1550 photos without CR123

[Pedro D]

I made the experience and the result was the following one: 1550 photos alone with batteries AA 2000 mha, without batteries CR123, and exactly thus I did not finish for the load them complete AA, stopped because already he was satiated to go off photos :)

And the S2 works very well so far...

Bateries / charger: Ansmann 2000 mha / Ansmann

Simply one has tested for my curiosity, and to share with all you.

[Hobbiebob]

Unbelievable! How did you do that? Did you use the display often? What kind of media?
I just cant get more than 50 pictures with my 2000mAh batteries. Its ok if it cant get to 1500, but around 300 would be ok i guess..

Do you think its about the charger?

greetz!

[Pedro D]

Hi Hobbiebob

Thx for your reply!

Yes, 1550 photos, at 3020 res., fine, compact flash, 5 sec. preview in lcd monitor, with Nikkor 24-85 2.8-4 AF.

My charger is: Ansmann energy 16 (the most large charger of Ansmann)

You only take 50 photos with 2000 mah?! :\

I don´t have the AF settings in S2 on "C", only a "S" setting!

Discharge and charge again the batteries very well, and try again, maybe its the charger too, good luck!

Regards!:)

[Tom V]

If you "preview" the picture on the LCD, you do not neccessarily record the image to the compact flash. You took the picture, but may not have saved it. Naturally, you can take a lot of pictures on a battery charge if you ignore saving of those images.

[Pedro D]

Hi Tom

In my situation, all the images had been recorded for the CF, unloading when he was full and coming back to photograph.

Regards,

[Tom V]

Well then Pedro, that is A LOT of pictures. I never get that many shots out of a set of batteries.

It is possible to go through a set of batteries without taking ANY pictures. Just focusing the lens, especially an old heavy zoom, or a wide ranging macro, or some lens with a lot of rotation required for near to far focusing, is going to sap the strength of the batteries. Focus illumination, self-timer lights, LCD, reading off a microdrive (vs CF), keeping the camera on, running thru the menus, charging the flash, using the flash at small apertures (ƒ16) or at great distances will drain the batteries quickly. Ambient temperture, battery quality, and whether you have extra batteries handy all play a part in battery life.

Naturally, if the shot (or event) is really important, your batteries won't last as long either. Mine always fail when I am showing off the camera.

I will still keep my camera.:)

[rut]

Hi Pedro,

Which is the external temperature ?
With cold, batteries duration is relative low.

R.

[rbeckerelite]

I am very confused...

I used my S2 without the CR123 batteries with Duracell alkaline AAs and got about 50 shots. A friend used it with his Radio Shack 1800ma rechargeable AAs and got about the same.

How are you setting the camera? Focus light on/off/auto? etc.

Thanks,
Randy

[Pedro D]

For Rut

Sorry Rut, for my delay to answer!

The temperature is 21 Cº + -

Regards,

---------------------------------------------------------

For rbeckerelite

I have the focus light always turned OFF

Regards,

[Panoramic Denis]

When I used new batteries in my prior camera (just replaced with an S2), I found that the first time or two that I used a set of NiMH AAs, I got miserable life. But after running each set down a couple of times and recharging on a Maha MH-C401FS charger, battery life improved a great deal.

Possibly useful info about battery management at DPFWIW (http://www.cliffshade.com/dpfwiw/batteries.htm).

I now use the Maha charger exclusively, and in the slow charge mode. I've taken about 40 shots with my S2 (received yesterday), lots of LCD review, lots of AF with non-S lenses, and the gas gauge still shows full with a set of (nominally) 2100 mAh batteries.

[rut]

Originally posted by Pedro D
For Rut

Sorry Rut, for my delay to answer!

The temperature is 21 Cº + -

Regards,


Hi Pedro,

With temperature about 0 Cº (with snow) my 4 batteries AA (1900mah) works with my microdrive for about 150-180 photos,
so I think that at 21 Cº batteries works for a lot of photos (without humidity).

Happy photos!
R.

[ali]

Kodak's new 14n will go through a lot of battery changes to fill up the new 4GB microdrives.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The DCS Pro 14n camera exhibits some variances in the specifications that were cited at its introduction at the Photokina trade show last September. For example, shots per battery charge is rated at 400, up a third from the announced 300 shots.

The camera, originally configured to accept a 3-gigabyte storage card, will accept 4-gigabyte cards once they become available.

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0302/03022713kodakdcs14n.asp

[CaptJR]

I just got my S2 a couple days ago. I have my rechargable batteries, but I thought I might as well use the ones that came with the camera first. 190 or so pictures later, it's still going strong. New camera so lots of LCD viewing, zooming, etc.

I've read on here that some of you take the batteries out of the camera when not in use. Do you have to reset the date when putting them back? Do you loss your picture number? I use sequencial numbering.

Thank you
JR

[turbo-944]

JR,

On pg. 24 of the users guide it says that after the batteries have been the camera for about 2 days, that the camera can be left without batteries or AC adapter for "roughly 6 months" and still retain all settings.

I use the MB- 16 in place of the CR-123a's, and normally remove all the batteries "AA's" and my microdrives after returning from a job. January and February were real slow this year, by my choice, and neither of my cameras changed or lost any settings at all. I too use sequential numbering, and last month my numbers were exactly where they were when I put away the cameras just after Christmas.

Dan.

[CaptJR]

Dan

Thank you. As I said, I just got my S2 thus I haven't read the guide thourghly yet. Been having to much fun fiddling with the camera. I'll try to check the guide first before putting questions up.
Thanks again
JR

[turbo-944]

JR,

No problem on the questions. It is a real good idea to read the book all the way through. Lots of adjustments, etc. I am sitting in my recliner with my laptop, and keep one of my S2 manuals right next to me. The other is in my camera bag.

Enjoy the S2, and have fun shooting and learning.

Dan.

[quill]

Hi All,

I just bought my S2 last week and used it on my first shoot on Saturday.

From the time I bought it to the demise of the box-included AA batteries I got off about 400 shots. 300 were on location at 3024/"F" and the other hundred were a mix of sizes and qualities. I also did relatively a lot of fiddling and some flash work. As well, I did three USB downloads to my PC with no AC adapter. This was a live-action shoot and I used continuous for the whole time.

Seems pretty good to me. But the numbers would be very different with RAW shooting. But I would have expected to still get at least 200 or so in that mode...

J

[turbo-944]

J,

Congrats on the new S2.

Don't be supprised if the batteries that came with the camera, both AA and 123a's, don't last as long as you might expect. Typically a good set of 1800, 2000 or 2200 mah NiMH rechargable's will give you better results. Another note that I have seen several times, is that the 123's that come with the cameras are often short lived. Several people have mentioned getting 123's from biotactical in bulk. I chose the option of using the MB-16 to replace the 123's with AA's. The MB-16 also gives me a better grip on the camera.

In regards to the number of files with RAW vs JPEG, there are several other factors that will affect the battery usage.

Consider the number of MB's of data being written, CF vs Microdrive, the amount of LCD usage and the lens you use. Lenses that "hunt" for focus alot, and larger lenses tend to drain batteries faster as well.

Hope this helps,

Dan.

[zcreem]

I managed a full 1gb microdrive about 400 shots with plenty of previewing and deleting downloaded to the PC and the batterys where good for quiet a few mre shots maybe 50 or so. They are Unomat 200mh cheap and cheerful.:D

[ballroom_boy]

Hi there

I am curious... what kind of AA battery life are people getting on their S2's without the CR123s (now that we have over 1000 members with lots of experience)? Does the camera act up when the AA's deplete their charge?

[Alexander G.]

Hi,

i got the camera 5 days now, the cr123s were depleted after 2 days and about 3 full MDs ...
Now i am running without them (3€ a piece doesn't look too promising for 2 days of use) and i don't seem to feel a difference.
Mind, i don't use the AF too much, but every shot gets checked (preview mode) before being sent to MD.
I just shoot raw and my guesstimate is that i can get about 2MDs full with one set of Ansmann 2200mAhs. That's not too bad, but i really don't get the general idea behind the cr123s, except for the internal flash, what use are they?
If i'd see the need for them i'd run and look for alternatives like the MB-16 stuff, but as it is i look fine without them ... hmm..
reading all this different stuff here doesn't really clear it up - guess i have to find out myself and maybe get used to going without them.

2c lX

[Swampy]

Guess I missed Ballroom's post, but I'm generally getting 350-450 out of a set of AA's and 123's (I still use the 123's since I'm getting them for about $1.35 a piece).

I shot a wedding with the on-board flash and some previewing all on one set of batteries that had probably 25 shots on it, plus another 25 after the wedding. Not bad in my book.

Sure, the camera acts funny when the batteries get low. Something to consider is that when the batteries go low, they go NOW. Forget the meter, I've gone through many sets of batteries and I've never seen the meter go to the "last notch" until it was too late. If you're on semi-old batteries, make sure you try not to fill the buffer up with 4-5 shots or so is my only warning. The Batteries could crap out on you in the middle of writting the files...

[jknights]

I'm using the MB16 instead of CR123s but I get 300-400 shots from a set before I recharge both sets. The batteries arent flat but if you take it to 450shots then one set run out first then the second set by 500shots Therefore I recharge after 400shots so there is no chance of losing a shot.

Rechargeable AAs are so good. It would be intersting to get couple of sets of the new 2300mAh AAs now they are available to see how long they last as I am using 1800 and 2000 mAh. I would guess they would make it to 500 shots no problem.

[jknights]

One thing not often mentioned is that if you shoot RAW files they are 12.7MB and so it takes a lot more energy to write one of these compared with a smaller JPG.

I always shoot RAW files.

[Ansch]

I just went through my first set of cr123s on the s2. The camera went completely dead as it would and so I took out the 123's and found that the AAs were dead as well. Prior to that, both meters are showing full bars of power.

This led me to think that as the AAs are depleted, the rate of which the CR123's are depleted is increased. ie. The camera rely more on the CR123s as the AAs are going flat.

Has anyone noticed that as well?