Does Live View Eat Batteries or What?

[Gdad]

I spent 4 hours at DHS and DTD last night- took about 400 pictures- and totally depleted TWO fully charged batteries.

I don't know why- I use to be able to seemingly shoot all day- heck all weekend- on a single battery. The bulk of what I shot yesterday was trying to give me some HDR stuff to play with when I get CS5- so 90% of my shots were on a tripod and 9 shot / 9 stop brackets. I did use live view a lot for composing the shots (I find this helps me with UWA composition for some reason) but still- 400ish / 9 = 45 or so setups with the tripod using live view maybe 30 seconds per setup? So 20-30 minutes maximum of live view kills two batteries? Has anyone else experienced this? It kind of seems a little extreme to me. One or maybe both of the batteries were brand new too- I just got two new ones so I have three total (but I only took two with me.)

Worse yet- I never even got a chance to meet Don- my battery died in the middle of the first HOB set.

 

[MICKEY88]

I think you experienced Disneys new Security weapon.
Rather than confront suspicious Photographers they now send out a high frequency electromagnetic pulse that rapidly drains the batteries in the camera, without doing any harm to the camera or batteries..

I heard about this from a friend of a friend, that knows someone that works for Disney.

 

[Gdad]

I think you experienced Disneys new Security weapon.
Rather than confront suspicious Photographers they now send out a high frequency electromagnetic pulse that rapidly drains the batteries in the camera, without doing any harm to the camera or batteries..

I heard about this from a friend of a friend, that knows someone that works for Disney.

Can that system beam the autographed Mickey picture directly onto my memory card at the same time?

 

[seashoreCM]

What was the proportion of flash pictures versus daylight pictures?

Two things use up the battery quickly: the flash and the viewfinder screen.

Digital camera hints: http://www.cockam.com/digicam.htm

 

[MICKEY88]

Can that system beam the autographed Mickey picture directly onto my memory card at the same time?

it could ,but they haven't activated that function yet, they are currently working on a system that will determine whether or not the photographer involved would like a Mickey picture or not.

 

[Gdad]

What was the proportion of flash pictures versus daylight pictures?

Two things use up the battery quickly: the flash and the viewfinder screen.

Digital camera hints: http://www.cockam.com/digicam.htm

No flash pictures- some were long exposures though. That probably contributed.

 

[Icemann]

I like Micky88 explanation better and now you are in Disney's Don secret file of pro photographers

 

[boBQuincy]

What was the proportion of flash pictures versus daylight pictures?

Two things use up the battery quickly: the flash and the viewfinder screen.

Digital camera hints: http://www.cockam.com/digicam.htm

Not only is the LCD screen on all the time, the sensor and processor are working full time as well. Full frame sensors use full frame battery power! Renounce the full frame madness and join us in crop sensor power savings! Darth Don senses your conflict...

 

[MICKEY88]

were the new batteries 3rd party batteries..?/

 

[Gdad]

were the new batteries 3rd party batteries..?/

They are supposedly genuine Nikon batteries but I did get them on Ebay for about half the normal price. The parts and packaging looked genuine but who knows for sure. Not sure if my old battery was one of the two I used since I can't tell them apart now.

 

[MarkBarbieri]

What was the proportion of flash pictures versus daylight pictures?

Two things use up the battery quickly: the flash and the viewfinder screen.

That only eats the camera's battery if you use the built-in flash. Jeff's camera is so lame that it doesn't even have a built-in flash.

Live-View definitely sucks up some juice, but I've never seen it that bad. I've shot school plays with a 5D running for almost an hour at a time and still had plenty of battery to spare. That's a full frame sensor with live view on the entire time. Of course, that wasn't at Disney. If it were one battery, I'd think that you have a battery that is starting to go south.

You might try dropping your brightness levels for your LCD next time you go on a Live-View binge. I've never bothered, but so that doesn't factor into my 1 hour plus with live view. I do worry about it though, so I have a hot spare battery on the floor ready to be swapped into action at any time during my play shoots.

I was wondering today whether it is possible to turn the Live View off while shooting video. I know that sounds really strange...that's the way I am. I'm thinking ahead to a camping trip this June. I was thinking about how to preserve battery life since I won't have a charger on the trip. I'd also like to take more video (I always say that but never do because it is so much work). If I can shut off the LCD for long running static shots, it would help a lot.

 

[Gdad]

Jeff's camera is so lame that it doesn't even have a built-in flash.

Well actually it kinda does have one.

 

[seashoreCM]

Some batteries have a not so long lifetime just out of the box and the lifetime increases to the expected normal after three or four full discharge (in the camera) and recharge cycles.

I am still in the snapshooter (as opposed to photographer) crowd with a point and shoot with something like 1/2.5 or 8mm diagonal sensor but I probably should ask: If we are to ditch the full frame fad, what is the optimum sensor for a DSLR? APS size? Half frame (18x24mm) size?

 

[RBennett]

I was thinking about how to preserve battery life since I won't have a charger on the trip.

Not to change the subject, but do they have a battery powered battery charger for those types of batteries? I've seen them for other types.