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What about battery performance ?


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Hi,

 

I'm starting this topic because the battery charge indicator falls to about 70% after playing for some time with the menu options and taking about 10 pictures...

Yes, 10 pictures !!!

.

What I discovered is that as soon as you turn the camera on, it starts measuring exposure, no need to press the shutter-button halfway down, it will stop when the time-out for power-saving stops the camera.

 

Any similar behaviour to report ?

Edited by LeftyS
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can't say I've noticed .... but there again I wouldn't have had much cause to look ...... too busy taking photos.

 

these batteries often take a good number of charge/discharge cycles before reaching full performance. 

 

behaviour over the first 1000 or so exposures cannot be regarded as typical .... I would wait and see what happens over the next few weeks ....

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I bought 4 aftermarket batteries with a bit more power. Anyway I can clearly confirm the shame of these original Leica batteries: about 120 shots with disabled OOS, NFC and wifi off, 30sec auto power off and power saving set to min time. It is a big problem for travelers like me that need to carry two chargers and 4 to 6 batteries.

Edited by Michele Belloni
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  • 1 month later...

I just got my Q on Saturday and tested it hard-core mountaineering in the icy fog on 3000m - it worked beautifully and then suddenly without any warning gave up the ghost - absolutely no way to get the battery restarted. I took about 200 pics and it was cold, but my Leica T and Nikon 750 never had any trouble with the cold... Is the battery no good?

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Leslie.

your battery doesn't reach its peak performance until it has been fully charged and discharged quite a few times.  Don't top up the charge.  Let it discharge.   But yes! Overall battery performance isn't great.  On another post I've raised the possibility of saving DNG + small JPEGS.    It needs some experimentation.   I haven't found that I need to avoid chimping.  I'm using the main features as they are meant to be used.   Batteries are available pretty cheaply from third parties.  They use the same charger and some have higher capacities. I'm using some 1800mah units bought on EBay. UK.   The Wasabi units don't seem to be available in the UK but are in the USA.

 

As as for performance in low temperatures, there's definitely a deterioration.  

Edited by lucerne
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Battery life on the Q is even worse than than my Sony A7's. I now have 3 batteries 2 Leica and 1 Panasonic which I picked up for £20 on ebay.

It would be interesting to have a list of third party batteries that work well for retaining charge and also showing the correct charge.

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I'm kind of reassured that others are finding questionable battery performance with their Q's too, maybe it's not my camera or the way I am using it after all. This issue is something I've banged on about since the beginning, ( and yes I am aware that battery life should improve some after a number of full discharge / charge cycles ). Again I confirm that so far I've not noticed any performance difference between the Wasabi "cheapo" batteries and the Leica brand so far, down the road however they could well drop off…..But at around 30 bucks with a charger that can also function off of a 12v car connection, ( why doesn't Leica's? ), they are cheap enough not to care if they last too long or not. I wish I'd bought another set before leaving the US last month.

I'm sure that nothing can be done about the relatively poor battery performance, no firmware update will solve this, so carrying more and maybe cheaper batteries is the best solution.

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.....so carrying more and maybe cheaper batteries is the best solution.

 

If there's hesitation about the Wasabi quality, these Sigma-branded batteries are identical to the Leica, down to the numbers printed on....

 

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1087579-REG/sigma_d00045_bp_51_lithium_ion_battery_pack.html

 

$30.

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Does the camera read the battery level okay with these? Thanks 

Yes. Camera reads the battery level, and gives the bars, but who's to say that the reading from any battery is anything more than a rough guide to the power remaining.  There's no calibrated scale.  Is it a linear or log scale?  

 

If it is possible to find and fit batteries rated 1200, 1400, or 1800 mah, then the scale on the camera ideally needs to be calibrated.  It isn't, so it's never going to be possible to have a live estimate of remaining shots,

 

The batteries do work.

Edited by lucerne
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Just as an FYI I was out today scoping locations for fall colors and covered bridges in PA, and used the camera fairly heavy 200 + images, and some menu time and still have about 50%, left.  I do agree you need to condition the battery which I have done from the start.  This may be some of the differences we are seeing. 

 

I do not use wifi or any com functions, or OS.  So this also can be a factor.

 

Cheers

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Battery life on the Q is even worse than than my Sony A7's. I now have 3 batteries 2 Leica and 1 Panasonic which I picked up for £20 on ebay.

 

So far my experience is different.

 

I shot over 700 shots on Saturday during a period of 3 hours.  The battery was still 50% full....

 

I used to have a Sony A7s (which I sold in the meanwhile) and there is no way I could have done that with the Sony.

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I was shooting in London at the Solidatory for refugees march, I had one battery! it lasted from about 12 until 4pm. I tried to switch off when I could.

 

Since I was heading straight for a beer festival in the evening, I decided to pop into Leica Mayfair.

 

I bought another battery for £60 :( but they charged both batteries for an hour whilst I went for lunch.

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There seems to  be a correlation to saving raw files vs Jpeg and the battery life.  I  assume the write times are much longer on the raw files and using more energy from the battery in doing so.  

 

I shoot both raw and full Jpeg, and getting aprox 300 images till I get 1 bar on the battery.  

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  • 2 weeks later...

I've had one of the new Leica batteries fail on me a couple of days ago. No warning, no gradual deterioration, just suddenly dead in the water.

Even the charger will not recognize it.

Will try to get Wetzlar to replace it, hopefully soon.

Edited by Guest
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  • 5 months later...

On eBay UK..  No brand.   PA08 1800mah (for Panasonic) £8.99 post free. Seller ahkin-digital.  Prompt delivery from the UK. There are others. 

 

 

Hey Lucerne, you've had these batteries a while now. Could you please confirm there have been no issues? I'm probably being over cautious but the idea of a £3k camera being damaged by a battery worries me but so too does being over charged (no pun intended)

 

Many thanks, Simon

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