Battery Performance

[Grumpy]

Recently I shot a string of assignments that totaled out at somewhere between 1,500 and 1,600 exposures on a single Nikon EN-EL4 (Lithium ion) battery in my Nikon D2Hs slr camera body. (I change out my battery packs when the camera shows they are down to 10%.) The battery pack in questiuon has been in regular use for two years.

To me, that is impressive performance, especially considering the way I shoot is a real juice-user. (I shoot in RAW format, use continuous and lock-on autofocus for the types of assignments I was doing, made extensive use of VR lenses, do a lot of continuous burst shooting, and do quite a bit of “chimping” to check images for exposure, etc.)

Usually I don’t keep track of the number of shots between battery changes and recharges. So I’m not sure this is an exceptionally good performance for my EN-L4a battery packs. In fact, it probably is typical. For sure, though, I’ve been pleased enough with the performance of these packs to feel comfortable in recommending them to others for their uses, including hiking picture-taking.

What kind of performance do you get out of the batteries you use?

G.

 

[DougPaul]

Recently I shot a string of assignments that totaled out at somewhere between 1,500 and 1,600 exposures on a single Nikon EN-EL4 (Lithium ion) battery in my Nikon D2Hs slr camera body. (I change out my battery packs when the camera shows they are down to 10%.) The battery pack in questiuon has been in regular use for two years.

Lion batteries will generally last longer if you use shallower discharges and more frequent recharges. I generally try not to discharge mine below ~50%.
General info: http://www.batteryuniversity.com/parttwo-31.htm
Lion: http://www.batteryuniversity.com/parttwo-34.htm

Nikon appears to have rated that battery at 2900 shots/charge in that camera. http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/D2H/D2HA11.HTM (Rating for the D2H, as little info was in the review for the D2Hs.)

FWIW, imaging-resource reviews often include tests of battery life.http://www.imaging-resource.com/MFR1.HTM.

To me, that is impressive performance, especially considering the way I shoot is a real juice-user. (I shoot in RAW format, use continuous and lock-on autofocus for the types of assignments I was doing, made extensive use of VR lenses, do a lot of continuous burst shooting, and do quite a bit of “chimping” to check images for exposure, etc.)

Sounds reasonable to me.

What kind of performance do you get out of the batteries you use?

The D2Hs is a professional body--I personally use smaller and lighter gear. My Canon SD800 is rated 270 (display on)/600 (display off) shots and my Canon XTi is rated 370 (50% flash)/500 (no flash) shots. So far, I haven't come anywhere near running out of battery power, but I also don't generally take large numbers of pics. (<100/day is more typical for me.)

Doug

 

[Mark Schaefer]

What kind of performance do you get out of the batteries you use?

my Canon XTi is rated 370 (50% flash)/500 (no flash) shots. So far, I haven't come anywhere near running out of battery power, but I also don't generally take large numbers of pics. (<100/day is more typical for me.)

I have a Canon XTi, and use the standard L-ion (Canon NB-2LH) rechargeable battery pack for this camera. In my experience the capacity is about 600 photos when using no flash and having the LCD display always on. I have not kept detailed records but I believe that is fairly accurate (a couple examples below). I have only noticed a slight reduction in battery performance after two years.

I always carry a spare battery and I fully discharge the pack in the camera while shooting (or uploading photos) before changing the battery. This is not a problem for me as I generally do not shoot in situations where I risk losing a shot while changing the battery.

Some results. I recently started a wildflower photo shoot with a nearly exhausted battery. I changed batteries early into the shoot. Just as I was furnishing up for the day I fully exhausted the second battery. I shot 690 photos for the day; of which approximately 600 were with the second battery. I was shooting mostly telephoto macro shots with a fair amount of churning of the auto focus. The LCD display was always on while I was actively shooting, and I do a fair amount of reviewing photos in the field. It was the only time I have come home with two exhausted batteries. Sometimes you need something to tell you to stop and go home.

In another recent situation I shot two consecutive nights of fireworks. These were all long bulb exposures and manual focus (at infinity). There was a total of 470 firework photos from the two shoots combined, all shot with the same battery. I started the first shoot with a nearly fully charged battery. The battery was still showing a medium amount of charge when I finished uploading the second firework shoot into my computer. Note: I always upload photos to my computer with the camera battery to avoid removing the memory card from the camera. I don't recall exactly when I changed the battery during the next shoot, but I suspect the total number of photos was around 600; in addition to using the battery for three (2 fireworks and one prior) uploads of photos into the computer.

 

[DougPaul]

I fully discharge the pack in the camera while shooting (or uploading photos) before changing the battery.

As noted in my earlier post, Lion batteries will last longer if you usually recharge when only partially discharged. There is no problem "topping off" the battery just before you go out. (FWIW, I routinely top my Lion batteries off before trips.)

In contrast, the capacity of NiCad batteries will diminish prematurely if you only use partial discharges, due to the "memory effect" (which can be reversed by several cycles of full discharge and charge). NiMH batteries have a weaker memory effect, but it is still worthwhile to occasionally give them a full discharge and charge cycle.
NiCad & Lion: http://www.batteryuniversity.com/parttwo-33.htm

From "Battery performance as a function of cycling" http://www.batteryuniversity.com/parttwo-36.htm:

If possible, do not discharge lithium-based batteries too deeply. Instead, recharge more often. Allow a nickel-cadmium battery to fully discharge once every 30 cycles or so. This also applies to nickel-metal-hydride but to a lesser extent. Exact data as to how often a nickel-based battery should be discharged is not available. Neither do we know low long a lithium-ion will last under different depth-of-discharge regimes. Manufacturers typically specify lithium-ion at an 80% depth-of-discharge.

Doug

 

[Mark Schaefer]

As noted in my earlier post, Lion batteries will last longer if you usually recharge when only partially discharged. There is no problem "topping off" the battery just before you go out. (FWIW, I routinely top my Lion batteries off before trips.)

Yes, I saw that. I do occasionally recharge before fully discharging if I notice the battery is showing the "nearly discharged" indication after uploading photos. I will change my methodology to recharging at the mid-point level which as you indicate is more optimal for battery life.

However, after two years I have clearly not even hit the 80% capacity (20% loss) that is indicated on this Battery University webpage. I am still getting about 600 photos per full drain of the battery, which is over the rated level of 500 that you had earlier stated for the XTi (without flash). Most of my photo shoots are probably near 25 degrees Celsius or slightly less.

The speed by which lithium-ion ages is governed by temperature and state-of-charge. Figure 1 illustrates the capacity loss as a function of these two parameters.

Figure 1: Permanent capacity loss of lithium-ion as a function of temperature and charge level.

I am often too enrapt in photography to notice the battery level while shooting, but I will try to change the battery at the mid point in the future if I notice it. I generally shoot 300-400 images in a serious outing. So it is rare that I would run out of battery capacity during a photo shoot with this methodology. I will still always alternate the two batteries in usage.

My net is that the full discharges has not impacted the battery capacity much after two years. No real damage appears to have been done. And I suspect the two batteries may outlast the camera's shutter.

 

[Grumpy]

...
My net is that the full discharges has not impacted the battery capacity much after two years. No real damage appears to have been done. And I suspect the two batteries may outlast the camera's shutter.

I sense the same with my camera batteries (and camera body).

Nikon claims a 2,900-shot battery capacity for the EN-EL4 battery pack in a D2Hs camera body. But Nikon also cites a capacity of 800 shots with that battery-camera combo under somewhat different conditions.

The big juice-slurpers identified by Nikon are:

* using the monitor * keeping the shutter button pressed halfway * repeated autofocus operation * shooting in RAW or TIFF image file formats * slow shutter speeds * using certain (Nikon) accessory wireless transmitters

(Source: Nikon D2Hs owner's manual)

Given Nikon's stated capacities, I’d say the 1,500-1,600 shot run on a single battery charge is pretty good.

What brought all this to mind, for me, was the miserable experiences I've had with Nikon's EN-4 (Ni-MH) battery packs in Nikon D1H cameras supplied by the newspaper I shoot for. The best I could get out of a new, fully charged battery was around 300 or so shots; after a year of use some batteries would struggle to give me 30-60 shots on a recharge. That experience alone kept me from personally investing in digital gear for a while.

Experience has shown me the newer EN-L4a batteries are definitely superior.

I remain curious as to what others actually experience in terms of battery performance -- not just with heavy duty cameras like the D2Hs or D3, but also with more "hikeable" cameras like the Canon G-10, etc.

G.

 

[DougPaul]

Yes, I saw that. I do occasionally recharge before fully discharging if I notice the battery is showing the "nearly discharged" indication after uploading photos. I will change my methodology to recharging at the mid-point level which as you indicate is more optimal for battery life.

Two real no-nos for Lion cells are to discharge to 0% or overcharge (above 100%). Both will destroy the cells, above 100% may cause it to explode. To protect against these events, the camera will shut off before fully discharging the battery and the charger will shut off before overcharging. Repeatedly discharging a cell to near 0% is generally harder on it than repeated shallow discharges.

However, after two years I have clearly not even hit the 80% capacity (20% loss) that is indicated on this Battery University webpage. I am still getting about 600 photos per full drain of the battery, which is over the rated level of 500 that you had earlier stated for the XTi (without flash). Most of my photo shoots are probably near 25 degrees Celsius or slightly less.

That table is for static storage of the batteries, not for use. I also suspect that the batteries in those experiments were recharged to the specified level during storage to maintain a constant charge level--otherwise the batteries will slowly discharge during storage. (Consumer chargers are not generally designed to maintain or charge to an intermediate charge level.)

I am often too enrapt in photography to notice the battery level while shooting, but I will try to change the battery at the mid point in the future if I notice it. I generally shoot 300-400 images in a serious outing. So it is rare that I would run out of battery capacity during a photo shoot with this methodology. I will still always alternate the two batteries in usage.

A reasonable strategy, given your usage pattern.

I tend to shoot less than you do and don't recall ever running out if I started with a fresh battery. I keep one battery in the camera and my spare in the refrigerator and recharge all of them every few months (or so) or before a trip. The battery in the refrigerator can easily brought along as a spare (perhaps in a plastic bag to keep condensate off it).

One hazard of a low battery is that it will run out in the middle of writing to the memory card and leave you with a corrupted card.

My net is that the full discharges has not impacted the battery capacity much after two years. No real damage appears to have been done. And I suspect the two batteries may outlast the camera's shutter.

My lightly used Lion laptop battery showed reduced capacity after a few years and was essentially useless after 5 or 6. (My laptop has the advantage that I can read out an estimate of the battery time-to-shutdown so it is easy to track its health.)

Lion batteries will deteriorate with time and use. The deterioration is usually gradual so you should get adequate warning for when to replace them. A Lion battery typically provides 300-500 full discharge/charge cycles and lasts 2-3 years (http://www.batteryuniversity.com/parttwo-34.htm). How long any individual battery lasts will depend upon how you use and store it.

Doug