My 7D Mark II is a battery hog

I used my 7D Mark II to shoot two basketball games on each of two days last week. (That's two games per day.) And the battery lost half its charge by end of second game each day. And, no, I'm not doing an excessive amount of chimping.

Anyone else have this problem? Or do I have a bad camera and/or battery?

It'll settle down after a few charging cycles.

I assume that was indoors? Did you turn off the GPS, to avoid it having the receiver running in futile attempts to find satellites under the roof?

If not, turn it off when it's pointless anyway.

apersson850 wrote in post #17278851
I assume that was indoors? Did you turn off the GPS, to avoid it having the receiver running in futile attempts to find satellites under the roof?

If not, turn it off when it's pointless anyway.

Yes, I did turn off GPS.

Another poster said it will settle down after a few charging cycles. I hope so. But I didn't have this problem with my 7D classic when it was new. (Or my 40D. Or my 20D.) That's what makes me think the camera is a battery hog or I have a faulty battery or camera.

Canon do specify fewer shots per charge, as far as I've seen, compared to the 7D.

Recently rented a 7D2 for evaluation. When I first received it, and was spending time setting it up in a similar fashion to my 7DC, it did seem as if the battery discharged quickly. Recharged it, went out and used if for some fall bird photography, performance was better. Recharged it and shot indoor sports for about 3hrs one evening, only reviewing pictures during lulls to cull out obvious rejections, and the performance was much better. About 800 to 900 shots on a charge, this is using 70-200 with IS on, so there is that additional battery drain. All shooting was done in RAW.

My conclusion is that is does use more battery power, but in a real shoot you should be able to get by, it isn't a battery hog to the point of constraining you.

By all reports the M2 chews through batteries. I'm used to shooting Mirrorless cameras so I'm used to getting 300-350 shots per battery. My solution for my incoming M2 is to get a few spares and pick up some LP-E6 charging plates for my Dual Battey Watson charger.

I had also read that battery life was a little shorter, though as mentioned above I expect it will get better after a few charge/discharge cycles. I always bring at least one spare with me anyway so for me it's a no issue.

or use a battery grip with two batteries

Exactly how many shots are "two games?"

^ This. And how much review are you doing, or just tracking targets and running the Lens AF/IS systems between shots.

I found that mine was pretty thirsty when I first got it, of course I was messing around quite a bit with the settings, after having charged the battery a couple of times now they seem to be improving, which is typical of Li-Ion. I would imagine the 7D2 takes more battery power than the 7D or the XXD cameras, the dual Digic 6 and CMOS metering sensor (and the fact that the AF engine is doing a lot more work) all would point to higher battery usage. It does certainly use the batteries more heavily then my 60D did (which is a sipper, the shots per charge on that thing were insane, you could get 3,000) and the 70D.

Battery life should improve.

I am on my second charge and have over 1700 shots on 2 batteries in my grip and one is at 30% and the other is at 38%. I am still playing in the settings and chimping while working on focus issues.

FYI, the LP-E6N battery is rated to deliver 800 shots but Canon doesn't share the test conditions.

Don't own one (yet) but have to ask is the electronic compass power separate or combined with the GPS?

A friend with the camera feels the anti-flicker feature may eat up power but that is not more than a suspicion after 10 days of ownership.

TMaG82 wrote in post #17278921
... My solution for my incoming M2 is to get a few spares and pick up some LP-E6 charging plates for my Dual Battey Watson charger.

I'd be interested to know if that Watson battery charger will charge the Canon batteries for the 7D MKII. Some of the reviews on B&H say it doesn't charge the Canon brand batteries and only works with the Watson brand batteries.

Thanks.

Gregg.Siam wrote in post #17278969
Exactly how many shots are "two games?"

Around 700 shots, I'd say.

Has anyone tried using a 7D classic battery in a 7D Mark II?

The batteries appear to be identical, so a classic battery should work in a Mark II, right?