Battery life 400d

Hi ... I am concerned that my Canon battery in my 400d is draining in-camera pretty quickly. I've searched on this forum and got an idea of the number of shots people are expecting. If I just sit and shoot the wall until the battery runs out would people consider this to be a fair 'test' ? and if I'm right is it possible to be sure it's the camera and not the battery (I will, of course, buy a second Canon one - I have some unnamed brands but don't trust them) Thanks as ever for your time - Roger

Is it draining while it isn't being used (i.e. overnight)?

Before putting a grip on it, I think I got over 500 shots per charge w/o using the flash a lot.

FWIW, I have purchased 8 "unnamed" brand batteries for my XTi and 40D. All have worked flawlessly for about 1/8th the price. No complaints at all.

Thanks for that Mike - I THINK it's draining while off and over night ... I need to do some more serious tests ... will just clicking 500 shots without flash be a fair test ? Best Roger

You should not lose much charge when the camera is off. In fact the battery should still work the camera after 12 months of storage.
I do not see the point of doing a 500 test shoot, as the camera numbers exposures consecutively. Simply note the Exposure number when you put a fully charged battery in -- and note when it goes flat.
Mine does about 300 shots (500+ now with the grip and 2 non-Canon batteries), but then I tend to hold the focus for a long time on many of my shots.
The big drains on the battery are
a) holding the shutter open and mirror up -- ie long exposure times
b) reviewing pics on the LCD
c) inbuilt flash

Rivers right... but its worth a test for fun
A better way is to see if its the camera or batteries.
Get your hands on a "Voltmeter". fully charge the battery and test it after 3 days and see how much power has been lost.
Do the same test with the battery in camera without turning the camera on(i know this is gonna be hard) and then test the batteries.
You shouldnt (as a guess) see any to nothing of a drop but i would say upto 5% would be acceptable, but still Very high for only 3 days.

Best bet is to do a search here for Sterlingtek. https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=79584 and get some 1100mha or better batteries and a grip
I dont use the Sterlingtek batteries but have the same power. alot of ppl here swear by these batteries so you know they are safe bet for more power

Not only will one battery by itself give you closer to 1000 shots (i get close or over 2000 shots with 2 batteries) but means i dont have to change or worry about running out
with 2 sets of them. You could seriouly have the spares in your bag for 3 months and still get an easy 200 shots off without stressing about the batteries going flat on you.

i get about 500 shots one one single charge. do you have it on power save? i have mine set to go to sleep if im not using for more than 30 seconds. which is fine. i just press the shutter button half way down before i want to use it again. if im just using it off and on.. the battery life usually lasts around two weeks before i have to charge up again.

Troopa wrote in post #4003821
A better way is to see if its the camera or batteries.
Get your hands on a "Voltmeter". fully charge the battery and test it after 3 days and see how much power has been lost.
Do the same test with the battery in camera without turning the camera on(i know this is gonna be hard) and then test the batteries.
You shouldnt (as a guess) see any to nothing of a drop but i would say upto 5% would be acceptable, but still Very high for only 3 days.

....

My guess is that you’re going to see a much smaller voltage drop than that. Li-ion batteries deliver near full voltage and current almost until they die. A better test and less hard on the camera is keep a charging log and how many shots you get between charges. If it’s hundreds then you probably are fine. If it’s less than a hundred you might have a problem. One question, if you put a nearly full battery in camera and leave it for a couple of days, how empty does it get? I recently had a lens whose IS refused to turn off even when the camera was turned off and would drain the battery overnight.

I use my 400D with auto off after 30 seconds and with the auto review turned off, I get ~700 shots per charge.

I get over 500 shots, but I notice as the battery runs down quite often the camera will freeze up (sometimes with the shutter open) and I have to pull the battery out and replace it before I can continue with a new battery. Also it sometimes freezes writing to the CF card. Not sure why the battery indicator can't say replace battery before this happens, although I notice it more with my grip and especially if the weather is cool. For that reason I only use one battery in my grip and keep the other in my pocket fully charged.

Simon

svpworld wrote in post #4003928
..., but I notice as the battery runs down quite often the camera will freeze up (sometimes with the shutter open) and I have to pull the battery out and replace it before I can continue with a new battery. ....

I freaked out the first time this happened thinking I somehow broke my camera. After replacing the battery and seeing everything went back to normal I realized that the camera sucked out every electron it could and the battery had no more to give. Li-ion batteries do not quite gracefully like ni-cad batteries do.

Hi again chaps. It's certainly draining when turned off. I put in a fully charged Canon battery, used it for about 50 shots, turned off and didn't use the camera for 2 days. It would then not even turn on ... ie totally flat ! (it's not an IS lens). I guess I'm going to have to start remembering to take out the battery as I can't afford another Canon repair bill !

Regards Roger

I get 500 - 700 shots depending on how I use the camera with the Canon battery. The bast 3rd party batteries I have found are from SterlingTEK. They last about 30% longer than the canon battery and if memory serves me right, I think I paid about 25$ for two. Way cheaper than the Canon battery. Good luck.

rogertb wrote in post #4041425
.... It's certainly draining when turned off..... I guess I'm going to have to start remembering to take out the battery as I can't afford another Canon repair bill !

Regards Roger

How old is the camera? If less than a year, the repair is still on Canons bill. May want to check that date on the sales slip.

Hi guys, I get about 800+ shots with my 400D on original battery with minimal use of fill flash ~40shots, JPEG L-fine, 30s power save, LCD on.
But this is before I got my IS lens, now its rated about 600+, external flash.

Might you be able to borrow an original Canon NB2-LH to do the battery leak test? That would determine if its the battery or the camera at fault. Has to be original batt to confirm the cause for comparison, or 2 x 3rd party of similar capacity.
I am using 2 x original canon batt cos I cant get those SterlingTeks here that all of you are recommending. Original NB2-LH cost US$40 in Japan.

If still in warranty then send it in. 400D was released abt 13 mths back only.
Good Luck!