20D with IS and USM - Battery Life Drainers?

[michael focus97.com lee]

Hi All -

 

I have been using my 20D with grip for a while now (~9 months), and

the BP-511A's sometimes hold a tremendous amount of charge. The

last couple months or so, though, the batteries seem to drain

faster. I'll fully charge them, and after sometimes only 200 shots,

the camera indicates a half-charge.

 

I've been using the 17-85 IS USM for a little while now, as well as

the 70-300 DO IS USM, and I love both the USM and the IS. I'm

wondering, though, if my using the IS alot is hurting the battery

power? I'll often have IS on with either lens.

 

I know there are issues with the 20D's battery grip, but I'm not

sure if mine is having that issue since I've had it for about 9

months. Are a lot of users having problems with their BG-E2? What

about IS; do you all notice a faster loss of power when you use it a

lot?

 

Last question; once the battery indicates half-charge, I usually

then fully charge both batteries in the grip. I recall that Li-Ion

batteries can be charged at anytime, and allegedly don't need the

discharge cycle, but I heard of something called "passivation" where

performance is reduced if the charge/discharge cycle isn't done

regularly. Any thoughts or experience with that?

 

Thanks for feedback.

Mike

[dogbert]

My understanding of Li-Ion batteries is that they preferred to be charged as early and often. In contrast to the older types, performance degrades if you fully discharge them.

[moli_luo]

I have not used my 20D long enough to have noticed any effects of IS and USM on battery life (I usually recharge around 500 shots, before the battery indicator drops to half charge). However, IS (never really noticed it much with USM, but then again I almost always shoot in AF mode) did drain batteries quickly on my EOS3 w/ PB-E2 and 8x AA NiMH batteries. I noticed the same when I shot Nikon with the 80-400VR as well. Perhaps you can try shooting for a battery charge without IS and see how much of a difference that makes. The other thing to keep in mind is that Li-Ion batteries do lose charge over time, although 9 months does seem awfully short for a battery.

<br><br>Also do you use a lot of flash with your onboard flash on your 20D? Flash does drain batteries pretty quickly...

<br>

<br>Li-Ion batteries don't like to go through a deep discharge, and frequently doing those do shorten their lives. Sometimes you may read in a manual to do a complete discharge of a Li-Ion battery every once in awhile - the reason for that is not because of any memory effects or such, but more to calibrate the battery guage so it knows where's empty and where's full. At least that's my understanding of it. I read about it at a site about my laptop. You can read it here:

<br>http://www.geocities.com/thebithead/I8200FAQ.htm#Power

<br><br>From the Dell Inspiron 8200 FAQ:

<i>

<br><BR>Q: What is the life span of a Li-Ion battery?

<br>

<br>Well maintained batteries should last about 2-3 years or 300-500 charge cycles, if you follow these guidelines:

<BR>

<BR> * Charge the Li-ion often, except before a long storage. Avoid repeated deep discharges.

<BR> * Keep the Li-ion battery cool. Prevent storage in a hot car. Never freeze the battery.

<BR> * If you mostly keep your laptop at a fixed location where there is A/C power, you can run your system on A/C power only by removing the battery and storing it in a cool place.

<BR> * Avoid purchasing spare Li-ion batteries to store for later use. Observe manufacturing date when purchasing. Do not buy old stock, even if sold at clearance prices.

<BR>

<BR>The batteries cycle lifetime is based on the depth of discharge. Shallow discharges provide more cycles than deep discharges. If the battery is stored fully charged and at elevated temperatures, this battery chemistry deteriorates to a 50 percent performance level in about one year.

 

</i>

[steve_dunn2]

<p>According to Canon, USM is a very efficient type of motor, which "consumes little power" according to one of their lens brochures. So no worries there about power consumption.</p>

 

<p>IS is well known to require enough battery power to have a significant effect on how long a battery will power the device. In the old film camera days, that meant buying expensive (and hard-to-find in remote parts of the world) lithium batteries more often. With digital cameras, it's not as big a deal since you can simply recharge the battery (though, of course, when your battery pack reaches the end of its lifetime, it costs more to replace than the old lithium batteries in film cameras).</p>

 

<p>Anyway, IS is a wonderful technology, and very useful, as you've discovered. Better to use it and have to recharge more often than not to use it and not have its advantages. On my film body, the 28-135 IS was my walkabout lens, and I almost always left IS on, even if shooting at higher shutter speeds, because I know from past experience that if I turn it off, I may forget to turn it back on again when I do need it. On my 20D, the 17-40/4L is my walkabout lens, so no IS to worry about. If I had the 17-85, though, I'd use IS just like I did on the 28-135 - leave it on pretty much all the time (even more than on the 28-135, in fact, since the 17-85 has mode 2 and tripod mode, both of which the 28-135 lacks).</p>

[marknagel]

Yes, IS does drain the battery more. With my 70-200IS I get about 300-500 shots on a single battery vs 800-1000. I bought BG-E2 for race weekends where I typically shoot 1500 shots per day. That about drains it. I couldn't tell you with the 17-85IS becuase I never shot the battery down with that lens alone, but I'd guess it does the same.

 

Mark

[sjg]

The manual for my 70-200 IS, indicates that IS hits battery life by about 20%. It also indicates that while the IS system (on this lens)

detects being on a tripod and thus does nothing - it still consumes

battery - so I turn IS off when I don't need it.

[jcolwell]

I use the 20D with grip and EF 300/4 L IS USM quite a lot. I often get at least 400 shots from a fresh set of 2 BP-511A batteries when using "one shot AF". I get considerably fewer shots on AI Servo AF mode, maybe around 200, but it really depends on how long I hold the shutter part way down compared to how many shots I take. I have 3 Canon BP-511A and 2 Merkur BP-511A batteries and they all behave about the same (I can't tell them apart based on performance). I haven't experienced any of the 'power drain' grip problems discussed recently, but I sometimes experience the loss of power caused by a slight loosening of the grip screw which has been discussed in previous months. I've had the 20D and grip for nine months, and I'm at about 15,000 shots. I've gotten into the habit of occassionally giving the grip securing screw a bit of a twist, and once in a while it actually tightens up a bit.

[phyrpowr]

Been shooting IS for over seven years or so, and I found it drains the batts about 10% more than without, according to what the manual says "should" be batt life

 

Certainly not enough for me to turn it off

[PuppyDigs]

The rate of battery drain is dependance on shooting habits. If you simply press and shoot,

IS is only

active a few seconds and won't make much difference (maybe 10-20%). However if you

leave IS active for long durations for many shots, e.g., for 30 sec, you will suffer

significantly shorter battery life. For example, I sometimes leave the shutter half depressed

for 30-60 sec during AI servo or while waiting for a subject to enter the frame. If I do it all

day, my battery life is 50-75% shorter than if I merely quickly bang off single shots with

quick presses.

[mark u]

Your BG-E2 might be part of your problem. Look here:

 

http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00CufH

[JeffOwen]

I often leave my 20D 'on' for long periods during walk about shooting. I am planning to get the 17-85 IS lens, my question is : If the IS is left on as well will this use power when the camera goes to 'sleep'?

[PuppyDigs]

IS is only active when the shutter button is pressed. Otherwise it draws no power.

[JeffOwen]

Thanks Puppy Face

[michael focus97.com lee]

Thanks, everyone, for your responses - they certainly help. I'm thinking that it's the benefits of IS, and my tendency to use it A LOT, as well as my tendency to hold the shutter half-way down for longer periods of time, that is eating away at my battery life. I use the flash occasionally, but IS much more.

 

 

Steve - the 17-85 is a fantastic lens, truly. It is sharp (I sold my 17-40 L to get it), fast, and way too darn convenient. It's also the perfect complement to my 70-300. (Now if only Sigma would finally ship the 10-20 EX they've introduced, I'd be complete!) It does not, though, have mode 2. IS is either On or Off. I'm not aware of tripod detection either, so I would just turn it off (I might add, though, that with its 3rd generation IS, I've been able to shoot 1/2 second shots at the 17mm end that are plenty sharp enough to be blown up... so I technically haven't used a tripod with it yet!)

 

Thanks again, everyone, for the help.

 

Mike

[steve_dunn2]

<p>Michael, thanks for the corrections; my mistake on the IS. Canon claims the 17-85's IS has the greater effectiveness (3 stops vs. 2) and quicker startup (0.5s vs. 1s) which were introduced in the 4^th generation (introduced on the 70-200/2.8L IS USM in 2001). Tripod mode came in the 3^rd generation (IS superteles, 1999), and mode 2 came in the 2^nd generation (300/4L IS USM, 1997). AFAIK, Canon has never before had an IS lens with features cherry-picked from different generations, and the last time they introduced an IS lens which used less than the full feature set of the current IS generation was the 28-135 in 1998 (which used 1^st generation, even though 2^nd generation came out a year earlier). Ah well, you learn something new every day.</p>

 

<p>Most reviews put the 17-85's optics roughly on par with those of the 28-105 (the good one, not the cheapie) and 24-85. My 28-135 is better than my 28-105 was, and my 17-40 is better than the 28-135, which would make the 17-85 a couple of steps lower than the 17-40. But it's always hard to nail these things down exactly, due to different opinions from different people and even due to sample variation. If yours is as good as your 17-40 was, I can indeed understand your happiness with it, with its much better zoom range and IS! Still, my 17-40 makes me happy and I don't see me switching, nor am I likely to trade in the 28-135 on a 17-85.</p>