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Battery issues


dgktkr

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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

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Even so you should get much better life. I get 1-2 days of moderate use on a charge. Sounds like your charger is bad or you aren't giving it a full charge. Are you waiting for both lights to go solid?

 

Yes I am.

 

Before I charged it the first time, I read the relevant section in the manual, which wasn't clear on the matter, so I let the battery charge for 3 hours and took the battery out when the blue-green LED was still flashing. After that I've let it charge till both LEDs are solid.

 

dgktkr

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someone beat  me on this battery depletion concern; I have taken less than 50 shots and battery charge was down from full bar to the  last one.

I am not sure it is battery, me or electronics at faults. I' ll charge it again 2nd time to see what happens next.

Something like this remind me of some early Nikon F5 issues.

I am ordering 2nd battery to have in place when other is being charged.

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I was out today and took about 140 shots in 2-3 hrs. I started with a partly depleted battery (at least 1 bar down) and had to change battery towards the end. Not a well-controlled test, but better than reported by the OP. No Wifi, no GPS, but otherwise power and sleep modes the same.

So far my experience is that the SL battery use is worse than the M with no LV/EVF, but not much, and that might be partly because the batteries are new and partly because I'm chimping a lot.

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Hmm. I charged the SL battery on Wednesday and only occasionally made a couple of exposures until this morning, while still doing the usual testing this and that (still in that phase of ownership...). This morning, the battery was one bar down when I started on my walk, after experimenting with WiFi connection for a bit beforehand. On my walk, I made 60+ exposures and used WiFi connection to transfer the JPEGs to my iPad. When I arrived home, the battery was showing two bars down so I recharged it. I expect that this last charge made about 160 exposures in all, but I certainly didn't use it up. 

 

To me, if you're only getting 50-100 exposures on a full charge, something is wrong with either battery, charger, or camera. I would check with Leica about it. 

 

(I'm going to start logging how many exposures I make on a charge as soon as the second battery arrives (hopefully Monday). it would be good to know the actual performance I'm getting out of a charge for predicting/planning purposes.)

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It is very hard to tell by the number of shots, there are so many variables. All shots in one continuous shoot? If not, i the camera switched off inbetween? Use of LCD? GPS? WiFi?, etc.

I think the proper test would be to charge a conditioned battery fully and rattle off as many shots as the camera will take in one go.

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I'm pleased I've ordered a second battery. 

 

I do wonder if it's a case of new batteries not developing (yet) full charge, the batteries charging the internal battery, GPS acquiring a satellite fix and the owner fiddling with the camera, the menus, chimping etc ...

 

I know from all previous cameras that my instinct is to turn off the camera between shots, I don't chimp, and I turn on the camera as I'm thinking about a picture. The other thing I've realised is that I behave as if I'm using film - I don't bracket, I don't reframe, and I usually don't take enough pictures. Even reviewing images after a trip, I'm stunned to find what I haven't photographed. The result is I rarely exhaust a battery or fill an SD card.

 

Something to work on ...

Edited by IkarusJohn
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It is very hard to tell by the number of shots, there are so many variables. All shots in one continuous shoot? If not, i the camera switched off inbetween? Use of LCD? GPS? WiFi?, etc.

I think the proper test would be to charge a conditioned battery fully and rattle off as many shots as the camera will take in one go.

 

That will net the highest number of exposures per charge. 

 

I'm more interested in the number of exposures per charge given my averaged usage, which is often a few shots at a time, a few flicks of the power on and off, etc, a couple of days of no shooting, a morning's worth of 60-70 exposures, etc. It's safe to bet that this will be less than the "rattle off as many as possible quickly" type of shooting. 

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Well, yes, that is reasonable, but I am sure that the number of shots  specified by Leica was obtained using my method.

I wasn't referring to a type of shooting, BTW, but to a method of determining whether the camera more or less meets its factory specification.

I can think of ways to get one shot per battery charge.;)

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Well, yes, that is reasonable, but I am sure that the number of shots  specified by Leica was obtained using my method.

I wasn't referring to a type of shooting, BTW, but to a method of determining whether the camera more or less meets its factory specification.

I can think of ways to get one shot per battery charge. ;)

 

LOL! I'm not interested so much in either whether the SL meets its factory specification, OR in driving power consumption to obtain one shot per battery charge. :rolleyes:

 

I want to know how many exposures per full charge the camera will obtain given my average and general use, in order that I can plan for how many batteries and chargers I need to have on hand for a given session. I realize that you were probably speaking in an light-hearted way, Jaap, but it is actually useful and important to have this information.  B)

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That will net the highest number of exposures per charge. 

 

I'm more interested in the number of exposures per charge given my averaged usage, which is often a few shots at a time, a few flicks of the power on and off, etc, a couple of days of no shooting, a morning's worth of 60-70 exposures, etc. It's safe to bet that this will be less than the "rattle off as many as possible quickly" type of shooting. 

 

A rough estimate from my experience is that a fully charged SL battery lasts 1/3 as long (between charges from low level) as an M240 battery, on which I do not use EVF (or shoot movies, etc.).

 

Another point that surprised me is that an M240 battery give you a warning, and there is still a little left in the tank. When an SL battery says charge is low, don't wait!! BTW, I have auto review turned off, and I am using ye olde mechanical lenses only.

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Out all day today ......... 9.30 to 5.30 ..... Camera on constantly with the minimum auto shut-offs ...... changed battery after I had filled one and a half 16gb cards at just after 5.15 ..... and that included several quite lengthy video clips ..... OIS and GPS on ..... About 350 images. The previous day and a half (similar) ... never ran below one bar but recharged overnight anyway. I would estimate life as good as the M240 with the EVF on and more than long enough not to worry about being caught short unless shooting 400+ images alone and should last all day with casual snapping.

Edited by thighslapper
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I have two batteries. In the light of the life I am getting, I will be ordering a third. The battery life is improving slightly as the charge cycles build up. Really quite short compared with the excellent life of of the M240. I feel that GPS is the real battery hog but at least in comparison to the M240, it works properly, which for me, as a mainly travel photographer, is a great boon. 

 

Wilson

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I am getting around 200 shots on average with full charge. Mostly GPS and Wifi on, chimping frequently to check focus and exposure.

 

If you are getting only 40-50 shots, something is wrong with either the battery or charger. If your second battery is doing the same, recommend checking out the charger.

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