Canon EOS 350D Battery life

[saxybert]

Hi guys, I'm new to this forum and trying to get some info on a fault that has developed with my 350D.

Bought in April from Carman's (via Ebay). Very happy with camera and photo's. Used to get umpteen weeks of battery life when the camera was not in use, but now the battery seems to drain within about 3 days (even if no photo's have been taken and the camera is switched off).

This happens with both the original canon battery, fully charged, and a generic equiv. battery.

Any advice? Is there some sort of leakage current somewhere? Seems a small problem to raise, but very irritating if I have to store the camera and battery separately!!

Thanks a bunch

[nightkillerkiller]

i dont know if it will help you, but the advice i got was:
li-ion batteries: after every time you have used it, reload!! dont offload them too much. that will decrease the lifetime! the batteries of the type li-ion may not be totally unloaded.

my best

[sheila]

You are very lucky to get six months out of any battery for dSLRs. Time to invest in a couple of new ones!

Cheers
Sheila

[patsy999]

i agree fully with that and when going on a long shoot you dont want to caught short so it worth grabbin a few extra batteries and charging them. pop along to http://www.digiprintuk.com. i use them all the time and battery prices seem to be very good.

Patsy

[talleyfamilyphotography]

Not sure about the 6 months claim. I have a Digital Rebel (300D) with the battery grip and two batteries that are over 6 months old. One is the original Canon battery, the other a Digipower battery that I bought at the store at the time I bought my camera.

I use both in my battery grip all the time, charging them both the night before any big shoot. A couple of weekends ago, I shot six hours of youth soccer on the single charge and the batteries were still going strong when I left the field. And that is spending a lot of time with the shutter button half-pressed and AI Servo focusing going on the whole time.

Still, with Li-Ion batteries, I would assume, depending on use and storage conditions, you should get 1.5 to 2 years service out of them.

Regardless, having spares around is always a good idea. I really should have another pair of batteries to swap out into my grip on a really long day's shooting.

[simplephotography]

I'm getting a 350D shortly, and I want to buy the grip with it. Can someone tell me how I charge the batteries? Is that with the grip on the camera, or do I have to remove the batteries? What I really want to ask is: do I need an extra charger?

[talleyfamilyphotography]

What I do is pop out one battery from the grip, drop it on the charger and charge it until it is ready. Put the battery back in the grip, pop the other one out and repeat.

Good part is that the grip will still work with only one battery installed. But, the night before a shoot, I'll freshen up both batteries so that I have a pair of fully charged cells ready to go in the morning.

I've been known to shoot several hours of soccer on a Saturday on one charge of both batteries with my Rebel (300D), using the AI Servo focusing quite a bit (a big battery drainer).

The grip is also nice because I like to have a substantial camera to hold on to (one reason I didn't buy the XT when it came out). Also, the grip has the additional benefit of balancing out a heavier lens, like the 70-200mm f/4L that I typically use for sports.

[jmphotography]

That dosen't sound right. I've gone a week with one battery in the camera and it still had some life to it. I've had the battery grip on my 350d with two batteries and can go at least two weeks of constant use. I even have 3 Lith-Ion aftermarket batteries I purchased on Ebay for the camera and have no problems with them. I rotate two batteries at a time. Sounds to me like you might have something draining your batteries,, or the charger isn't charging all the way. I would try to borrow another charger first to see if it is just that simple. Then if that wasn't the problem I'd definatly send the camera in for a checkup.

[saxybert]

That sounds more like my early experience with the camera, albeit without a two-battery grip.

Good suggestion to check the charger!!

[ukexpat]

Let's not forget that there are many factors that affect the length of time a charged battery will last: weather conditions; use of AI Servo; focus hunting; lengh of time image preview is on; brightness of the LCD screen; solid state CF card or Microdrive. Simple thingsl like cranking down the LCD brightness can make a big difference.

[dkek]

I wanna get a canon eos battery on http://www.digital-camera-batteries.net/canon.htm,is the battery safe or not, tks any advice.