Hot answers tagged battery
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One of the easiest choices is to buy brand name batteries. From batch to batch the manufacturer takes quality and performance very seriously. You know and I know that in general there will be no lemons. Generic batteries can be made by any number of manufacturers and they all take on the challenge with different perspectives. And as a result if you were to ...
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1. Use high-quality NiMH cells
You want the NiMH chemistry because it's able to supply the high peak current that leads to faster recycle times (and less energy lost to internal resistance).
"Hold their charge when not in use" and "long lasting (on a single charge)" are opposing criteria: the reason is that the newer low-self-discharge (or "hybrid") cells ...
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Leaving the batteries in your camera for a week or two between uses will be no problem. If you plan to leave your camera unused for six months to a year, you might want to take them out.
And, the lithium battery pack used in your camera (like most current dSLRs) should hold its charge on the shelf fairly well, so you won't have to worry too much about it ...
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I agree Sanyo Eneloop are very good batteries, but you should also consider getting a high quality charger if you want your batteries to last a while. I took the recommendation from this Coding Horror blog post and went for the BC900, but the newer BL700 is highly recommended as well (comparison here).
12
I (and many others, from what I've ready), really love the Eneloop batteries by Sanyo. That's an Amazon link to an 8-pack but they're available elsewhere as well. I've had great results as far as the batteries remaining charged, recharging quickly, and offering good performance for things like flash cycle time.
12
Amazon has the LP-E5 for $39.99 USD. To me, after buying a $500+ camera, a $40 second battery is a no brainer.
I still have the original BP-511a that I purchased for $70 from Canon for my 20D in 2005 (it's now in my 40D), and I purchased a second LP-E6 for $79 for my 5D Mark II. In nearly 5 years of shooting, I've spent a total of $149 for camera ...
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Based on the reading of the battery spec, no. The battery pack supplies 7.4v, while USB can only supply 5v. However, you can buy the ACK-E2 wall power kit to power the camera directly from a standard outlet.
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This will not be a problem. Milliamp-hours are a rating of the capacity of the battery (metaphorically, the size of the gas tank), and having extra won't cause any harm. (Basically, it's how long the power will last, not how strong it is.) It's possible but unlikely that cost-cutting in the battery may have other, more problematic issues, but many people use ...
11
Not only do you need new batteries, but what you want is low self-discharge NiMHs. Like the name says, they have a better not-in-use retention of charge, reducing frustrations like this. They generally have lower capacity than "regular" NiMHs, but unless you're planning to recharge and then use them up immediately, it's worth it.
The common brand name here ...
11
Yes! This is a normal problem with rechargeables, and there is a type of battery made to solve it — low-self discharge NiMH. These will hold a charge for months sitting idle. The downside is lower capacity, but I find that a small price to pay for actually being useful. The main brand is Sanyo Eneloop, but there are others, too.
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Nikon produces excellent manuals for their flashes, with a lot of great technical information (rivaled in this area only by Metz). The following is from the SB-600 User Manual, page 19:
Alkaline-manganese | 3.5 sec. | 200 / 6-30 sec.
Lithium | 4.0 sec. | 400 / 7.5-30 sec.
Nickel | 2.5 sec. | 180 / 6-30 sec.
NiCd (1000 mAh) | 2.9 ...
10
As noted by others, if you want a battery that is a straight replacement for rechargeable AA cells then LSD (low self discharge) NimH will meet your need.
LSD cells have more, not less, lifetime cycles than standard cells. A first generation Sanyo Eneloop cell offers about 1000 cycles (compared to less than 500 for a standard NimH cell) and their new 2nd ...
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Yes, they do. "Body only" means as opposed to in a kit with a lens. You should actually get a battery, matching charger (except in the now-rare case of cameras which use AA cells), an instruction manual and probably a CD with software, maybe some random cables, and various other little bits and pieces like a viewfinder cover. In fact, the manual will ...
10
Usually, we buy more batteries. For pros, a few extra batteries is a very marginal business expense, and for serious enthusiasts, it's usually just worth it. I always want a spare battery for my DSLR, even though it has excellent battery life. If you're in the studio, an AC adapter may be an option — although even then, keeping the camera free of an extra ...
10
All else being equal, yes.
A bigger sensor requires more power. Advancement in power-saving technologies can sometimes improve that but with higher pixel counts being the norm, we do not see much of that. Each pixel requires circuitry so higher megapixels require more power than making the sensor bigger.
Luckily bigger cameras have room for bigger ...
9
I had a super cheap non-Canon battery in my 400D and it was as good as the Canon one.
But I wouldn't trust a sample of 1 if I were you ;)
Although you mention in the details you have a 450D, I'll add an answer to the generic Canon question for others that may read this.
For some Canon cameras (such as the 7D) the battery holds special information ...
9
Rechargeable Ni-Mh batteries have a lower voltage, and a higher current.
This gives a faster recycle time.
I use Sanyo Eneloop batteries, which claim to have a long shelf life. The claim is that they retain 85% of their charge over 12 months. I have no reason to doubt them, although I have only been using them for 6 months.
update
I have now been ...
9
If the batteries are multi-celled, then yes, full discharge is good, once every couple of months. There are sensors that combine readings from multiple cells to determine capacity and balance the cells to improve efficiency and overal capacity. Other than that, Li-Ion still prefers shallow discharges.
To maximize Li-Ion batteries' life, store them in cold ...
9
It really depends on the model but modern cameras are very good at saving power during sleep mode.
Sleep mode however on most cameras consumes some non-negligible amount of power, so if you wanted the more battery-life then turning it off is better.
Even better than off is to remove the battery as some cameras, particularly Nikon DSLRs, use power even when ...
9
When I am out shooting I always leave my Canon switched on, after 30 seconds or so it goes into sleep mode. I have never noticed any negative effect on battery life. Leaving it switched on means that it is ready to shoot as soon as I need it and I don't risk missing a photo opportunity.
I will usually turn it off when I put the camera into my camera bag ...
9
Is it really necessary to fully drain the Ni-MH batteries before recharging them?
As a rule, I always want my speedlite batteries to be fully charged. At the end of each
day when I use my flashgun, I put the batteries charging, regardless whether I fired 10
or 100 times. Now I am wondering if that is the right way to do it...
NimH battery care ...
8
Non-rechargeable Lithium batteries will definitely last longer than standard alkaline batteries... anywhere from 3x to 5x longer, depending on who you ask, and how it is measured. You will also get faster recycle times with non-rechargeable Lithium batteries as well.
There are two important things to know about non-rechargeable Lithium batteries before you ...
8
If you're going to use the camera with regularity, you simply need an extra battery, in my opinion. You will, eventually, have a few days where you can't recharge for some reason so having the extra on-hand is important. You may forget to recharge, you may not be near electricity, you may have forgotten your charger, etc., and having an extra battery just ...
8
I never take my battery grip off my 5D mark iii. The extra battery life that it gives is wonderful. That said, I use it with the official batteries and I have a total of 4 regular batteries for it.
I do still have a loaded and ready to go AA tray in-case of emergency, but AA's don't really work well as a battery option because they still provide less ...
7
I highly recommend Zeikos battery grips. I have the Zeikos grip for my 5D Mark II, and I could not be happier. It matches my 5D2 perfectly, with no flex. With two batteries, it gives it enough heft to match my bigger lenses. It has vertical shooting controls (which I never use), and sits firmly attached to my 5D2 body.
I bought it from Amazon, paid $90.00, ...
7
I always get the Low-Self Discharge batteries like the SANYO Eneloop or Duracell Pre-charged. They have a low discharge rate when not in use and seem to have a longer lifespan than the other rechargeable batteries I have.
7
NiZns recharge around twice as fast as Sanyo Eneloops, but last maybe 75% as long and require a different charger.
See this discussion thread.
If you use your flashes continuously in a short amount of time, a higher capacity NiMh will actually perform better than a Low-Self-Discharge NiMh like eneloop. If you don't intend to discharge the batteries in a ...
7
I can't speak for Canon cams, but in the Nikon world generally one should stick with Nikon brand batteries. Particularly for the batteries from eBay, sometimes one gets a battery which is fine and of essentially the same quality as the Nikon batteries, and sometimes it's wretched junk. There's no way to tell. Poor-quality Li-ion batteries also run the (very ...
7
I've always been loyal to buying Canon's own batteries, as I've seen the damage that counterfeit lithium batteries have done to a friend's laptop. Of course, this is unlikely with third party batteries (and you've got to be fairly unlucky with a counterfeit one), but why risk £1000 worth of camera body for the sake of saving £25?
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Short answer:
get yourself some good, rechargable NiMh-AA with low self-discharge (see extensive list here on Wikpedia), at least two sets
buy a good recharger with discharge-function and peak-detection (delta-Voltage) like the Technoline BC 9001
Longer answer: you asked for energy-solutions people use for flashes: see the linked (and recommended on ...
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