These batteries are sh!t

[RSL]

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Most users -myself included- have a tendency not to condition the batteries properly. I.e. run them through three full charge-discharge cycles to reach full capacity. Then the capacity is between 400 and 500 shots. I have a feelinng other manufacturers sell their batteries pre-conditioned.

 

Jaap, you ought to check out http://www.batteryuniversity.com/partone-5.htm:

 

Lithium-ion is a low maintenance battery, an advantage that most other chemistries cannot claim. There is no memory and no scheduled cycling is required...

 

NiMH batteries need to be "conditioned," as you say, but not Li-ion batteries. On the other hand, the camera's "fuel gauge" might need to be coordinated with the actual charge on the battery, and, unless you have a system built in to the battery and charger to do that, as Nikons have, you do need to cycle the battery.

 

Let's hope Leica learns from Nikon or somebody how to do auto-off properly so that it kicks in almost immediately and returns from slumber with absolutely no delay. Might even be possible to modify the M8 to do that.

[jimrivers]

I got 4 batteries from Hong Kong for about $10 each. They last longer than the Leica battery.

[caparobertsan]

I got 4 batteries from Hong Kong for about $10 each. They last longer than the Leica battery.

 

Hey really????????????????? ebay right? Which one ddid u get? I guess all the same ha~????

 

Please let me know ASAP! SO No problems with charger or damaging camera????

 

 

I have a same experience with My Poworbook G4 Ti battery. I bought one from USA 4800mA=200 USD and one from China= 80.00 4000mA and china one lasted longer and battery contacts was better than USA one!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

Thanks

[Dantist]

Only my sandstone about batteries.

 

I did have to consider that the powerage of electric network could make some difference.

Don't have enough power if the charger is plugged in the bathroom or the saloon. The batteries will last quite longer if reloaded in the kitchen. Means a difference from less than 1Gb SD card up to 2 items... In fact, the fuses are stronger in the kitchen, but is that a point to the real world of electronic ?

 

Please, don't harass me with specific technical details from which I am far from, I am not a technician at all, let's say I am an artist LOL, this is only what I can help you with, after weekly reloadings within the last 6 months.

Cheers,

Michel

[jimrivers]

Hey really????????????????? ebay right? Which one ddid u get? I guess all the same ha~????

 

Please let me know ASAP! SO No problems with charger or damaging camera????

 

 

I have a same experience with My Poworbook G4 Ti battery. I bought one from USA 4800mA=200 USD and one from China= 80.00 4000mA and china one lasted longer and battery contacts was better than USA one!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

Thanks

 

tyr this

za54 2X Battery For Leica M8 14464 Digital Camera - eBay (item 250239433871 end time Apr-28-08 05:20:17 PDT)

[caparobertsan]

tyr this

za54 2X Battery For Leica M8 14464 Digital Camera - eBay (item 250239433871 end time Apr-28-08 05:20:17 PDT)

 

Thanks Man

I will get some of them. But They are so cheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep!!!!!!

 

Thanks

[JHAG]

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Are these batteries reliable ? Any of you used it daily ?

[Tina Manley]

I use those same batteries from Hong Kong all the time and have had no problems at all. I can't tell them from the Leica ones unless I read the small print on the battery. I have 10 Hong Kong ones and two Leica ones for my two M8's. I used to have problems with M8 batteries giving out after a few hours but lately they've been lasting for days. I have no idea why. I drain them completely and recharge overnight usually. The batteries are small enough that you can carry several back-ups so dead batteries shouldn't be a problem.

 

Tina

http://www.tinamanley.com

[KM-25]

Most users -myself included- have a tendency not to condition the batteries properly. I.e. run them through three full charge-discharge cycles to reach full capacity. Then the capacity is between 400 and 500 shots. I have a feelinng other manufacturers sell their batteries pre-conditioned.

 

I sure do and they still only kick out about 280-350 shots on the average, even with auto off. The M8's processor and the power needs it has is not very well thought out.

 

But then again, this is not Leica's forte now is it.

[kic883]

My guess is the circuitry in the M8...It just isn't as energy efficient.

 

Tale: This weekend I shot a soccer match with a pair of Nikon D300s. Normally I rarely chimp, but this is only the second outing for the pair and I needed to do a lot of checking to confirm my setups. Lenses were the Nikkor 70-200 (VR off) and the 300 f/2.8 (non-VR).

 

Nikon has a battery display in the menus that shows the number of shots taken with the battery since the last charge, and the remaining capacity. This morning I looked at each camera and the results were: Camera A - 160 shots, 82% remaining; Camera B - 233 shots, 78% remaining.

 

5 years ago, shooting the same lenses on a D1H and a D1X, I might have had to change the battery on Camera B. During the intervening years, most camera manufacturers have made HUGE advances with regard to reducing power consumption. Looking at the disassembled M8 pictures on this site you don't see many custom circuits. Custom circuits make manufacturing easier and less expensive (once you recover the investment) but also (usually) lead to significant power consumption savings.

 

Battery specs? The M8's battery is listed at 3.7 volts, 1900 mAh (3 or 4 small cells wired in parallel?). The Nikon EN-EL3e (used by several models) is rated at 7.4 volts, 1500 mAh (2 cells wired in series).

 

I don't blame the battery. I think the M8 just has clunkier circuitry. That's why I need to get two more M8 batteries.

 

Agree, not the battery, this probably is the problem of M8.

 

I'm a cell phone engineer, we do have to measure and optimize the devices to as low power consumption as possible. Low power consumption can be improve by hardware or software changes (e.g. driver). Let's hope for a better software

[diogenis]

He should just use the auto off feature for long periods, or just use the hard switch for responsiveness, as Mark suggested. This way he can get his 4GB card filled in one battery charge.

Also remember that you can recharge lithium batteries anytime and that it is generally better to not let them discharge.

M8 is designed to be energy efficient. resulting in a more "manual" or "demanding" camera.

The Canons are the exact opposite, which adds to volume and weight.

With a weight AND volume ratio of something like 1:5, the M8 needs at least an applause for accomplishing those great results...

[diogenis]

I use those same batteries from Hong Kong all the time and have had no problems at all. I can't tell them from the Leica ones unless I read the small print on the battery. I have 10 Hong Kong ones and two Leica ones for my two M8's. I used to have problems with M8 batteries giving out after a few hours but lately they've been lasting for days. I have no idea why. I drain them completely and recharge overnight usually. The batteries are small enough that you can carry several back-ups so dead batteries shouldn't be a problem.

 

Tina

Tina Manley- powered by SmugMug

 

Tina, dont fully discharge your lithium packs. You are killing them. There is a limit of less than 500 recharge cycles with lithium packs. They are not cadmium packs. Just charge them when you feel like it

[Tina Manley]

I'll never get all of this straight! If there is a limit of 500 recharges, shouldn't I use them up completely before recharging, therefore recharging fewer times?

 

Tina

Tina Manley- powered by SmugMug

[morffin]

I have been using the cheap China knockoffs for 2 months now and I cant tell the difference between them and the over priced Leica ones.

 

Shot dozens of assignments and they are holding up great.

[fotografr]

Thanks,

Dont use the auto off....takes too long to wake the camera Im sure that contributes to the problem.

 

That is actually a misconception. It does take 3 or 4 seconds for the numbers to appear in the frame counter on the top of the camera, however, the camera is awake and ready to capture images less than 1 second from when it is either turned on or awakened with the shutter press. Try it out.

[wparsonsgisnet]

Morf, I did a shoot about 10 days ago, 2 hours of Indian Dance.

 

I shot about 1,500 pix in that time, and then followed up with another 50 pix at a 2-hour reception/dinner.

 

I used only 1 and 1/2 batteries -- and I always take the battery out when the last segment shows.

 

M8 was set to DNG only, no review during the concert (1,400 pix) in 2 hours) and then review during the reception. Camera set to shut off after 10 minutes and left on during the entire 4 hours.

 

All my batteries are Leica branded.

[morffin]

Thanks for the feedback... no idea how youre getting so many frames out of one battery.

 

I have gotten much better battery performance since I switched from Cont. to single frame.

 

As for the auto shut off... maybe my M8 has a problem because it takes a few seconds for it to wake up for me.

 

Either way...warts and all...I love this camera. I dont mind swapping out batteries during down time on a shoot...esp now that I carry a bunch of cheap spares.

[terrycioni]

What would be a real bonus is a conditioning battery charger for the M8. Just as a point of interest, the Nikon D3 comes with a dual battery conditioning charger in the box. Pro camera - pro charging system good for Nikon.

 

I keep hoping that there will be a third party or even Leica attempt at something similar. I tend to agree that if the M8 has an Achilles heel - it is the battery and charger combo which I believe is at the heart of some of the overall power problems. To that end I carefully managed my batteries and have few problems and when I do it can be traced back to not ensuring I have conditioned and charged the battery in question.

 

I love the M8 but would really like a better battery charging system. Wasn't there discussion about a plate for the M8 battery and some company who makes a generic charger?

 

Best to all.

 

Terry.

[Vieri]

I extract some 5-600 pics from my M8's battery, no checking after each photo & not much use of the screen in general; however, I haven't yet charged my D3's battery after 3.000 shots, and I once had a shoot for a stop motion video (a rock band) with my D2xs where I took around 6.000 pics in 12h almost no-stop work with one battery (and still having a bar left at the end).

 

Definitely the D-series Nikon batteries are bigger than the Leicas, but let's not forget AF, AF-S, mirror, processing speed difference, etc etc, and all the bells & whistles that use power on a DSLR. So, considering that Leica's battery are 3.7 v and 1.900 mA (7 Wh) vs. the Nikon battery at 11 v and 2.500 mA (27 Wh), and considering the different power usage requirements, and seeing that Nikon batteries are good not for 4 times but for 10 times the image taken, IMHO Leica M8 batteries or Leica's in camera power management are very much sub par. Wether they are sufficient for most users, wether frequent card changing makes changing batteries less of an hassle, wether bringing along a couple of spares is not that big a deal for most users, whatever, doesn't IMHO change the fact that Leica didn't do a great job with their power management overall.

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[wparsonsgisnet]

Thanks for the feedback... no idea how youre getting so many frames out of one battery.

QUOTE]

 

In this shoot, I was shooting almost continuously. There were 8 dances, each about 8-10 minutes. During each of the dances I shot 100-200 images. There was a *frequent* buffer full condition. Periodically, I would review a pic to make sure the lighting was ok; the stage lighting was v-e-r-y uneven (high school, not enough lighting instruments, sounds almost like the real world).

 

The bride was sitting next to me and said I was shooting so many pix that I might as well have been shooting video. It's easier to shoot Western dance forms: there are more transitions between the points where there's an image that should be captured. In Indian Dance there's an important expression or gesture every few seconds.

 

Just for fun, there were two dancers only one of which I was engaged to shoot, so I was "not required" to capture images of the second dancer, and I was "required" to find the correct dancer in an isolated space.

 

I was extremely pleased to get such image thruput and battery life out of the M8. I shot with 2GB cards from Ridata (150x) and Sandisk (Ultra II). This card holds about 190 raw M8 images, so I mostly got one card per dance.