M10 Battery Life

[Jon Pop]

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I couldn't find a thread on this topic, maybe I was searching incorrectly (so please don't chastise me...). While I know that the M10 battery is smaller than the 240, I have found my battery life to be really (really) short. And I have two batteries; they're both the same bad performance, and both genuine Leica batteries. Never had this issue with the M9, nor with the 240 (which admittedly has a big battery). Note that I don't use live view, and my screen is set so it only displays pics when I ask, vs. immediately after taking a pic. I also am not firing off pics in rapid sequence, nor am I taking hundreds of photos in an outing. In general I've always used my digital M cameras with close to the level of conservativeness as my film M. So I'm at a loss to explain what seems like an incredible rate of battery consumption. Any thoughts?

Edited October 27, 2018 by Jon Pop
additional info

[scott kirkpatrick]

There have been threads on this, but no serious complaints.  But to describe your experience, you should give more facts.  Do you turn the camera off between opportunities or let it shutdown automatically?  How many exposures a day are you taking?  The "info" menu gives pretty detailed numbers for battery fraction remaining.  Battery life is more likely to depend on the total time that the camera is active than on the number of shots taken.  If you leave WiFi on, that costs a lot, so check that.

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[a.noctilux]

Long battery life possible,

have a look at this very long M10 battery life (1000 pics )

I'm happy with 250 to 300 "frames" with one battery, always have one spare though.

[magixaxeman]

Jon you also need to make sure the wifi is turned off

[Jon Pop]

Thanks everyone - WLAN is off in the menu, my sleep mode is set to go on at 2 minutes, i never have the screen come on after a photo is taken. I'm typically walking around downtown, for several hours, but the camera is in sleep for a lot of that. Maybe firing off 25-50 shots. I just know its life seems about half what I get from my M9, and of course not even in the ballpark of the 240. I'll do some experiments and get back to everyone. 

[Eikyo09]

I heard in sleep mode the battery gets consumed. Better to turn it off in between shooting and walking. 

[elmars]

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I think it is wrong what You heard. In Stand by mode the camera needs as much power as off - nearly nothing. But when the camera is on There is not much difference between any action like shooting or no action. The camera needs most of it power just being on. 

[artrek99]

The battery on my M10 D drops from 55 to 45% within after 8 hours while the camera has not been turned on at all. I’ve had the M10 D for less than a ten month and haven’t used it much. I do charge the battery every now and then just in case I decide to take the camera out the following day.

[RexGig0]

I have never used an M9, but it is quite true that, all else being equal, the battery life of an M10 is “not even in the ballpark” of a Type 240/246 battery. One learns to carry spare batteries for the M10, whereas I almost never change my 246’s batteries, when out and about.

[elmars]

That‘s right. But the battery of the M240/246 is much bigger. 

[Infantasy]

Always completely use up the battery until the M10 shutdown. Don’t charge up when still have power and a full discharge/recharge cycle could sustain the battery life. I use Nitecore battery charger and it show up the capacity of mine still have 1080mAh after used for over one year.

[mujk]

Battery life of my M10 is about the same as that of my M9 (when new). I can easily get 200 to 300 pictures per day with the M10 without depleting the battery completely, with a similar usage pattern as the one you described (although I have image preview enabled).

Li-ion batteries don't benefit from a full discharge like some older battery types do. Frequent full charging cycles reduce battery life, as does always topping up the charge to 100%. High temperatures should also be avoided.

Edited January 6, 2020 by mujk