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M8 Battery Life


Ben Marks

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All:

 

I have three M8 batteries -- all from Leica, which I use in rotation. I tend to use them to exhaustion (camera won't turn on, or turns itself off). One battery will generally last for a day of casual shooting (150-200 RAW images, give or take, with 3 sec review on the screen as a default). But one of these batteries has a markedly shorter life than the others -- I would say one-half the shooting capacity.

 

Two questions:

1) What kind of battery performance/charging regimen are you all using?

 

2) I have cycled the weakest battery three or four times and have found that it has not come back to life. Any tricks, hints, suggestions? I am tempted to send the thing back to Leica with the standard grumbles of $100 battery, grumblegrumble, expected better, grumblegrumble.

 

Thoughts?

 

Ben Marks

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I also use three Leica batteries in rotation, use till camera shuts off and have found that I get about a full 2 Gb card per battery, with about 3 secs per photo review. I've not had any last less/more time than the others, it sounds like you may have bad battery.

take it to your dealer and see if he offers to replace

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Ben, I have 4 Leica batteries for the M8 and cycle them in order. When only 1 segment shows on the battery indicator, I change batteries and recharge. I get 200 shots or more before the last segment of the indicator shows. This includes a 3-second review as a default.

 

With 4 batteries, this gives me about a 1000-shot capacity at one time. In my case, that would be a 10-hour photo session and probably kill the client, so I'm safe.

 

With regard to your nonperforming battery, why don't you get in touch with Leica and ask them if they will replace it?

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I have 2 Leica batteries and have had much trouble with battery life. I'm not sure if it's the batteries or the charger. I have posted this before inquiring as to what to do. I tried to let them die out and then recharge. Not much success with that. Suprisingly yesterday and today I noticed something weird: I kept watching one battery in the camera as it was dying out. I kept the camera on and was waiting for it to die out. When it did I turned the camera back on and lo and behold, a FULL charge suddenly registered! I can't explain it and I don't know how long it will last.

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I have three Leica batteries and use them in cycle. When I use them until the camera turns off, I can shoot 250 to 300 frames (Raw). This statement is only true if I shoot in one session (same day).

 

If did not use the camera one or two days, the capacity is reduced significantly. If I do not shoot for 7 days, a fully charged battery is entirely discharged (camera does not wake up). Has anyone discovered similar battery drain?

 

Peter

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I have three Leica batteries and use them in cycle. When I use them until the camera turns off, I can shoot 250 to 300 frames (Raw). This statement is only true if I shoot in one session (same day).

 

If did not use the camera one or two days, the capacity is reduced significantly. If I do not shoot for 7 days, a fully charged battery is entirely discharged (camera does not wake up). Has anyone discovered similar battery drain?

 

Peter

 

Yes, should have said this too. If a battery is partially used and sits 24 hours, it does not seem to hold a charge. I find myself wishing all these digicams ran on AA's. Canon has done a great job with battery life though. 1000 shots on one charge, holds charge for weeks, and so on.

 

Ben Marks

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I have two very similar batteries which I bought from a different vendor. They work just fine and seem to have a little more staying power than the official batteries.

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