5D Mark II Battery Life

[levon_b]

<p>Not so much a question as a comment - I switched over to Canon from Nikon, and I am absolutely thrilled at the battery life of my 5D Mk II in cold weather. I was out shooting at the Christkindl Market Chicago today (where the wind-chill was single digits below zero) for a few hours, with a spare battery in my inside coat pocket, and took about 300 pictures, and only used about 20% of the battery! This is such a welcome surprise to me living in a cold clime - with my Nikons last winter I used to have to carry multiple spare batteries and change frequently (this was with the never EN-EL3e battery).</p>

<p>Thanks for listening - didn't really know where to gush about this other than here. This really is a huge huge deal to me because we get cold weather at least 4 months out of the year and knowing that my batteries will survive makes going out and shooting that much more enjoyable (yes, I enjoy the cold weather!).</p>

[PuppyDigs]

It also works great in the balmy climate of Honolulu. No problems in 100% humidity, blazing sun or bone chilling AC.

[david_henderson]

<p>Hmm. Making good use of Live View , very often checking out a photograph after I've taken it, I get little over 100 shots from a fully charged battery. Both batteries the same. I usually have to change batteries during the day if its at all productive. It's manageable with two, but I wouldn't say that I'm impressed given how much they are.</p>

[zml]

<p>The battery life depends on many factors and, as stated by another poster, can be really short if you shoot in LV and/or chimp a lot. <br>

<em> </em><br>

<em>> where the wind-chill was single digits below zero</em><br>

The wind-chill factor is irrelevant, only the "real" air temperature matters: the wind chill/heat factor signifies the level of misery/comfort for animals of all kinds :-)</p>

[kerry_grim]

<p>Wind chillis a complicated formula based on calorie loss from exposed skin. Here is a simply calculator for wind chill:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.nws.noaa.gov/os/windchill/index.shtml">http://www.nws.noaa.gov/os/windchill/index.shtml</a></p>

[PuppyDigs]

My 5d2 typically gets around 1000 RAW images per charge. That's with default LCD settings, a little chimping and

histogram use. My 50D I got about 300 images off a charge. So huge improvement and a great battery design. I'm not

a fan of LV--screen too small for serious use--but I'd expect it to eat a lot more power.

[levon_b]

<p>I don't use LV very much, and tend to only check the first in a set of photos for exposure, etc, so the LCD just doesn't eat up too much of my battery life. Needless to say, it was a huge change over the EN-EL3e performance, which I am very happy about since I take so many "snow" photos. =)</p>

[Stock-Photos]

<p>As these types of batteries get older, their performance drops. New ones hold the best charge.</p>

[benstanley]

<p>They certainly are impressive these days! I got 975 raw shots off my 60D and it was still reading 58% at the end. There was no LV shooting, and just occasional checks of histograms etc on the lcd, and no internal flash. It was a happy temp for batts though (mid 20C).</p>

[mark_ethridge]

<p>I bought a battery grip for my XTi so that I could shoot for extended periods without recharging. With my 7D, I get more shots per charge on a single battery than I did with the battery grip and two batteries in the XTi. </p>

[dcstep]

<p>I love the new batteries in the 5D2 and 7D. I always carry, but have never used it, shooting up to 2000 images on an outing. I seldom use LV, so that'd be a big factor.</p>

[model mayhem gallery]

<p>I woulod suggest getting the exteranl battery grip. This allows you to use AA batteries instead of just the camera batteries. When I wen to th esnow I used a lunch box with a warmer and bought a 24 pack of lithium betteries. Worked fine.</p>