Battery life and capacity

[jagstang]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

I had a ~4 hour photo shoot today and took around 630 photos with my M11-P. The battery went from 95% to 20%, using a 5 minute power saver mode and regular chimping (no EVF, no Wi-Fi/Bluetooth).

I know the M11 is supposed to get 700+ shots per full charge, but I’ve seen reports of people getting as many as 1,500, which got me thinking about the manual’s guidance:

Quote

A new battery only reaches its full capacity after it has been fully
charged and – by using it in the camera – depleted 2 to 3 times.
This depletion process should be repeated roughly every 25
cycles

I’ve avoided letting my battery drain to 0% since I thought it was bad for lithium batteries. Is it necessary to deplete it completely to zero to achieve full capacity?

How many shots do you usually get per charge?

[jakontil]

I once intentionally metered how much the battery drain, a half a day shots, like 6 hours, rarely chimping, and no evf i could get that 1500 marks with 60ish % battery left.. but thats earlier firmware.. now i cant be bothered, it just lives

[Chuck Albertson]

The manual is right regarding the initial discharge/recharge cycles for new batts, and it's widely recommended for lithium-ion batts in other devices as well (that I've seen, anyway - phones, iPads). After that, it's not recommended to completely discharge it. As the manual states, though, if you've already put your batt through 25 or so discharge cycles, you might want to try the charge/discharge-to-zero cycle 2 or 3 times to re-condition the batt.

Shots per charge really depends on the circumstances. Walking around and shooting with a SL2-S (no radios, little chimping) can deplete the batt in a day and a half and you wind up with 100 exposures. On the other hand, shooting a marathon on a cold winter morning with tracking autofocus, RAW+JPG, etc., I got around 500 exposures and only depleted half of one batt. I just carry a spare or two, and don't worry about it.

[nameBrandon]

What do you mean by "no EVF".. you've turned the rear screen off? I use the FN button to toggle it off so it's like a M11-D mode. Doing that, I've done several full days of shooting with plenty of battery left, so I've never actually checked how many shots I can take on a full battery. 

[jgeenen]

The camera electronics prevents the battery from being fully discharged. It is save to use up the battery if you are able to recharge afterwards. Storing it discharged might get the battery charge below safe margins. 
Every action with the camera discharges the battery. The “1500 shot miracle” may be possible when using plenty of continuous shooting, no previews, and very limited waiting times, but under normal conditions 700 to 800 shots seems more than reasonable.

I would not worry too much, use the battery down to 5% or so and recharge to follow Leica’s advice.

[justj]

Today I took 20 pictures with m11p safari and the battery went from 100 to 90%, at this rate I can barely clock 200 shots. 

 

[jakontil]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

35 minutes ago, justj said:

Today I took 20 pictures with m11p safari and the battery went from 100 to 90%, at this rate I can barely clock 200 shots. 

 

New battery would need to used and discharged and back charged before reaching optimum capacity 

[justj]

16 minutes ago, jakontil said:

New battery would need to used and discharged and back charged before reaching optimum capacity 

Fingers crossed!

[elmars]

vor 1 Stunde schrieb justj:

Today I took 20 pictures with m11p safari and the battery went from 100 to 90%, at this rate I can barely clock 200 shots. 

 

Taking photos doesn't require much energy. The M11 needs about 10 to 15 % per hour just to be switched on. That's why the number of photos is almost meaningless if you don't know how long it took to take them.

[justj]

1 hour ago, elmars said:

Taking photos doesn't require much energy. The M11 needs about 10 to 15 % per hour just to be switched on. That's why the number of photos is almost meaningless if you don't know how long it took to take them.

It's like within 10 minutes.

[elmars]

And the camera was on for only ten minutes in total? If so I would ask for a new battery. 

[justj]

51 minutes ago, elmars said:

And the camera was on for only ten minutes in total? If so I would ask for a new battery. 

Yes, the first 20 photos the battery went down really fast. Now about 90 photos later battery is only 65%. Total camera on time is much less than 1 hour for sure. 

[SrMi]

9 hours ago, justj said:

Today I took 20 pictures with m11p safari and the battery went from 100 to 90%, at this rate I can barely clock 200 shots. 

 

The battery is mainly used when the EVF or LCD is active, not when pressing the shutter. Initially, we tend to use the menus and review images more than later, hence higher battery consumption.