybe have spent 30 minutes in the menus and the battery is at 39%. No live view. Does this sound quite normal?

Thanks in advance

Mine depletes battery faster than I'd expect too. I average about 400 shots per charge, way less than the advertised 950. I don't use LV excessively either, nor do I stay on image review for very long.

I've been thinking of making a small trip to Canon and asking them if its normal.

I've had the opposite experience on my MK3. I would get it checked out.

I just spent a month on a ski traverse expedition across hundreds of miles of Mongolia's Altai mountains. My LP-6 batteries averaged +2,000 RAW photos per charge. I was concerned that the continuous exposure to <32F temps with lots of nights below 0F would drain the batteries. After about a month of cold exposure but no use in the camera, the LP-6's were registering about 94%, which was less of a decline in charge that I was expecting. Good thing, since I had no means to recharge in the field.

CaPpedDoG wrote in post #15885269
5D Mark III and 70-200 IS II

Are you always using IS? That can be quite the battery hog.

--Greg

Yes, the IS and the fact that it is a full frame camera let the battery get empty pretty fast. But 150 shots and and 40% battery doesn't sound normal. I think I can get about 700-1000 shots until the battery is at 40%.

It really does depend on how you shoot. I can get about 500 shots or 800 shots from one charge.
If you arent engaging the AF for every shot (ie, shooting a few frames each time) you will get a lot more than taking one shot per shutter press.
When i first got mine i was a bit worried that i wasn't getting as much as others. I had bad habits back then as well. I would half press the shutter button (normally with a IS lens attached) just to get out fo the menu's or turn the screen off. Ive stopped that now. I also notice i get a lot more shots when using prime or non IS lenses.

150 with 39% remaining doesnt seem right at all, but i would give it a few charge cycles before taking it in to Canon.

Mines didn't deplete as fast in a 60D but I noticed it drains a lot quicker when using the 5D3. I wonder if using silent shutter helps in any way.

image monster wrote in post #15885841
Mines didn't deplete as fast in a 60D but I noticed it drains a lot quicker when using the 5D3. I wonder if using silent shutter helps in any way.

Thats my feeling as well. My initial disappointed was based on my 60D seemingly never needing a re charge from week to week.

Then again, it is rated for more shots per charge.

Thank you everyone for the replies. I did read that IS can effect battery life, but that much? I remember when I first bought my D7K (Upgraded from a T4i) I was really amazed at the battery life. I would go out on a 2.5 hour hike, snap a couple hundred photos, preview them, and use the menus a bit and the battery would be like 90%. I didn't feel the need to carry any extra batteries with me.

Later today, when I go out shooting, I'm not going to do anything in the menus; just going to shoot. I'll see how that goes. I'll post here on how it goes.

CaPpedDoG wrote in post #15885269
Hey everyone, I just upgraded from a Nikon D7000 (kit lens and 35mm 1.8) to a 5D Mark III and 70-200 IS II and boy am I loving it! I do have one question/concern though: the battery seems to drain rather quickly (at least compared to my D7K.) I've taken ~150 shots and maybe have spent 30 minutes in the menus and the battery is at 39%. No live view. Does this sound quite normal?

Thanks in advance

That's horrible. I use IS, never live view, chimp many shots and was getting 800-900 shots with a full charged (single) battery in my 5D3.

Gregg.Siam wrote in post #15886436
That's horrible. I use IS, never live view, chimp many shots and was getting 800-900 shots with a full charged (single) battery in my 5D3.

Ya, it definitely does sound like there's a problem... whether it's the battery or the camera itself, I dunno. I'll see how the battery does today. If it's the same, I'll contact the store I bought it from.

I've got a Meike grip and 2 3rd party batteries on my 5D3 and at an airshow last year I got around 3000 shots, all using Sigma OS, image review set at 2 seconds, lots of menu changes etc and used it from 10am to 5.30pm without changing them. Are these new batteries as it can take a few charges to get them to optimum charge levels but 150 shots and down to 40% is definite excessive use from my point of view.

1500 shots per battery is pretty incredible. How do you manage to get 450 more shots than Canon quote?

I have 3 batteries, two Canon and one 3rd party and would never, ever, get than many shots unless i was shooting with my finger held down on the shutter and no image review.

I can get 1500 easily on an OEM LP-E6.