30D, BP-511 Battery

Just a quick comment on the standard battery that came with my new 30D.

I can't believe how long this thing lasts compared to the smaller battery in my XTi!!! I've been killing this thing and the meter still shows all the indicator bars.

I'm still planning on getting a generic backup battery, but it's nice to know these last quite a while.

One thing I have with my 30D (well with the battery pack and two batteries) is that even though it shows full capacity, my camera went almost dead one day. After I turned it of and back on again the indicator was low. It happened several times and I have newest firmware etc. Just a issue I had, maybe you do too. Although I must agree GREAT battery time! Enjoy

I considered that to be a possibility but I just lost 1 bar on the indicator after some pretty heavy flash shooting, so it's on it's way. But still noticibly better than the NB2 battery.

I also love the life of the 30D battery. But the ones from sterlingtek seem to last longer (prob because of the higher mAh

The 30D's battery has almost twice the capacity of the smaller XTi battery, so expect to last considerably longer.
Other than that, it may also be that you need to use the big LCD more on the XTi for the basic settings, whereas on the 30D you have the little display on top of the camera while the big screen is turned off.

Interesting timing on this thread considering I was just now thinking the same thing. I have taken over 700 pictures with my batttery using 30D and 70-200 L with IS on the entire time!! That is a lot better than my XT battery.

I bought another Canon battery for backup so I am going to keep switching them out so maybe the life of the battery itself will last a little longer.

Same experience here. With my XT I had 3 batteries and with a day of heavy use and IS lenses, I would crack into the 3rd battery. So when I bought my 30D I immediately bought 2 sterlingtek spares. However, I have found the life of the BP-511 to be much better than that of the XT's that my 3rd battery is still BNIB because 2 is plenty for what I do.