Digital cameras: Battery life

[Kyteland]

I think I may be able to manage 5 weeks off this summer to go hiking (as mentioned in a previous thread) and I want to take a camera with me. I have a Canon S50 with 2 batteries, but even if I try to stretch the battery life as far as possible it will not last that long.

I have been thinking of buying a film SLR to take instead (maybe even an old one that dosn't use batteries), but I would prefer to have a digital. Does anyone know of either 1)a way to recharge my batteries on the trail, or 2)a DSLR that has batteries that will last that long.

There are lots of various portable solar panels on the market, but I have no experience with them. I honestly don't know how much direct sunlight I will get while on the move so they may not even be an option. I definitely don't have time to stop or a day to recharge my battery.

As far as the DSLR goes, I have been looking for an excuse to buy one, and if the battery life is good I may just take the plunge and get one. I want to avoid getting one of those huge, expensive battery/handgrip things if possible because I need to keep my pack weight to a minimum on this trip.

 

[DurocShark]

Bleh. A bucket of batteries will do fine. LoL

 

[Kyteland]

I'm sure they would, but I'm not going to haul 40 lbs of batteries up and down the mountain sides for a month. There is a need for my equipment to be light, which is why I won't just go out and buy enough batteries to last. I figure if there is a way to recharge them then I really only need 2. If there is a camera with a long battery life, then again I only need 1 or 2.

The way I see it, my camera will be my luxury item on this trip and I don't have much weight left over for luxury items.

 

[DaWhim]

you can get a brand new battery from me for $30

 

[BCYL]

How many pics are you planning to take? with 2 batteries, and your LCD screen off (at least keep LCD use to a minimal), there might be a chance it will last 5 weeks...

 

[DaWhim]

Originally posted by: BCYL
How many pics are you planning to take? with 2 batteries, and your LCD screen off (at least keep LCD use to a minimal), there might be a chance it will last 5 weeks...

get one more battery from me....that will be possible

 

[BCYL]

Originally posted by: DaWhim

Originally posted by: BCYL
How many pics are you planning to take? with 2 batteries, and your LCD screen off (at least keep LCD use to a minimal), there might be a chance it will last 5 weeks...

get one more battery from me....that will be possible

You sure is trying hard to sell

 

[DaWhim]

Originally posted by: BCYL

Originally posted by: DaWhim

Originally posted by: BCYL
How many pics are you planning to take? with 2 batteries, and your LCD screen off (at least keep LCD use to a minimal), there might be a chance it will last 5 weeks...

get one more battery from me....that will be possible

You sure is trying hard to sell

come on, I need $$$ for chri$tma$

 

[FrustratedUser]

It's really stretching it. NiMH will not last 5 weeks. They have higher discharge rate than NiCd.
I would get 2 sets of Li batteries. They last longer. I took almost 500 pics with the Li battery that came stock with my Olympus C720.

I think that is your best bet.

 

[Kyteland]

http://www.powershot.com/powershot2/s50-45/accessory.html: "The PowerShot S50 / S45 is equipped with a highly powerful NB-2L 7.4V/570-mA Li-Ion battery that can be recharged for 80 minutes of shooting with the CB-2LT battery charger. "

DaWhim, sorry, I don't need a 3rd battery. If I go that route I'll need more than that.

 

[BCYL]

Originally posted by: FrustratedUser
It's really stretching it. NiMH will not last 5 weeks. They have higher discharge rate than NiCd.
I would get 2 sets of Li batteries. They last longer. I took almost 500 pics with the Li battery that came stock with my Olympus C720.

I think that is your best bet.

The Canon S50 does use Li-ION rechargables, not NiMH...

That said, w/ my S45 I was only able to get 1 day of shooting out of one of those batteries w/ the LCD turned on for every shot...

 

[Kyteland]

DPReview report on S50 bettery life

We ran the camera through our new battery life test. This test is designed to be fair and comparative to each camera and battery type:

Take 4 shots without flash
Wait 2 minutes (50% of the time powering the camera off)
Take 1 shot with flash
Wait 1 minute
Repeat
Batteries are fully discharged and recharged before the test and all cameras were reset to their factory default settings. Here are the results:

Camera: Canon PowerShot S50
Battery: NB-2L
Power: 3.9 Wh
Battery life: 2 hr 39 mins
Number of shots: 270

I'll definitely take more than 540 shots.

The E-1 DSLR however

Battery life
The E-1 manual doesn't specify how long the battery is expected to last. Our experience was that the standard battery is very powerful and can run the camera for at least a thousand frames and probably more. This was supported by the hands-on second opinion of Les Freed (see later in this review).

Canon Digital Rebel

The EOS 300D has the same virtually Canon standard BP-511 Lithium-Ion rechargeable battery. This unit is rated at 7.4V, 1100 mAh (8.1 Wh), it's small and lightweight, charges quickly and lasts very well. Battery life with the EOS 300D appeared to be quite similar to the EOS 10D. We do not currently have facilities to test battery life for digital SLR's but have no reason to doubt Canon's own figures from the user manual.

Canon supplied battery life data
Temperature Shooting conditions
No flash use 50% flash use
Normal (20°C / 68°F) Approx. 600pprox. 400
Low (0°C / 32°F) Approx. 450 Approx. 350

 

[Kyteland]

Originally posted by: BCYL

Originally posted by: FrustratedUser
It's really stretching it. NiMH will not last 5 weeks. They have higher discharge rate than NiCd.
I would get 2 sets of Li batteries. They last longer. I took almost 500 pics with the Li battery that came stock with my Olympus C720.

I think that is your best bet.

The Canon S50 does use Li-ION rechargables, not NiMH...

That said, w/ my S45 I was only able to get 1 day of shooting out of one of those batteries w/ the LCD turned on for every shot...

I got 2 days out of mine over Thanksgiving before I had to recharge. I most certainly didn't take 270 pictures.

I really don't want to turn off the LCD to take pictures (the viewfinder sucks bigtime) but I'll admit that when I'm taking pictures of family I show everyone the pictures and I'm not exactly conserving battery power. I'm positive that I could mae the two batteries last 2 weeks, but those things are expensive. I'm not buying 5-6 batteries and lugging them around if I don't need to. This is the only time I would ever use that many. Having 2 is almost overkill.

 

[Eli]

Seriously. It uses rechargable batteries. If you can't recharge them while out there, your only other option is to bring multiple battery packs.

If you can't do that, then you'll just have to pick and chose your shots very wisely.

 

[NutBucket]

I say bring a film camera. Even one with a battery will last many weeks and the batteries are much smaller.

 

[Kyteland]

I'm willing to upgrade to a camera that will last that long.

Also, I would love some firsthand acounts of how well those portable solar panels work, especially when they are only in partial sunlight for most of the day. If it takes a week for the solar panel to charge a battery under those cirumstances, then I can get away with that because I can make the second battery last that long.

A film camera is my last resort. I'm really looking for a good excuse to upgrade to a DSLR though.

 

[DT4K]

You could try
This
plus
this
but it's not exactly cheap.

 

[Kyteland]

Hmm, I was wondering how I would hook the battery up to the solar panel. That converter looks heavy.

11 oz for the panel, 2 lbs for the converter.

Better off buying the extra batteries.

Edit: battery is only 1.4 oz and costs ~$50

 

[Conky]

I don't think you need 40 pounds of batteries although 10 or 15 ought to get you by if you must take so many pics.

I'm looking forward to my first good digital camera next week. I know for a fact I am getting a Canon A70 and am quite happy about it. If I was going on such a long trip I would carry at least a dozen sets of batteries and several memory cards.

 

[Kyteland]

I have a 1GB microdrive in the camera already.

Even if I take all of the pictures at the highest possible setting (which I probably will) it holds >800 pictures. I'll probably take more than that, but I will discard the ones that don't turn out.

 

[Wallydraigle]

The batteries for my D60 stay charged up when I'm not using them longer than you might think. I've had them sit for a month or more and still have a decent charge. I'm pretty sure its successor the 10D uses the same ones. I have the grip for it, which holds two batteries, and I get hundreds and hundreds of shots out of a charge, and that's powering big lenses with ultrasonic motors and image stabilizing and whatnot. Of course it depends on the weather too. Cold weather is really hard on batteries, but if your trip is during the summer you should be fine. Eight or ten batteries ought to last the better part of your trip. Each battery costs about fifty dollars, but if you're springing for a DSLR anyway...


You could always post your query on the DPreview forums; I'm sure others have been in the same situation.

 

[Kyteland]

*Sigh*

All of these solutions sound very heavy

Perhaps I'll just spring for a bunch of batteries and then sell them in FS/T afterwards and take the loss.

lirion, I've been reading about the Olympus E1 and it would be the perfect hiking DSLR. It is light, self cleaning, sealed against the elements, and the lenses have all been redisigned to be smaller/lighter than any other DSLR. Too bad that this is so damn expensive. I figure I'd be out $5,000 before I have even the basic parts I'd want for that camera! :Q

As for the hand grip on your camera, weight really is a problem for me. I have a weight requirement that I really ought to stick to and the more room I have for essentials (food, sleeping bag, etc) the better. I probably will only be able to resupply once during my trip so I'll have a lot of things to carry. Plus I'm not a big guy so I can't just shove extra weight in and say "to hell with it, I'll survive."

Edit: just to reiterate how important being light is, here is the elevation profile of where I'm currently planning on hiking. It is 440 miles round trip (I'm currently naive enough to think I'll make it round trip) fo I'll need to average 13-14 miles a day. I can get loaded down with stuff.

 

[DT4K]

Originally posted by: Kyteland
Hmm, I was wondering how I would hook the battery up to the solar panel. That converter looks heavy.

11 oz for the panel, 2 lbs for the converter.

Better off buying the extra batteries.

Edit: battery is only 1.4 oz and costs ~$50

Looks like you can get some non-canon brand NB-2L batteries for that camera for around 20-30 bucks each.

 

[Wallydraigle]

Originally posted by: Kyteland
*Sigh*

All of these solutions sound very heavy

Perhaps I'll just spring for a bunch of batteries and then sell them in FS/T afterwards and take the loss.

lirion, I've been reading about the Olympus E1 and it would be the perfect hiking DSLR. It is light, self cleaning, sealed against the elements, and the lenses have all been redisigned to be smaller/lighter than any other DSLR. Too bad that this is so damn expensive. I figure I'd be out $5,000 before I have even the basic parts I'd want for that camera! :Q

As for the hand grip on your camera, weight really is a problem for me. I have a weight requirement that I really ought to stick to and the more room I have for essentials (food, sleeping bag, etc) the better. I probably will only be able to resupply once during my trip so I'll have a lot of things to carry. Plus I'm not a big guy so I can't just shove extra weight in and say "to hell with it, I'll survive."

Edit: just to reiterate how important being light is, here is the elevation profile of where I'm currently planning on hiking. It is 440 miles round trip (I'm currently naive enough to think I'll make it round trip) fo I'll need to average 13-14 miles a day. I can get loaded down with stuff.

I'd be careful with the E1 for now. There's a lot of hype, don't buy into it too soon. You have to remember that this is a brand new system, and there is no standard for it yet. It could bomb and Olympus could never make another camera with that lens mount. Also from what I have read so far the lenses that are out now are not substantially smaller or lighter than 35mm. I hope it works out for them because competition is ultimately good for the consumers, but the odds are stacked against them.

For now I think you'd be better off with a digital Rebel or 10D from Canon, with a 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS lens. You can get a 300D digital Rebel with the 18-55 lens for less than $1000. Add the 28-135mm IS and you'd still come out under $1400. Can't beat that with a stick.

To be fair I've only done very casual research on the E1, but most of what I've heard so far has been lackluster at best. I do know that there are pros making a living with the E1 right now, but to me it just doesn't seem like a good time to invest in the system. I'm also heavily invested in Canon. I admit my bias on this subject.