50D Battery Life???

[Benjamin]

<span style="font-size: medium;"]I just finished my 5-day LA trip and got back home. I took my 50D with grip and TWO fully charged Canon like new genuine batteries with me. The camera has taken about 600 pictures, no live view used. There're some picture review time on the camera with LCD brightness set to 7, no continuous shooting and almost no flash use, little IS usage which can be ignored. But the batteries are now dead.


<span style="font-size: medium;"]How come a single BP511A battery on the 50D is said to have 640 shots of capacity? I don't see any major difference between the way I use the camera and the way anyone else does. Is any one here getting the battery life that Canon has claimed? It seems that I get the claimed battery life with 2 batteries.


<span style="font-size: medium;"]Any thoughts welcome.


<span style="font-size: medium;"]Ben

[Mark Elberson]

Unfortunately that sounds about right :( After about 300 frames or so my battery shows that it's low.

[Sean Setters]

<span style="font-size: medium;"]I just finished my 5-day LA trip and got back home. I took my 50D with grip and TWO fully charged Canon like new genuine batteries with me. The camera has taken about 600 pictures, no live view used. There're some picture review time on the camera with LCD brightness set to 7, no continuous shooting and almost no flash use, little IS usage which can be ignored. But the batteries are now dead.


<span style="font-size: medium;"]How come a single BP511A battery on the 50D is said to have 640 shots of capacity? I don't see any majoy difference between the way I use the camera and the way anyone else does. Is any one here getting the battery life that Canon has claimed? It seems that I get the claimed battery life with 2 batteries.


<span style="font-size: medium;"]Any thoughts welcome.


<span style="font-size: medium;"]Ben
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Don't use the LCD screen or flash at all and see what the result is. I bet it'd be close to their estimate. Just pick up a couple of cheap 3rd party batteries. I've been using 3rd party batteries for some time now and they work just fine. That way you've always got a spare, and it doesn't cost you a fortune.

[Oren]

I haven't had a chance to shoot 600 pictures all in one time, I did shot like 350 one time and about 400 at another time. When I shot the 350, it was a soccer game and I used high-speed 6.5fps all the time and took many pictures at one burst (more than 5 per burst for sure, maybe even 10) - by the end of the game my battery was dead, but I really can't remember whether it was charged before the game or not.


The other time with the 400 pictures I also don't remember if it was charged or not before I started using it, but anyway, it didn't die at all - I could take many more pictures if I wanted to. At this time of the 400 shots, I also used 6.5fps. It was my first time trying to shoot birds and I shot up to 11 pictures at one burst.

[Oren]

Just pick up a couple of cheap 3rd party batteries. I've been using 3rd party batteries for some time now and they work just fine. That way you've always got a spare, and it doesn't cost you a fortune.
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I disagree. Stay away from 3rd party batteries for anything - let alone 3rd batts for your $1200 50D.

[Benjamin]

Thanks for the replies! Appreciated!


I have AA batteries as backup, I always insert 6 AAs into the magazine comes with the grip and take that as my spare power supply. I don't exactly know how many shots I can get out of the AAs at once but I don't expect to be more than two BP511As.


I will certainly try to minimize the LCD use the next time when I have the opportunity to take some 600 photos in a roll see if that indeed makes a difference. But practically speaking, people use LCD all the time. Especially when I'm taking photos for my girlfriend and she anxiously wants to see the outcome - you can imagine it's hard to spare the LCD that way...


I'll take my 1V when I get desperate, the battery in it will last 2 years for me[:)]

[Mark Elberson]

Just pick up a couple of cheap 3rd party batteries. I've been using 3rd party batteries for some time now and they work just fine. That way you've always got a spare, and it doesn't cost you a fortune.
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I picked up an Adorama Lithium-Ion Replacement for the Canon BP-511A ("http://www.adorama.com/VDBPLBP511.html?searchinfo=511A) and it seems to perform about as well as my Canon OEM and for $19.95 instead of $49.95!

[Sean Setters]

Just pick up a couple of cheap 3rd party batteries. I've been using 3rd party batteries for some time now and they work just fine. That way you've always got a spare, and it doesn't cost you a fortune.
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I disagree. Stay away from 3rd party batteries for anything - let alone 3rd batts for your $1200 50D.
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In my personal experience, as long as the batteries are made for the camera you have, and you aren't getting the batteries from ebay, and you're buying from a fairly reputable source, there's no problem with 3rd party batteries. I run two Opteka batteries in my 50D all the time. I ran Opteka batteries in my XTi without incident (as well as other manufacturers' batteries). The only reason to buy the overpriced Canon batteries is that if there was a problem, then Canon couldn't point the finger at the 3rd party batteries. It's a risk I'm willing to take.

[btaylor]

I'vebeen using both 3rd party (Flashpoint I think)and genuine Canon batteries for ages now and I've haven't had any issues either way. As Sean said, as long as their designed for your particular camera there's no reason why you would have issues.


At the end of the day Canon would recommend the sole use of their genuine batteries for a couple of major reasons.


1. So they can charge customers an extortionate price for a battery (accessories surely make up alarge part of their cashflow) and;


2. To cover their own backsides in the case of a warranty/ service claim.


Obviously this is just my opinion but my experience with 3rd party batteries has been just fine.

[peety3]

With my long-gone Minolta 7D, I tried some aftermarket batteries. Battery graph would go from full to dead in the blink of an eye. Having the camera turn into dead weight is a royal PITA, so I buy genuine batteries. I've also heard of people having camera problems when using an off-brand vertical grip - there's another example of off-brand being a bad choice.

[Benjamin]

My personal experience is to have AA batteries instead of any other 3rd party BP511As. Since the BG-E2N comes with an AA magazine, I always load 6 fully charged AAs inside and carry it around. I also have back up AAs, for both my cameras and the flash units. Alkaline AAs are also easy &amp; cheap to buy when there isn't any handy power for charging the BP511, though they don't last too long for digital cameras it's better than nothing when I'm out of power.


Since I have to carry AAs for my flash unit anyway, I'll just use AA for alternative camera power supply. I assume it makes sense.

[Keith B]

Were you using lenses with image stabilizers? I notice my battery runs down a lot quicker when I am.

[Benjamin]

Were you using lenses with image stabilizers? I notice my battery runs down a lot quicker when I am.
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I had my 70-200/4L IS with me for the trip, but barely put it on, so not much at all. I will have some opportunities to travel in very near future with possibly just the 24-70L, I'll keep LCD useage at minimum and see how long the battery will last. I'm hoping 1000 shots with 2 BP511As - that will bring the battery life close to my old 400D with two of its own small batteries.

[Benjamin]

Another thing I found is that two of my fully charged batteries delivered in total some 600 pictures may be due to a long time life span. I shot 600 pictures within a week not in a day. When I'm busy at school 600 shots will even take me 2 months to do - I guess that may be the reason why I get poor battery life.


Say, to the extreme, I just hold the shutter to let the camera do 6.3FPS on two fully charged batteries continuously until they run out, I can imagine to get close to or even surpass the rated life since all power will contribute to making pictures and nothing is wasted. I have not done it yet because I don't want to make such a judgement by using up 2000 shutter counts. But anyway, I'll pay attention to that.


Thanks for the inputs guys!