How is your SL3 battery life experience?

[SrMi]

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What is the actual battery life experience of SL3 owners, especially compared to SL2?

Note that the CIPA battery testing method has been considered outdated, especially for mirrorless.

Leica specifies two battery life numbers for SL3:
- 260 shots based on CIPA standard.
- 1350 shot based on CIPA standard with modified shooting cycle.

The SL2’s numbers are 450 and 1400. We see that the number with the modified shooting cycle (more realistic?) is very similar between the two cameras.
 

[ZHNL]

What is modified standard? Is it still a standard?  

I’d like also to know why Leicas CIPA number is so low considering all camera manufactures has to follow it and report this number. (I’d assume this is not a in house test)

why even comparing SL2, we see almost half of shots, a huge regression IMO. 

the way I see it: this is not about how many shots you can get using your way of shooting really but how this camera is relative to its competitions. 

if individual manufacture allow modify standard and report number to their favors, what is the meaning to have standard?  Do I miss something?

Edited March 9 by ZHNL

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[SrMi]

5 minutes ago, ZHNL said:

What is modified standard? Is it still a standard?  

I’d like also to know why Leicas CIPA number is so low considering all camera manufactures has to follow it and report this number. (I’d assume this is not a in house test)

why even comparing SL2, we see almost half of shots, a huge regression IMO. 

the way I see it: this is not about how many shots you can get using your way of shooting really but how this camera is relative to its competitions. 

if individual manufacture allow modify standard and report number to their favors, what is the meaning to have standard?  Do I miss something?

Look up the technical specs for SL2 and SL3, where the modified shooting cycle has been explained.

AFAIK, the CIPA standard test is clearly defined, and both the standard and modified shooting cycle can be done in-house, AFAIK.

The regression in the number may not be relevant in practice if the standard does not reflect the practical use. Note that the CIPA standard was created for DSLRs and has been woefully inappropriate for mirrorless cameras. 

Why should a CIPA standard matter if it does not reflect real-life usage? Manufacturers should and do provide a modified shooting battery life number to show what the users can expect.

In my early use, I did not see lower battery life with SL3 than with SL2, but I have to use the camera longer and more extensively before coming to that conclusion.

 

 

[ZHNL]

To gauge the CIPA battery life of a camera, the organization uses it to take photos every 30 seconds. 
They leave the camera on between every image, turn it off after every ten shots, and repeat it.

Here is CIPA standard I can found without spend too much time. First of all, I don't see how this related to DSLR or MILC. And then, I don't see anything unreasonable as industry standard to gauge battery life.  Can you clarify "has been woefully inappropriate for mirrorless cameras."?

Here is what I found about modified standard. Leica didn't explaining detail about "*" here. (Id like to know more modification detail if they list this on their Datasheet)

1350 shots (according to CIPA standard with adjusted shooting cycle*) with display/AF auto off = 5 s);

Without other setting detail, Just follow this, it means we need set auto off 5s, and every time, we need wake camera up before take the shot? This is not the way I do, I would also guess not the way most of people do given relative long wake up time from SL2S and SL2. Usually, I just power off the camera between shot if I am not in an event or something. 

I wouldn't comment on your early comparison or anyone's claim about how many shots they can make out of one battery. That is not the point. Put Camera on shot gun case, Z9 can take more than 8000 shots in a single charge, but that number or any individual user's number gives much less meaning than CIPA standard can tell me how much power camera need to perform on regular base. TBH, I never really counts how many shots I can make out of each camera user case because Their number can change hugely even for my own using case. but I for sure know which one has more capability than others. In that standard, CIPA number is accountable.    

[SrMi]

2 minutes ago, ZHNL said:

(Id like to know more modification detail if they list this on their Datasheet)

This is a screenshot from SL3's technical data:

Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

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

[SrMi]

4 minutes ago, ZHNL said:

And then, I don't see anything unreasonable as industry standard to gauge battery life.  Can you clarify "has been woefully inappropriate for mirrorless cameras."?

No manufacturer's CIPA standard number matches real life use (battery life and IBIS).

[Photoworks]

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Not scientific but in my two-day testing the battery went down quickly.

I will do a studio shoot this afternoon and see what I can report back on that.

The SL2 camera improved battery usage with firmware updates, maybe they can see if there are ways to do that in FW for the SL3 over time.

The M11 is still king of the battery life in the Leica world.

[MediaFotografie]

vor 2 Stunden schrieb SrMi:

This is a screenshot from SL3's technical data:

Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

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

here's a great problem - or mistake: SL3 comes not with BP-SCL4, but with the more powerful BL-SCL6; can't understand why nobody at Wetzlar sees the wrong battery in the data sheet

[MediaFotografie]

to be honest, this question was the a very great discussion during the test; we all see a very poor battery live   😞

it's going to be a little bit better with newer firmware - but it is a critical point for the SL3; what I don't understand: Q3 comes with same same Sensor and same CPU ("Maestro IV") but is much better in this point; what they are doing here???

in real live with early firmware I got only ~200 shots with one BP-SCL6 - that's not good. Hope, now it's better, we will see

[SrMi]

I guess these settings should affect battery life positively:

- Turn FOTOS > Connectivity off (BT and WiFi off)

- Use EVF extended (turns off LCD, turns on EVF only with eye sensor)

- EVF Frame rate 60fps

[jrp]

It's hard to say as there are quite a few power-hungry settings that you may find you don't need.  Eg, Wireless can be set to Eco mode or Performance mode.  Pre-AF may also be power hungry.

The pother problem at this stage is that batteries seem to need a few discharge cycles before you get the best of them.

As for comparison with the Q3, the most obvious point of difference is the fact that you have bigger lenses to drive (although they are supposed to be optimised so that focusing moves only small lenses).

Anyway, it's early days for me, so listen to the Beta testers ...

[helged]

About 550 images per battery for my type of shooting (new battery, fully charged to fully discharged, with a few full charging cycles, only). Temperature has been a few Centigrade plus, and I shot during some hours walk. The camera stays in 'sleep mode' during the walk, which I find convenient as the wake-up time is short. I look at the back screen now and then, but I use mostly the EVF. Some tracking shooting at 4 fps. For me, two batteries should be ok.

[padam]

The phase-detect AF consumes considerably more power than what the contrast-detect did, so it depends on how heavily that is being utilised.

[SrMi]

19 minutes ago, padam said:

The phase-detect AF consumes considerably more power than what the contrast-detect did, so it depends on how heavily that is being utilised.

Why would PDAF use considerably more power than DFD?

[Photoworks]

I just did a tethered shoot to the iPad in Capture One, about 600 Shots, The Battery is still full.

 

[panoreserve]

vor 11 Stunden schrieb MediaFotografie:

to be honest, this question was the a very great discussion during the test; we all see a very poor battery live   😞

it's going to be a little bit better with newer firmware - but it is a critical point for the SL3; what I don't understand: Q3 comes with same same Sensor and same CPU ("Maestro IV") but is much better in this point; what they are doing here???

in real live with early firmware I got only ~200 shots with one BP-SCL6 - that's not good. Hope, now it's better, we will see

Leica would have had to give the SL3 a much more powerful battery, even if this would have compromised compatibility with the battery previously available for the SL 601/2/2S (which cannot use all of the SL3's functions anyway)!

[padam]

10 hours ago, SrMi said:

Why would PDAF use considerably more power than DFD?

Because that is the main difference between the G9II and GH6, former being significantly worse regarding battery life (despite being similar on the specs sheet).

[Smogg]

I don't see a big problem with the low energy efficiency of the new camera. For decades, photographers shot on film that contained only 36 frames and quickly replaced the used film. A battery that gives 300-400 frames can be replaced much faster than film

[Simone_DF]

5 hours ago, padam said:

Because that is the main difference between the G9II and GH6, former being significantly worse regarding battery life (despite being similar on the specs sheet).

All other mirrorless have both PDAF and longer battery life. Including the S5II, which has the same autofocus. 
The problem must be something else. 

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[BernardC]

20 hours ago, ZHNL said:

Without other setting detail, Just follow this, it means we need set auto off 5s, and every time, we need wake camera up before take the shot? This is not the way I do, I would also guess not the way most of people do given relative long wake up time from SL2S and SL2. Usually, I just power off the camera between shot if I am not in an event or something.

I assume that the CPU uses almost no power in standby mode, like a laptop or smartphone, so it's better to let it sleep than to re-boot. That's the case with previous models: the battery lasts longer if I keep the camera on all day, except when I there's be a substantial interval before I need it again (more than 10 minutes).

You'll need to figure-out what sleep interval works best for you, 5 seconds may be too short. The basic point stands: it's better for battery life if you let it sleep, instead of forcing it to re-load the operating system, initialize the cards, etc.