Leica SL2-S terrible battery life?

[2M6TTLs]

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On 1/3/2021 at 7:16 AM, SrMi said:

Make sure pre-focusing is turned off.

Where is it in the menu?

[SrMi]

4 hours ago, 2M6TTLs said:

Where is it in the menu?

See Photoworks' response. Also, see manual p. 114 (English), chapter "Pre Focus".

[2M6TTLs]

11 hours ago, SrMi said:

See Photoworks' response. Also, see manual p. 114 (English), chapter "Pre Focus".

Thank you. I've got it now. New to the camera so still learning to navigate menus which ( as everyone knows) are nicely done by the way.

Have turned off all non-essential (for me) features now, including pre-focus and set to EVF extended. First battery charge ran down to fully depleted scarily fast and that was just setting up the camera and before taking any photos. I  actually wondered if the Leica store had given me a used battery instead of the original from the box -  so will give it a few more charges before I start worrying or complaining.I fully expect the battery to run down during use but this is ridiculous!

Really though, you shouldn't have to turn so many things off just for practical use of the camera. They need to do a lot better than this for a camera that relies completely on the battery for power. These kind of batteries seem  hopelessly weak to me. Super expensive, low capacity is not a combination that makes me happy. Hope I feel happier after the 3rd or 4th charge.

[2M6TTLs]

On 1/6/2021 at 3:32 AM, criogenics said:

Yeah it's extremely low, which is why I started this thread in the first place!  

I have another 2 weeks before my return window closes, so I'll be doing more tests (receiving the 35SL tomorrow) and reporting for anyone interested.

How is the battery life now? Did it improve or did you return the camera/battery? Can you give us an update?

[Photoworks]

I agree when you go true menus and pray with camera and look at photos the battery goes quickly.
in practice the battery performs very well on a shoot days.

Looks like I shoot fast and many photos quickly on my typical shoots, easily get 600-1000 photos. Many people that walk around and take only 100 or so pictures have the battery empty at the end of the day.

I suggest getting enough batteries to do what you need to do with out charging. I have already 14 of them for multiple SL2.

when needed I use travel charger and usb bank and charge the battery in my bag

[2M6TTLs]

13 hours ago, Photoworks said:

I agree when you go true menus and pray with camera and look at photos the battery goes quickly.
in practice the battery performs very well on a shoot days.

Looks like I shoot fast and many photos quickly on my typical shoots, easily get 600-1000 photos. Many people that walk around and take only 100 or so pictures have the battery empty at the end of the day.

I suggest getting enough batteries to do what you need to do with out charging. I have already 14 of them for multiple SL2.

when needed I use travel charger and usb bank and charge the battery in my bag

If the battery was more efficient you wouldn't need to buy 4 of them. That's the point. and 2 should be plenty.

[Photoworks]

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15 minutes ago, 2M6TTLs said:

If the battery was more efficient you wouldn't need to buy 4 of them. That's the point. and 2 should be plenty.

I think you misread , I have 14. but I work professionally  and in need of a backup.

[2M6TTLs]

11 hours ago, Photoworks said:

I think you misread , I have 14. but I work professionally  and in need of a backup.

Yes,14 is definitely a professional power reserve 😁

11 hours ago, Photoworks said:

 

[littlelio]

Sorry to bring this up. I also doubted the SL2s battery performance. After a long time shot yesterday, my immediate feel was not good, the battery was dead after less than two hours, compared with DSLR of course it was bad.

However,

today I was processing all the images from last session, and I found it shot more than 1000 shots! (more than 1100 to be exactly) So it is more than the official rating. What more can I ask for?

Some information about the setup: Sigma 85mm F/1.4 lense, AF-S mode, Pre-focus on, M mode, no flash, EVF extended most of the time. It was a straightforward indoor studio setings.

Hope this information helps others. Of course the shooting settings can vary the result a lot.

[rsh]

It is much easier for me to carry 3 to 4 batteries than it was to carry 10-12  36 exposure rolls of film when I used film.

Edited March 2, 2022 by rsh

[beewee]

Battery life depends not only on the number of shots taken but how often the EVF/LCD is activated.

When I was doing continuous time-lapse long exposures, the battery life performed very well. A single battery lasted for more than 600 shots in around -5°C temperatures while doing back-to-back long exposures that lasted between 1-5s with 1s between shots. LCD/EVF use was minimal.

From what I can tell, the camera uses the most power when you’re using live view either with EVF or LCD. The reason is that the camera is continuously using the sensor and has to process all the video data streaming out of the sensor at high frame rates to produce a smooth image on the EVF or LCD. The EVF/LCD is also quite power hungry, especially at bright settings.

[Stef63]

36 minutes ago, beewee said:

Battery life depends not only on the number of shots taken but how often the EVF/LCD is activated.

When I was doing continuous time-lapse long exposures, the battery life performed very well. A single battery lasted for more than 600 shots in around -5°C temperatures while doing back-to-back long exposures that lasted between 1-5s with 1s between shots. LCD/EVF use was minimal.

From what I can tell, the camera uses the most power when you’re using live view either with EVF or LCD. The reason is that the camera is continuously using the sensor and has to process all the video data streaming out of the sensor at high frame rates to produce a smooth image on the EVF or LCD. The EVF/LCD is also quite power hungry, especially at bright settings.

Hi beewee, we are talking SL2 here (or SL2-S) not M.  I can imagine there is a small difference in power consumption between EVF and LCD but on an SL you are forced to use one or the other. That is the design of the SL that does not have a OVF like the M. 
So there is not much room for a SL user to not use either EVF or LCD to save power.  Or am I missing the point you want to make?

Edited March 2, 2022 by Stef63

[Pelu2010]

Hey, 

 

I always have a power bank with me. And when I check pictures or I rest I give the camera some power back. 

When it's cold I let the USB c Cable attached to the camera. 

The battery life is not good but also not bad. Without Powerbank I need 2 or 3 Batteries a shooting day. 

I had the impression that there are better batteries and worst batteries. Of the 4 Batteries I use 3 are ok and one is a weak on. 😬

the power bank gives me enough peace that I can shoot without thinking to much about the energy consumption of the camera. 

But I definitely was surprised. I did not expect this. 

[beewee]

13 hours ago, Stef63 said:

Hi beewee, we are talking SL2 here (or SL2-S) not M.  I can imagine there is a small difference in power consumption between EVF and LCD but on an SL you are forced to use one or the other. That is the design of the SL that does not have a OVF like the M. 
So there is not much room for a SL user to not use either EVF or LCD to save power.  Or am I missing the point you want to make?

I too was referring to the SL2-S. My SL2-S in particular.

Power consumption is not uniformly distributed across each component. It is concentrated in a few components. When you’re exposing an image, the primary power consumer is the sensor but the sensor power consumption is much lower than the rest of the camera such as the ASIC or DSP for the image processing pipeline that has no choice but to run at a high rate to drive an EVF or LCD. The power consumed by the ASIC or DSP is in addition to the power used by the sensor and also the LCD or EVF, among other additional circuitry that is needed. To this end, if you’re only shooting a photo every few minutes but you leave the camera on and the EVF or LCD going, the whole camera is still consuming power and you’re not going to get many shots for a battery’s charge. In contrast, if you’re shooting continuously, a single battery will get you many more shots because the camera is spending less power on the amount of time powering the EVF/LCD, ASIC/DSP, etc… on a per-shot basis. What I’m getting at is that #shot / battery charge is not a useful indicator of performance without providing context of the usage pattern of the camera. This is why CIPA has defined test protocols that specify time between shots so that all cameras are evaluated using a consistent usage pattern.

[hossegor]

I think the battery life is great. I shot an ice race at -10 all day with one battery 

[littlelio]

Today I did a very similar job, with my Nikon D5. 1500 exposures, and with half battery left 🤣

I think mirrorless is a different animal, and I don't think it replaces DSLR... depending on a specific job.

Today I missed the mirrorless exposure preview function in M mode (no flash), while DSLR can only see the result afterwards. However as for me, I have been doing this for very long time, so the moment I pressed shutter release I know what it looks like. So it is all right. Again it is controlled studio setting so it is straightforward.

I love Leica color. So different tool, different situation. All great cameras!

 

[Stef63]

9 hours ago, beewee said:

I too was referring to the SL2-S. My SL2-S in particular.

Power consumption is not uniformly distributed across each component. It is concentrated in a few components. When you’re exposing an image, the primary power consumer is the sensor but the sensor power consumption is much lower than the rest of the camera such as the ASIC or DSP for the image processing pipeline that has no choice but to run at a high rate to drive an EVF or LCD. The power consumed by the ASIC or DSP is in addition to the power used by the sensor and also the LCD or EVF, among other additional circuitry that is needed. To this end, if you’re only shooting a photo every few minutes but you leave the camera on and the EVF or LCD going, the whole camera is still consuming power and you’re not going to get many shots for a battery’s charge. In contrast, if you’re shooting continuously, a single battery will get you many more shots because the camera is spending less power on the amount of time powering the EVF/LCD, ASIC/DSP, etc… on a per-shot basis. What I’m getting at is that #shot / battery charge is not a useful indicator of performance without providing context of the usage pattern of the camera. This is why CIPA has defined test protocols that specify time between shots so that all cameras are evaluated using a consistent usage pattern.

Thank you for this explanation. Sounds logic and valid. 

I did not experience low # of shots on my SL2 but taking into account above that could be due to my habit of switching off the camera whenever I’m not using it even if it is only for a minute or two. This has some drawbacks but for my type of photography they are minimal. Also I almost never use the preview/play function

And a better battery life than average is maybe the positive result of this old habit.

[Gavin Cato]

I don't know what you guys are doing to these batteries. Mine (SL2-S) are great.

I shoot weddings over 2 camera bodies, and only change when the night time reception starts. By then, I've typically taken 2500 shots across both bodies over 5-6hrs.

Then that new battery change will always comfortably last until the end of the wedding.

These battery stats are pretty much the same that I used to get on my old Sony gear.