500f/4L IS Draining battery

Does anyone else have this problem with their 500 ?
I cannot leave my 500 on a camera body as it drains the battery, otherwise the 500 is a gem.
Can be a pain in the bush as it will drain a fully charged battery overnight if left on the body. I have resorted now to removing the battery rather than the body but every now and then I forget and end up with a flat battery

That sounds quite odd - does it happen if you turn the IS switch to off, just randomly?

Hi Jim, I leave the IS switches permanently in the on position on my lenses but do switch the camera off if I am not going to use it for a while.

That doesn't sound right, I've not seen any excessive battery drain from my 500, and I have had it on the camera overnight several times. (Camera turned off though).

I have no problem with the 70-200 IS(IS switched on), that lens can stay like forever on the body without draining the battery but the 500 will totally drain a fully charged battery flat if left on the body for a few hours. I cannot think that is normal otherwise Canon would have placed a warning on the lens or in the instruction manual for the 500.
As said before I do switch the camera off when not shooting but even that should not cause a drain if left on, as long as the shutter is not pushed in activating the IS or focus system, the camera anyway goes into standby mode after a while if not used.
So it does seem that I might have a internal electrical problem on the lens????

Funny you should say that, the first time I used my 500 F4 i thought my battery drained real quick, and went flat, was rather annoyed as I did not have a spare, because I thought there was plenty left in it, for what I was going to use the camera and lens for.

I have used the lens since, and not really noticed it really using a lot, though not really tested it properly

Nothing to contribute, but I'm subsciribing to this thread - a 500 f/4 is in my future and I want to see where this goes!
Good luck getting it sorted, it's indeed odd.

AdamJL, I got mine last week, it is not the sort of thing that would worry me, I would guess something that big and heavy would certainly use more battery power, and maybe a lot more than the average lens.

Worth every penny the lens really if you use it a lot, the resolving power of it is something to be seen ,,,,, I not really given mine a good testing yet,

AdamJL wrote in post #6011829
Nothing to contribute, but I'm subsciribing to this thread - a 500 f/4 is in my future and I want to see where this goes!
Good luck getting it sorted, it's indeed odd.

This niggly problem I have with the lens would for sure not stop me from buying another one should this one get stolen or whatever. It is a superb lens and I love mine.
I will live with that little problem rather than be without the lens it is that good.

Do you not turn the Camera off,?? Goshawk?

MaDProFF wrote in post #6011870
Do you not turn the Camera off,?? Goshawk?

I do turn the camera off when I am done shooting. My suggestion above was to point out that even if I did not turn the camera off it will go to sleep mode and it still should not drain a battery overnight. This is a problem I have had several times now with the battery getting drained every time I did not take the battery out or took the body off the lens. Every time this happened the camera was switched off.

Just set you camera to sleep faster. The 1D series has an auto shutoff feature with various times.

Long glass does suck up more battery power. That is why most pros that shoot long glass alot, sports and PJ work carry extra batteries and the respective chargers.

I carry two at all times and have the AC in my bag.

LBaldwin wrote in post #6011897
Just set you camera to sleep faster. The 1D series has an auto shutoff feature with various times.

Long glass does suck up more battery power. That is why most pros that shoot long glass alot, sports and PJ work carry extra batteries and the respective chargers.

I carry two at all times and have the AC in my bag.

I second that, even though that doesn't sound like the solution in this case.

I used to have my auto-off set to a long time, but then I thought that since the wake-up is so quick anyway I might as well use the shortest time (1 min) and it really helps if you're out shooting a whole day.

I do carry a spare battery for each camera, just in case, but not the chargers - there's rarely power available where I shoot, or any time to recharge.

LBaldwin wrote in post #6011897
Just set you camera to sleep faster. The 1D series has an auto shutoff feature with various times.

Long glass does suck up more battery power. That is why most pros that shoot long glass alot, sports and PJ work carry extra batteries and the respective chargers.

I carry two at all times and have the AC in my bag.

My body is on a very short sleep duration already so I cannot go that route anymore.
I do carry spare batteries(thank goodness)
My problem is not while using the equipment, it is when the equipment is left overnight and my full battery that was in the body gets drained while not being worked with and the camera switched off.

Are you using after market batteries? If not you may have defective batteries and or camera. If your camera is still draining the battery after being off then that is more than a bit unusual, I would contact Canon re this issue.