20D Battery Life

dragon300zx

I have been hearing things about 20D's having short battery lives. I just don't get this. It was reffered to in another thread about slim cameras how it is impressive to take 2gb on their batteries without having to change them. I don't get this. I frequently can shoot 4-6gb on a BP511 in my 10D. I can usually get a day and a half of non-stop shooting at events (thats about 600-1000+ frames a day for me). Is the 20D's battery life that short or will it hold up with my 10D and the people I'm noticing having problems are the exception? This worries me about upgrading.

Nir

2 months with the 20D - battery life is fantastic! My battery meter just doesn't go down. Before an important session I recharge just to make sure. I've charged it only 3 times in these 2 months and done about 1500 frames (some with onboard flash).

gus

Battery life is amazing for me. I take 2 out for 3-4 gigs shooting & come home to realise that i didnt change the battery.

How could you knock it

Michiel de Brieder

dragon300zx wrote:

I have been hearing things about 20D's having short battery lives. I just don't get this. It was reffered to in another thread about slim cameras how it is impressive to take 2gb on their batteries without having to change them. I don't get this.

I referred to the 2 GB, but remember that I was talking about a VERY small camera that fits almost any pocket (I think the battery is about half the size of the BP511). Getting 2 GB and no change of batteries in sight yet (and shooting about 20 mins of video) is quite impressive IMO. Also remember that we were talking about a camera with a 2,5 inch LCD that I use to compose, take videos and chimp with, that eats a lot of juice, while a DSLR uses far less juice!

The 20D has excellent battery life though, I shot a wedding monday without having to change!

dragon300zx

Yeah. See I haven't shot my A80 since I was in florida and then I used it twice. Kinda forgot about the lcd for composing and all that eating up batteries. Guess the 10D spoiled me.

Michiel de Brieder

dragon300zx wrote:

Guess the 10D spoiled me.

And rightly so :lol

Khaos

I can easily get 4 GB with my battery. Are these users keeping the camera on all the time? I have mine set to shut down after a minute of non use. I also suspect they are probably doing a lot of focus, no shoot, which will drain the battery.

webwizard

Battery life on my 20D has been exceptional. Shoot all day and the indicator doesn't go down. I'm using two batteries in my battery grip. It's like I'm on utility power.

I always carry two charged spares in my bag just in case but have not had to use them after a full day. I keep two chargers at home or when I'm traveling so I can recharge at night when I'm asleep.

gluwater

Better than expected battery life
IMO the 20D battery is very long lasting. I have filled 2 2Gb CF cards in a session and not changed batteries. The only time I have really had to change the batteries was when shooting heavily with the onboard flash. I do have the camera set to shut off after 1 minute of non use and the preview of the shot only appears for 2 seconds. If the camera is left on and the preview is left on for a signifigant amount of time then the batteries will probably wear out much faster.

Shay Stephens

Been using the 20D for a while now, and the battery life is noticably better than the 10D. I can do an all day wedding 12+ hours on two batteries (13+ gb).

My auto shut off timer is 15 minutes and the image preview is 8 seconds.

purified

If that's true about the Canon 20D then I have to get it.

My Canon A95 uses up two AA batteries in 2 hours at the most. I bought two 50 packs of AA batteries in June and they are all gone now... Haven't gotten around to getting rechargeable batteries yet.

John Mueller

You need to charge the battery?

Life is way better than the 10D

John Mueller

purified wrote:

If that's true about the Canon 20D then I have to get it.

My Canon A95 uses up two AA batteries in 2 hours at the most. I bought two 50 packs of AA batteries in June and they are all gone now... Haven't gotten around to getting rechargeable batteries yet.

Use the energizer (green batteries) Cant remember what they are called and you should see better results.

philspace

Same here, battery life has been great. As an aside, the place I buy my AA and AAA's from, Thomas Distributing, sells a couple flavors of 511/2's for cheap. I bought a couple just so I wouldn't ever have to bring a charger on my longer motorcycle trips and then caved in and bought a 120/12VDC charger.