Canon 5d MKII battery

the_monkey

Hi,
I got this camera about jan 2009, the battery is allready showing at
2/3 recharge performance ..

is this normal ?

I sometimes charge it when it is not fully depleted - could this cause this
degradation ?

Or is this normal behaviour for a battery this age ? - I notice (i think) the battery life is less now aswell ...

It is an expensive battery. i would expect on a top camera it to last longer...

ThOnda

Industrial batteries have warranty for 35 charging cycles. After using the camera for more than one year, I would almost expect some degradation

AnimalRights

I've never noticed any degradation in my battery and I like you charge it b4 it's depleted.
Having said that I don't pay that much attention to my battery, it's a very long lasting battery.

hbr

the_monkey wrote: »

Hi,
I got this camera about jan 2009, the battery is allready showing at
2/3 recharge performance ..

is this normal ?

How many recharge cycles has it had? Assuming it gets 1-2 charges per
week, you could expect to see some fall off in capacity after 15 months.
I have seen similar performance from some Li-ion batteries in laptops.
On the other hand, I have a pile of Li-ion Nokia phone batteries that
are performing as good as new after several years.

I sometimes charge it when it is not fully depleted - could this cause this
degradation ?

Li-ion batteries are not supposed to suffer from memory effect.

It is an expensive battery. i would expect on a top camera it to last longer...

It might be more a matter of chemistry than price. If you are unhappy with the performance of the battery, try sending it back to Canon. They might be inclined to send you a new one, although that would raise obvious problems if you don't have a spare.

the_monkey

Hi, hmmm ... never would i charge it as much as twice a week...
more like once a fortnight .. or once a week ... max..

now it's taken 53 photos and battery is at 88%.
so roughly speaking that's 441 photos - of course there
has been some playback aswell ... but this seems a bit low ??

Also regarding battery packs, how do they work, do they use all
the batteries in series or parallel ?

edit -- just looking at the BG E6 battery grip for the 5D MKII, its about €200
and doesn't include batteries ... what is the point ? all it can hold is 2 batteries ??

am i missing something ... I'll just buy a spare battery ?

hbr

the_monkey wrote: »

Hi, hmmm ... never would i charge it as much as twice a week...
more like once a fortnight .. or once a week ... max..

So about 50-60 cycles. I would expect it to be in good shape still. There is some interesting stuff about Li-ion batteries on wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium-ion_battery

"a typical Li-ion laptop battery that is full most of the time at 25 °C or 77 °F will irreversibly lose approximately 20% capacity per year."

now it's taken 53 photos and battery is at 88%.
so roughly speaking that's 441 photos - of course there
has been some playback aswell ... but this seems a bit low ??

I don't have a 5D, but several hundred shots per charge is typical for a modern camera. My 500D does 300-400 shots on a charge. As a newcomer to DSLRs, I probably spend more time composing shots and messing about with the LCD screen than a more experienced user.

Also regarding battery packs, how do they work, do they use all
the batteries in series or parallel ?

Usually two 3.6V cells connected in series to make up 7.2V

edit -- just looking at the BG E6 battery grip for the 5D MKII, its about €200
and doesn't include batteries ... what is the point ? all it can hold is 2 batteries ??

am i missing something ... I'll just buy a spare battery ?

The grip makes the camera look bigger and more impressive (Flame bait)

the_monkey

Apart from the grip making the camera look more snazzy - no advantage ?

should i just get 2 spare batteries ?

PabD

The grip will do several things:


It gives a lovely balance to the 5D when a heavy lens is attached imo.

If you get caught out with no charged Canon batteries you can use the cradle and pop in AA batteries, handy if you were to get stuck as most people would have spare AA’s in the bag for a flash anyway.

It makes the camera much more comfortable for vertical shooting as it has the same controls as the camera itself. I also find it makes the camera grip much more comfortable in the horizontal position.

Hoverer one thing to note is that it feels a little bit square in the hand and before splashing out for one I would recommend trying one out first if you can.


I have not noticed any drop off in my batteries but I want paying too much attention as they last forever particularly when using two in the grip.