40D & BG-E2N grip ~ number of shots question???

Hi All

My combo as above got its first good workout this week.

Now for the record I have managed to get approx 500 shots with a single battery in the body before I get the battery indicator dropping to "one bar" it then seems to still last for ages before going 'dead' (I think I normally had approx 650 plus before dead). This is for either my original Canon battery or my early 2009 Canon one.

In the grip I just this last Thursday having fully charged both batteries the night before I got to 800 shots and the indicator now gives me "one bar" now it is quite likely I could get up to the 1000 mark but what is your experience??? I am still using 40D firmware 1.0.3 in case that has an influence???

TIA for any user insight LD

Number of shots depends on if your lens has IS or not, and if you're using the on-camera flash or not.

and how much the back LCD is used.

I believe the grip still opperates off of 1 battery at a time. See what happens once that battery dies. I would be curious to know.

No, they operate with both but in an alternating manner. If one is putting out more voltage than the other, it will only use that one until they are both level, then the process repeats, so the battery usage alternates until they are both dead.

That's the way I have heard it explained. My experience seems to support that.

To the OP. Yuu now have, effectively, 2 batteries with their levels on "1 notch".

Thanks for the insight guys.

I use IS lens lenses and was chimping a little only as it was at an airshow so little time to chimp

btw... I was getting more than 1300 shots when I had my 40D and never completely drained them before recharging. 90% of the shots with the 70-200 f4 with IS turned on.

How many minutes do you think you can get out of 1 battery for a long exposure before it goes dead? Any ideas?

For long exposures, you would want to get the AC adapter, to make sure you don't lose power during an exposure.

I haven't really checked mine but I would say I probably get 1,800-1,900 shots on a pair of batteries in the grip. I haven't had the batteries go dead yet and try to charge them every other week. I chimp a bit and use IS lenses 99.9% of the time. I don't use the on camera flash for any reason. I only use a external flash unit only or a radio transmitter to control several flash units.

Jon.

When I first bought my 40D, I took over 3500 shots before the battery level indicator dropped to half (using the grip and two new OEM batteries). I should note that I don't have any IS lenses, the LCD preview is always turned off, and I do hardly any chimping while shooting or afterwards.

purelithium wrote in post #8630404
... and if you're using the on-camera flash or not.

The 40D has a built-in flash? Whatever for?

Now that the camera and batteries are a year-and-a-half old, I find that I can get 1300-1500 shots before the batteries are at half power and they tend to drain fully at around 1800-2000 shots.