Opteka Battery Grip Misreads Battery Level

JackProton wrote in post #3658644
AA batteries won't last long at all. You'll burn through alkalines as fast as you can change them.

You might be right if I were using normal alkaline batteries, but I am of course using the NiMH style. Same ones I use in my Canon 430EX flash.

I just finished some testing 464 RAW shots (2 x 2GB cards filled) ALL with built-in flash fired (set to standard +/- 0) and it didn't skip a beat. Can still keep going, just tired of testing for now.

simonmiles wrote in post #3659617
Would be great if you could test out the other non-Canon battery but not a big deal if you can't. Your plan to test the camera sounds exactly like what I did. I was sitting in my room just taking random shots of things to check the battery level. If your grip acts like mine, the level should go from full to half pretty quickly (maybe 100 shots). From there, I don't think you'll be able to get another 100 before the camera shuts down. Let me know how it goes. Thanks.

Sounds like my scenario is slightly different than yours, but I will test what I can when I can. My battery level NEVER read full at any point, even when I put the batteries in after a full charge. It was just the XTi that read full, but judging by the fact that my XT just did 464 RAW shots without skipping a beat I don't suspect the XTi would have any problems either.

I'll let you know what I find out when I have some time.

Update: After recharging my batteries the meter now shows full when I put them in the grip on the XT. I will have to see how long it is before it drops to 1/2 level.

Update Again: Hah, I just took about 10 shots and the level dropped to 1/2. I turned off the camera, took out the cartridge, re-insterted it, and turned the camera back on and it reads full again. Quirky.

Finished shooting a wedding this weekend using the Opteka grip filled with 6 Energizer NiMH AA batteries and I never ran out of power. Don't have an exact number (because I deleted some shots as I went) but I got over 1,000 RAW shots out of the 6 batteries. I even got another 50 or more on the weekend out at the cabin before they died.

After those died I swapped to the other cartridge which contained two Canon brand batteries (the standard ones that come with the XT and XTi, etc) and got another 500+ shots. Never did fully drain those ones. The battery level indicator started at full and dropped to half at some point but it took a while. I would say I must have gotten between 250 and 350 shots before it dropped to the 1/2 mark but I wasn't really paying close attention so I can't say for sure.

DigitalOxygen.ca wrote in post #3692549
Finished shooting a wedding this weekend using the Opteka grip filled with 6 Energizer NiMH AA batteries and I never ran out of power. Don't have an exact number (because I deleted some shots as I went) but I got over 1,000 RAW shots out of the 6 batteries. I even got another 50 or more on the weekend out at the cabin before they died.

After those died I swapped to the other cartridge which contained two Canon brand batteries (the standard ones that come with the XT and XTi, etc) and got another 500+ shots. Never did fully drain those ones. The battery level indicator started at full and dropped to half at some point but it took a while. I would say I must have gotten between 250 and 350 shots before it dropped to the 1/2 mark but I wasn't really paying close attention so I can't say for sure.

Thanks for the update. I am thinking about ordering a pair of batteries from Sterlingtek as many have recommended them here. Don't really want to pay for the Canon brand. Hope those work better with my grip.

I've one Sterlingtek and one OEM Canon in my Opteka grip and don't seem to have any trouble.

Tee Why wrote in post #3694233
I've one Sterlingtek and one OEM Canon in my Opteka grip and don't seem to have any trouble.

Thanks for the info. Another positive vote for the Sterlingtek batteries.

So how do the two battery packs work ? Are both in use at one time, or once one dies, the other one takes over ?

90blackcrx wrote in post #3702859
So how do the two battery packs work ? Are both in use at one time, or once one dies, the other one takes over ?

They run in "parallel", I believe, so that they're both providing part of the power at the same time. I assume its best to use two batteries of the same capacity and charge level for this reason.

My battery grip is currenlty holding 1 canon and one generic battery and i get the same amount of shots as with two canon batteries however the indicator goes from full to empty with no in between stage.
With two canon batteries it goes down in increments.

I think what you're seeing is caused by one battery being completely drained while the other one still has some charge left. One reason why it may be better to use identical batteries.