Q battery life and settings.

[Robinyuill]

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Hi there. My Q has a shocking appetite for batteries. I'm lucky to get a days use out of a battery even using EVF Extended and if unused it drains one over a few days sitting. The camera has a habit sometimes to change the settings, as in changing the focus setting from single point to face recognition. I was going to reinstall the firmware version 3.1 but it won't let me. It says it has the latest version anyway. Hoping I don't need to send it in for a service at Leica. Regards Robin.

[AndrewDD]

To be honest, the battery life sounds normal.

I kept 4 batteries for my Q, and now I have upgraded I have 3 for the Q2.

It is annoying that they discharge while sitting in the cupboard.

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[Siriusone59]

That does sound a bit odd compared with my Q.  I rarely charge the original battery more than once a month and then it has never gone below half full on the indicator.  Of course the wifi is turned off and the screen is only used for checking photos or changing profiles, continuous focus is off, OIS in auto and I no longer carry with the camera on unless I'm using it.  I did purchase a couple of spare batteries but have yet to use them other than to check their function and even they will discharge a little while unused.  Overall I've been exceptionally pleased with the battery life when compared to other cameras I've owned.  Maybe your battery is near its end of life.😢

[higa]

That's pretty typical for the Q. On my trip to Europe, I brought 5 batteries (2x Leica branded, 1x Panasonic branded, 2x generic types). In typical day of shooting, I would use up two batteries and be on the third when I came back to the hotel (I also brought two chargers, lol). One day, I used four and was on the 5th by the end of the day. I found no difference between the Panasonic and Leica batteries in power consumption. For the generic batteries (Promaster brand), I noticed they drained much quicker, either they didn't hold as much charge or discharged more quickly. I would say about 2/3 the usage of the. Leica and Panasonic. After my trip, I don't use the generic Promaster batteries anymore, just the Leica and Panasonic.

It sounds like some people are more judicious about their power consumption regarding screen usage and wifi, etc. I just leave everything on and cycle through batteries. I esp. like being able to upload pictures to my phone, so need the wi-fi on at all times.

Edited August 21, 2020 by higa

[marchyman]

More of the same.   Leica and Panasonic batteries give me about the same number of shots, Wasabi batteries give me less even though they supposedly have a higher mAh rating.  I've learned to live with it.

[jmschuh]

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Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

The best battery you can buy that is absolutely identical to the original and comes from the same factory is the Sigma BP-51 Li-Ion Battery. The price here in Germany is about 25 Euro.

The Leica battery, the Sigma battery and the Panasonic version are made in the Panasonic WUXI factory in China and do not differ in performance, but significantly in price. 

I had written something about it here years ago, but in German.

You can use deepl.com for the translation, a thousand times better than Google Translate.