SL2-S battery is pretty great!

[hellobrandonscott]

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Been using two SL2-S' for weddings the last six months (about 30 weddings) and just wanted to report back on battery life real quick for any prospective buyers out there.

For an 8-hour wedding, I usually have to change out the battery on the SL2-S with the 35 on it after about 4 hours, or about halfway through. I'm using this lens 80% of the time. And then have to change out the battery on the other SL2-S, usually mounted with a 75 or 90, after about 6 or 7 hours. Sometimes it goes all day, just depends. 

Point being, using the cam pretty much non-stop will get about 4 hours of battery life.  

Between the two SL2-S' and the Q2 in my kit, I have five batteries, and on a normal wedding day, I don't have to touch a charger. I'll only charge up drained batteries during the reception if I have a wedding the next day and don't have time or energy to recharge everything overnight at home. 

Hope that helps!

[hansvons]

Same experience here. Bought 4 batteries and never had to drain them the all on one day.

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[Paul2660]

Similar experiences with SL2 until you start using multi shot. Which I use a lot. Very noticeable drain on the battery. 
 

Paul

[LBJ2]

5 hours ago, hellobrandonscott said:

Been using two SL2-S' for weddings the last six months (about 30 weddings) and just wanted to report back on battery life real quick for any prospective buyers out there.

For an 8-hour wedding, I usually have to change out the battery on the SL2-S with the 35 on it after about 4 hours, or about halfway through. I'm using this lens 80% of the time. And then have to change out the battery on the other SL2-S, usually mounted with a 75 or 90, after about 6 or 7 hours. Sometimes it goes all day, just depends. 

Point being, using the cam pretty much non-stop will get about 4 hours of battery life.  

Between the two SL2-S' and the Q2 in my kit, I have five batteries, and on a normal wedding day, I don't have to touch a charger. I'll only charge up drained batteries during the reception if I have a wedding the next day and don't have time or energy to recharge everything overnight at home. 

Hope that helps!

What are you thoughts about use case for 75 vs 90 and do you prefer one over the other paired with the SL 35?

[Gavin Cato]

I use 2 x sl2 at weddings and I've never quite understood the battery complaining. 

I typically start shooting somewhere between 11:30am and 1pm, and change the batteries when the reception starts at 6pm'ish. Both cameras have usually shot about 1200-1500 shots each by then.

This is pretty similar to what I used to do with Sony a9's.

 

[LBJ2]

9 minutes ago, Gavin Cato said:

I use 2 x sl2 at weddings and I've never quite understood the battery complaining. 

I typically start shooting somewhere between 11:30am and 1pm, and change the batteries when the reception starts at 6pm'ish. Both cameras have usually shot about 1200-1500 shots each by then.

This is pretty similar to what I used to do with Sony a9's.

 

I am still new to the SL2 system, but I think  battery life can vary drastically just depends on the combinations of camera settings applied and used.

[LikameLeica]

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14 hours ago, hellobrandonscott said:

Been using two SL2-S' for weddings the last six months (about 30 weddings) and just wanted to report back on battery life real quick for any prospective buyers out there.

For an 8-hour wedding, I usually have to change out the battery on the SL2-S with the 35 on it after about 4 hours, or about halfway through. I'm using this lens 80% of the time. And then have to change out the battery on the other SL2-S, usually mounted with a 75 or 90, after about 6 or 7 hours. Sometimes it goes all day, just depends. 

Point being, using the cam pretty much non-stop will get about 4 hours of battery life.  

Between the two SL2-S' and the Q2 in my kit, I have five batteries, and on a normal wedding day, I don't have to touch a charger. I'll only charge up drained batteries during the reception if I have a wedding the next day and don't have time or energy to recharge everything overnight at home. 

Hope that helps!

What are your settings for various functions as a strategy to help with the battery optimization?

 

[setuporg]

 

This is weird, as the battery was the bane of my SL2.  I shoot about 500 photos a day mixed with video.  I go through 3 batteries routinely as they get too low for 4K video.  Thai happens much later with the latest firmware so even Sigma lenses can see the battery depleted to perhaps 1/7th before the warning comes up.  But nothing close to “good battery life”.  I have IBIS always on but prefocusing off…. Wonder what else could be draining the battery.

[Photoworks]

video uses more battery power to process.

My experience is mixed, I think it is fine for photos, shooting continually the limits are higher. If you just walk around and wake camera and pre AF the battery can be done at 200pix.

In studio I get 700-900 shots on one battery.

When I shoot interior with the terribly limited foots iPad app a battery will hold for 1 hour of always on. A usb battery pack in this case didn't make much of an impact.

 

[hansvons]

On 7/15/2021 at 10:50 AM, LikameLeica said:

What are your settings for various functions as a strategy to help with the battery optimization?

I only use the EVF. The back screen is only very rarely used; I seldom check what I shoot, costs valuable time and distracts me from working. I use in most cases the 24-90 with AF. In video mostly MF. IBIS is always on in stills mode. In video mode, IBIS is on half of the time because pans off a tripod and handhelds shots that are meant to look "hand held" look better without IBIS.

 

20 hours ago, setuporg said:

This is weird, as the battery was the bane of my SL2

This thread is about the SL2-S. It's video mode is different from the SL2. On the SL2-S you can shoot 80+ min. of 4K 422 video with one battery, completely depleted..

[setuporg]

Yeah I got this is about SL2-S, I wonder if my shooting videos half the time leads to the drastic difference, which would mean an even more dramatic battery drain for SL2 in video mode than the SL2-S.  

Also I found that IBIS makes a huge difference for the video.  It’s another reason I prefer SL2 to a combo of a still camera and a camcorder.  Don’t need a tripod at all so no need for hand-held look, prefer the tripod look without one!:)

[iaaan]

My battery is drained quickly, max 4 hours street photography. Never worried batteries with M before

[hofo100]

Happy with battery live as well - yesterday I shot 1.006 phots at a session with my SL2 and various lenses (including medium speed burst shots) and when done battery was still good (maybe 30% per the display). What really surprised me that this was with my oldest battery (4 years, originally purchased as spare for my SL601). So nothing to complain about from my end...

[LocalHero1953]

To see if I could record full concerts or plays I ran quite a lot of tests of SL2-S battery life for continuous video, e.g.:

• 87 mins APS-C 4k 60fps L-GOP
• 106 mins full frame FHD 60fps ALL-I
• 82 mins full frame C4k 30fps ALL-I