1D Batteries and Charging Them

coreypolis wrote in post #2673241
hmm, something is definetly up. I wonder if they took a "memory" of a smaller amount, the disadvantage of running non lithium ion batteries. I can get well over a thousand on a charge, but I don't chimp much if at all, and have the display turned off most of the time. Just fyi, reviewing on the LCD and IS lenses drain the battery like no other.

So your on a Canon board and you're just going to badmouth Canon products while using them? I understand that something bad happened, but I'm sure theres a way to get a new battery from Canon if you find the "right" person.

I chimp a bit, I have my LCD set to 2 seconds, auto off after 8 minutes (it's rarely unused for such a lengthy period of time). I only have one IS lense (300mm f4) and I don't use it very often. I very rarely use AF, since my primary genre is macro photography of Insects & Arachnids. The other batteries that I got with this unit, which are obviously 2nd hand (black diamonds) have probably been charged to death by the previous owner, and 2 of them still manage 250-300 shots per charge. I'd expect a premium Canon genuine battery, at 4 times the price (perhaps even more) to perform at least as good, if not better than X amount old batteries that have been hammered to death. For Canon to have the gall to tell me that 120 odd shots is perfectly normal is sickening, especially when I could easily find and quote several Chuck Westfall online articles that say 300-500, and Canon's 1D brochure stating the same amount as well. That's plainly false and misleading.

FYI - I spoke to the secretary for the managing director for Canon Australia. I could tell that they weren't interested, Canon like other manufacturers doesn't really give a $hit about its customers, it has a monopoly.

As to badmouthing Canon, where appropriate, I'll add my 2.2c inc. GST worth. They've treated a long time user (nearly 20 years), with around 20k of equipment very badly. Good manufacturers treat customers like this well as a general rule. Canon Australia's arrogance has been sickening. As I said, Canon is very lucky that I have such an investment in their lenses, otherwise, I'd be definitely switching. If I win a bit of money in Lotto, I'll be definitely switching. This is the first time in near 20 odd years that I've had to approach Canon for warranty repairs, and they haven't honoured a single item. Their claims of customer abuse are bull****, and I'll certainly be fighting them, for that matter I'll be asking the tribunal for compensation due to Canon's derogative comments about me.

Dave

blackshadow wrote in post #2673298
Dave - try this Sydney based ebayer for a replacement third party battery - I shot around 1700 shots with a 1DM2N with the battery I bought there the other week... http://cgi.ebay.com.au …ZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcm​dZViewItem

Thanks Richard, I shall investigate. I'm not really that worried about weathersealing, more so electrical safety etc of the 3rd party batteries. I've read a few scary tales about 3rd party batteries going up in smoke and starting fires when being charged.

Dave

dpastern wrote in post #2673632
FYI - I spoke to the secretary for the managing director for Canon Australia. I could tell that they weren't interested, Canon like other manufacturers doesn't really give a $hit about its customers, it has a monopoly.

As to badmouthing Canon, where appropriate, I'll add my 2.2c inc. GST worth. They've treated a long time user (nearly 20 years), with around 20k of equipment very badly. Good manufacturers treat customers like this well as a general rule. Canon Australia's arrogance has been sickening. As I said, Canon is very lucky that I have such an investment in their lenses, otherwise, I'd be definitely switching. If I win a bit of money in Lotto, I'll be definitely switching. This is the first time in near 20 odd years that I've had to approach Canon for warranty repairs, and they haven't honoured a single item. Their claims of customer abuse are bull****, and I'll certainly be fighting them, for that matter I'll be asking the tribunal for compensation due to Canon's derogative comments about me.

Dave

Thats to bad. I can make any excuses for them, they should care. They have bent over backwards for my family, especially for my dad, with no real reason to do so. He's just an amatuer with no real experience, yet when something happens regardless of warranty, they make the situation right. They've overnighted 3 13x19 printers to him and just have him send the old one back in the box, twice because of a broken spring. They clean and inspect all our cams free of charge, even though he's still using a d60.

When consumers deal with USA canon its either hit or miss. Literally. Some hate their experience, too long of waits, higher priced then told, expenses inside of warranty period etc, or on the other hand many experience next day/same week turn around, less expensive or free fixes etc.

Personally I would call up your local CPS and see if they'll do anything for you. Since they deal with less customers, and only pros, they might be able to fix your situation.

Hope it works out, its silly to anger a customer over such a small detail, but we've all been there with some company.

Perhaps there is an issue with your own camera that is making it such a gas guzzler? 120 shots is not a lot.

CyberDyneSystems wrote in post #2676322
Perhaps there is an issue with your own camera that is making it such a gas guzzler? 120 shots is not a lot.

I was wondering that too, every camera is different

Jake,

I doubt it. If it was, several issues raise their heads:

1. Why do the 3rd party batteries (hammered to death) still perform OK?
2. Canon clearly told me that 120-130 shots with this battery, and this camera, is perfectly OK and normal. Since I'm getting 124 odd shots on average, it seems to be the case.
3. The unit was checked by Canon in early March/April of 2006, there has been no degradation of performance (battery wise) since then with the 3rd party batteries. They checked it out OK. This raises a few issues:

a. Canon didn't do a very good check back in March/April (my suspicion) and it has issues (pertaining to battery related issues).
b. There's nothing wrong with my camera, it's solely battery related.

This puts a unfair strain on the customer - we accept in good faith that Canon has done the right thing, and tested the unit properly, and thoroughly, but we have no way of making sure of this. There is a light dust mark at the top left corner of my sensor, and it has *always* been there. This makes me think that Canon did not do a very good clean of the sensor (which is one of the things that I paid for).

If the camera has certain issues, then I would have expected Canon Australia to do their job right and find them, and report them to me. I then would have not bought the unit. As it stands, I suspect that my 1D has far higher banding/noise/hot pixels than the average 1D from what I'm seeing. I also suspect that it is not metering entirely accurately either. I don't mind buying 2nd hand gear, and I realise that it's caveat emptor, but if I pay Canon Australia to check it before I slam down my hard earned cash, then I expect them to do a proper job. I can't prove it, cos I don't have the technical knowledge, nor do I have the tools to do so, and that forces me to take Canon Australia at face value, and after the NP-E3 fiasco, I simply cannot do so.

It seems that our ACCC is more worried about protecting big business than doing it's job - ensuring that businesses don't do the dirty on customers in Australia. The local department of fair trading is no better I might add, so I'm not going to hold my breath with them. Not only is it slow, but they seem to side more with manufacturers than customers from what I see/hear/read. Sickening. I'm probably better off avoiding them and seeing my local chamber of magistrate and taking legal action against Canon Australia, probably would fare better imho.

Dave

You know Dave, I've been re thinking this since last I posted, and I've even gone back and found some old Posts from when I had a 1D "classic"

120 shots from the standard battery was about normal as far as I can tell. It's been so long I had forgotten.
Although the battery I was using was second hand so I don;t know how old it was..

I found the thread where Schmoezel first got his after market battery and was getting about 500 shots from it,. I was astounded . having only gotten around 120 from mine.

https://photography-on-the.net …5909&highlight=​1D+battery

The 1D with it's power hungry CCD and the additional juice it sucks just to get that sensor shutter speed up to 1/16000 second etc.. was always a bit of a "pig"

The cells in the OEM NP-3 are most likely in the 900MHA range, (from back when the battery was introduced) where as some of the off brands may be using as high as 2700MHA now that the technology is available. Thsi would explain why the third party batteries last so much longer.

It's a wonder though that Canon has not re-engineered the NP-E3 with newer more state of the art cells.

I stand corrected, I was not aware it was the 1D classic we were talking about, I thought it was a 1DMII. When I had my 1D classic, 250 shots was my all time high. It likes its batteries.

Thanks guys. 120 shots is disgraceful! Seriously. Personally, I wouldn't put it past Canon doing it deliberately, in the hope of selling more NP-E3's to pros, ie. more profit. I've seen a fair number of posts on POTN with much higher than 120 shots being indicated. I've also seen an interview with Chuck Westfall quoting much higher shots per charge. And, I'm pretty sure that the original 1D brochure stated a higher than 120 figure for shots per charge as well. In fact, I went and found an official Canon brochure;

http://web.canon.jp …g/EOS1D/pdf/lea​flet_b.pdf

It quotes 350 shots per charge. That is clearly a LOT higher than what I'm getting, and I'm going to enjoy nailing Canon to the wall. I'll hunt down the relevant interview with Chuck Westfall as well, just to rub Canon's noses in the dirt. If I'd known that Canon were going to say 'there's nothing wrong with it' and '120 shots is perfectly acceptable' then I would NOT have bought it. I'd have bought 4 3rd party batteries instead (and gotten better performance, and probably better quality as well).

I call a spade a spade, and Canon has ired me, and they will get what they deserve. I see no reason to laud a company like Canon when they have treated me like $hit.

What sort of warranty does Canon USA provide for the NP-E3 battery? In Australia, they only provide six months, and I'm pretty sure that's illegal, the minimum warranty period in Australia is 1 year, unless I'm very much mistaken. So, if they're wrong with that, I'll nab them for that as well.

I pretty much want to return this battery and get a full refund, or at least compensated to the value of what the battery is promised to deliver. Since 350 shots per charge is quoted, and they say 120 is normal, and it's not faulty, then I think they should (as fair compensation) provide me with another 2 batteries, which brings it up to around 360 shots. It's not my problem their brochures are false and misleading. Or that some of their products are so crap.

Dave

I usually don't charge them. Although if there's a big game coming up, i refresh them. I would feel more confident having a second battery lying around though. I'd worry about refreshing even less if i had one that was full near by, so i could change on scene if the occasion came.

Here is how confident I am in the batteries lasting through a wedding, event, football game or whatever. I own six of the buggas, and I will never leave home without a spare or two.

The 1D is the same Era as the D30..

If you compare the D30's battery life, using the same battery, against the current 30D.. you'll find the 30D can take about 5-6 times more shots than the D30 on the same battery. And the D30 even had the advantage of the first CMOS.

Canon and the industry has come a long way with power demand in there cameras.

When I had my 30D and grip, it seemed to go about 1200 shots before needed a recharge

I'm always chimping so my battery goes down quick. I just purchased a like new factory Canon NP-E3 to compliment my other non Canon battery and here are my finding using this battery for its first time on Saturday. Let me set up the scenario first. Ok doing some night shots, approx. -11,,BRRRRR, I got 60 shots on the non Canon NP-E3 (2200mh) the previous weekend and after getting back in my car my camera was indicating a low battery. Now I chimped all 60 shots plus using Noise reduction is increased my timing to approx. 60 secs per shot in this extreme cold weather.

Ok now last nights outing, same sub zero weather, approx 50 shots on the like new Canon NP-E3, everything else the same and the Canon was showing still full on the camera after shooting. This time I actually had the backlight almost the entire time as well. So it seemed to work well but I tend to fiddle quite a bit so most likley its me who's hard on the batteries and I probably tend to charge them too often so I'm my own worse enemy.

Just thought my findings may be interest.

Shasta wrote in post #2691396
I'm always chimping so my battery goes down quick. I just purchased a like new factory Canon NP-E3 to compliment my other non Canon battery and here are my finding using this battery for its first time on Saturday. Let me set up the scenario first. Ok doing some night shots, approx. -11,,BRRRRR, I got 60 shots on the non Canon NP-E3 (2200mh) the previous weekend and after getting back in my car my camera was indicating a low battery. Now I chimped all 60 shots plus using Noise reduction is increased my timing to approx. 60 secs per shot in this extreme cold weather.

Ok now last nights outing, same sub zero weather, approx 50 shots on the like new Canon NP-E3, everything else the same and the Canon was showing still full on the camera after shooting. This time I actually had the backlight almost the entire time as well. So it seemed to work well but I tend to fiddle quite a bit so most likley its me who's hard on the batteries and I probably tend to charge them too often so I'm my own worse enemy.

Just thought my findings may be interest.

Thanks for sharing, very good news for the NP-E3 people like me