Battery issues

[Peter H]

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I think you might have an under-performing battery. I used my SL for a timelapse shoot in Utah yesterday and I was very impressed with the battery life. It was cold - well below freezing, and I shot over 1,000 images in a 2 hour period. The exposure time for each image was 2 seconds………….

I can't add anything useful regarding the battery's stamina, but I'd certainly like to commend you on yours!

[J S H]

I can't add anything useful regarding the battery's stamina, but I'd certainly like to commend you on yours!

I have a computer to do all the heavy lifting with regards to exposure time...I just have to stand there and keep an eye on things. The camera is very well behaved, I have been extremely impressed with its capabilities so far. I do wish that Leica would give us a menu option to disable the long exposure noise reduction, though. 

[dgktkr]

Update: Both my battery and I are learning to deal with the initial issues ! 

 

I ran a test that was intended to be somewhat realistic. During that test the camera was able to capture 1903 images before it shut down due to a low battery condition!! And this was with the same battery I described in the original post.

 

So here's the story:

 

The battery has gone through the full discharge/full charge cycle 5 or 6 times. The instructions that come with a spare battery indicate 2 to 3 times to get full capacity.

 

Even though it takes less than 3 hours for a full charge, the battery was left in the charger all night and only taken out the next morning.

 

One SD card was in the camera: 32GB Samsung Evo (48Mb/s). I mention this because it may be an important variable. Apparently SD cards vary in their power consumption. And I would expect higher speed cards consume more.

 

The camera was in A exposure mode and AFs focus mode. The back LCD screen was turned off. Auto display off set to the minimum 30s. Auto power off set to the minimum 2 mins. The manual focus lock button was set to the joystick.

 

For every image, I would first press on the joystick and manually focus to the near limit ( < 1m) and then half press the shutter release to autofocus on the other side of the room, about 20 feet away, then full press to capture the image. The idea here was to exercise the focus motors because they could be a significant contributor to power consumption.

 

The session lasted about 4 hours. There were some rest periods during that time because my arm and back would get tired doing the repetitive motions. 

 

The next step will be to go on a long walk and take lots of pictures to determine how many images I can get on one battery with normal usage.

 

dgktkr

 

 

I've read that some users aren't overjoyed with how long the battery lasts on their SL, but what I'm seeing on mine seems way out of line.

 

Last week I went for a walk around the neighborhood taking photos with my SL and 24-90 zoom. Wifi was off, GPS was on, Auto Power Off 2 min, All Displays Auto Off 1min. The walk was 3 hours long and I took 42 photos. When the session was over, I switched the camera off. I hadn't paid much attention to the battery charge indicator.

 

The next morning, I switched the camera on and the only sign of life was a brief dim uniform illumination on the top display. That was an unpleasant shock to say the least. I took the battery out and put it back in -- same behavior. I took the battery out and charged it for about 10 minutes, this time things worked as expected when I switched the camera on. That was certainly a big relief, but it hasn't been the end of my worries. For instance, if I recall correctly, it took 4 hours to completely charge the battery from the fully discharged state. The manual says it should take 160 minutes.

 

Yesterday I made sure the battery was fully charged before I went on a 4 hour walk where I took 42 photos, all with the 24-90 zoom. As I finished the walk, the battery charge indication had just changed from one bar extinguished to 2 bars extinguished indicating somewhere between 1/4 and 1/2 of the battery capacity had been used.

 

42 shots!

 

The manual says the battery should allow approximately 400 shots (based on the CIPS standard). So even if the battery was 1/4 discharged, that leaves me way short of the 400 shots if I continue the test to completion.

 

Have any of you SL users seen anything like this? Do you have any comments or suggestions?

 

 

dgktkr

[talt03]

Wow 1903. That's 6 times the published estimate.

[helged]

Shooting with SL in winter conditions recently, I experienced no problems with the SL-battery, whereas I got low-battery warnings on the M246. The temperature was -15 to -20 deg C, and I was shooting for the full day. The two bodies was about equally used.

 

Back in room temperature, the M246-battery that was supposedly near empty in the field showed 75 percent charge on the info-display. So apparently - although I have not cross-checked - the SL-battery seem to handle cold conditions well.

[Jared]

Definitely some variability based on how you are using the camera. On Tuesday night I had a series of more than 300 shots taken in a little over an hour with GPS enabled and very light use of WiFi. I still had over half a charge left. I think the EVF and rear screen are likely the heavy users of battery power, so the amount of time taken to compose and review individual shots plays a huge role in how many shots you will get on a single charge.

 

- Jared