shooting meteors / in praise of XSi battery

[forestgnome]

In the wee morning hours of January 3rd, I went up the Kancamagus for the Quadrantid Meteor Shower. This was the first time I really tested the battery power of this body. I took 240 images at 30" each and the battery still showed the fully charged symbol. The temp wasn't all that low, in fact it was nice and mild, perhaps in the high 20's? But the performance of the battery was a phenomal improvement over my first 300D body's battery.

These are shot at f/3.2, ISO1600,30",WB=tungsten. I've recently found that tungsten WB gives the truest color when the sky is deep midnight blue, but when the sun is close to the horizon(after sunset or before sunrise), then AWB seems to work better.

Comments?

 

[Grumpy]

Thanks for sharing the photos and data.

I get the impression you were using a new battery and/or camera. Is that correct? New rechargeable batteries usually can be expected to perform better than well used ones.

G.

 

[MichaelJ]

It's great to hear that the camera performed so well in the cold! I'm always hesitant about getting the good camera out there in winter, and stories like this increase my comfort level.

Here's the very-abbreviated history, btw:

The original Rebel used BP511, an 1100mAh battery that had good life.

With the XT, the NB2L battery at only 720mAh was introduced. I remember plenty of complaints about the reduced life on that model camera and its various peers.

The XSi has a a new design, the LPE5, at 1080mAh, and uses SD instead of CompactFlash, bringing a lot of life back into the model.

The higher-end cameras (20D through 50D, and I think the 5D) use the BP511A, compatible with the BP511 but a souped-up 1390mAh beast.

 

[DougPaul]

Nice pics.


The other side of the equation is how much the camera draws from the batteries. The capacity of Lion batteries also deteriorates with age and history, so you have to compare new battery lives to get a fair comparison.

Doug

 

[NeoAkela]

Nice shots! I'll have to remember that tip about the white balance - I wouldn't have guessed tungsten, but it certainly brings out the colors!