Fotomiguel Posted January 31, 2010 Share #1 Posted January 31, 2010 Advertisement (gone after registration) First I want to say how much I'm enjoying this camera. The one thing that annoy me is the short duration of the batteries. I would like to know if there is a way to minimize or reduce this problem. I have the autoreview set in off. I think that the batterie last more and when I need to review, I just press "play". Is there anything else I can do? It looks like the batteries last longer in the M8. Is this true or it's just me? When do you change the batterie to be sure that it won't let your camera off in the worst moment? Thank you in advance. Regards, Miguel Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted January 31, 2010 Posted January 31, 2010 Hi Fotomiguel, Take a look here Which is the best setting to make the batterie last longer?. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
Marty Posted January 31, 2010 Share #2 Posted January 31, 2010 Apart from turning it off if and when you can, you should be carrying one or two spare batteries. They are not that expensive and even useful if you don't shoot much since a battery can run empty anytime. Plus you don't have to worry about other powersaving "tricks". It is great peace of mind. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrism Posted January 31, 2010 Share #3 Posted January 31, 2010 I suppose the only settings that will help are: a) no auto review and don't chimp set auto power-off to shortest time c) don't use the discreet setting on the shutter d) shoot DNG only to minimise in camera processing Chris Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
exile Posted January 31, 2010 Share #4 Posted January 31, 2010 Off. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AGeoJO Posted January 31, 2010 Share #5 Posted January 31, 2010 Just to show how much the battery drains - by accident I set the camera to "on all the time" or "never off" and I inserted a fully charged battery in it. I put the camera away in a bag and unused for several hours and when I wanted to use it, the camera felt warm. I was worried and I push the shutter halfway to take a reading, the message "low battery" was displayed. It was almost depleted.... in just 4-6 hours. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bo_Lorentzen Posted January 31, 2010 Share #6 Posted January 31, 2010 AGeoJO, I had the same experience, but it was not because of the never off setting, mine was set to something like 5 minutes, instead it was because the camera was turned on and the camera bag managed to depress the shutter button and keep it in "ready" mode, lightmeter turned on and sensor ready for capture. I did that a few times because my backpack is very tight, and the camera was accidentally turned on when sticking it in. That said I routinely get roughly 300 frames from a battery with chimping and review, saving jpg and DNG, as 10 rolls of film is bigger than a battery Im pretty happy and generally feel I get good life from my batteries. . Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
geesbert Posted January 31, 2010 Share #7 Posted January 31, 2010 Advertisement (gone after registration) With my m8 I never thought much about battery life or remaining shots, a short glimpse on the top lcd was enough to decide to grab an fresh battery or not. now with the info button i tend to get paranoid about it. please leica: add a battery indicator to the review screen! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fotomiguel Posted February 1, 2010 Author Share #8 Posted February 1, 2010 With my m8 I never thought much about battery life or remaining shots, a short glimpse on the top lcd was enough to decide to grab an fresh battery or not. now with the info button i tend to get paranoid about it. please leica: add a battery indicator to the review screen! This would be very nice. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
marknorton Posted February 1, 2010 Share #9 Posted February 1, 2010 Undouubtedly, the base way to extend your battery life is to set the auto power off setting to the lowest setting. This is 2 minutes on an M8, 1 minute on an M9 and I would have liked to see an even shorter time option. The equivalent on a Nikon D3 is 6 seconds. With auto-power off, you do trade instant readiness for increased battery life and it will not suit all shooting situations but for walkabout photography, the delay-to-get ready may be acceptable. It's not helped of course by the lack of a visible indication on the M9 whether the camera is awake or not. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
adan Posted February 1, 2010 Share #10 Posted February 1, 2010 Last week I shot 3 self-asssignments with the M9 over two days on 1 battery charge (300+ shots). But, yes, the M8 has only one processor to power and fewer pixels to process, so it gets about 25-30% more shots out of a battery charge. My 'policies' that I think improve battery life: 1. never let the camera sleep (except by accident) - I shut it off and have just developed the habit of moving the power switch to "on" as I raise the camera to my eye. I don't find any speed advantage to waking the camera by touching the shutter button - or "waking" it by turning it on. 2. No auto-review, and very little chimping. Even in film days, I found I got better pictures by "shooting scared" - assuming that all my shots so far were failures, and constantly trying to do better. So I ignore shots already taken, in favor of the next shot I am about to take. 3. I only carry a camera in a bag if I have more than one camera with me. The M9 is always out on my shoulder. 4. I use "discreet" wind only if the situation really demands it. Mark Norton noted that - in the M8u or .2 - holding down the shutter button to delay the wind in discreet mode continues to draw power. I don't know that that also applies to the M9 - but I go on the assumption that it does. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fotomiguel Posted February 13, 2010 Author Share #11 Posted February 13, 2010 I usually don't shoot much. I like to have my camera ready until I see something interesting. I don't like to let sleep my camera because sometimes I think that my camera is ready but is not. When I raise my camera and I try to shoot, I have to wait for a second, possibly loosing the spontaneity or surprise of the subject. So I have the bad habit of touching the shutter button every moment making sure that my camera is ready. Sometimes one batterie doesn't last for one day with less than 50 shots. It's not a problem of enough batteries (I have four), the problem is that I don't realise how fast the batterie dies and it does in the worst moment. My 'policies' that I think improve battery life: 1. never let the camera sleep (except by accident) - I shut it off and have just developed the habit of moving the power switch to "on" as I raise the camera to my eye. I don't find any speed advantage to waking the camera by touching the shutter button - or "waking" it by turning it on. . For the last days I've been trying your way and It works really good. I still have to automate this habit but when I use it my batterie last much more and my camera is always ready in the right moment. The rest of your "policies" were already part of mine. Thank you very much, Adan and the rest of the participants of this post. It's been very helpful. Kind Regards Miguel Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
diogenis Posted February 15, 2010 Share #12 Posted February 15, 2010 If you do this, then turn off the auto standby function, and use the power on/off switch. And don't forget that with this setting, you don't need to wait until red led is off, the camera is ready to shoot as soon as you turn it on. Alternatively, you can have it on all day long, no auto standby, and get a spare battery. Remember, this is a FF digital cam, with more electronics. M8's sensor is 33% smaller Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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