1DX battery life in the cold?

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Will Patterson
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p.1 #1 · 1DX battery life in the cold?

I've had the camera since about July and have always been impressed with the battery life.

But the past couple nights I've been shooting field sports at night at a local stadium. And it's been fairly cold, usually hovering around 35 degrees or so.

Last night I noticed the battery was getting a little low which surprised me, I was expecting it to be at about half and it said 18% remaining after being outside or a little over two hours.

By the end of the night the battery indicator was flashing. It said it was at 4%.

So the camera sat in my house all night afterwords and this morning I checked and it had jumped back up to 23%. I knew the cold had affect on battery life, but wow. Those kind of number differences I would expect down around 5 or 10 degree mark, not 35. Kinda disappointing. Thoughts?

Nov 09, 2012 at 06:44 PM

lowa2
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p.1 #2 · 1DX battery life in the cold?

When I was up north (way up north, on Ellesmere Island) my batteries would last an hour, MAX. After I put them in my jacket for an hour, I could shoot with them again for another while!

Cold is the enemy of LI-Ion.

Nov 09, 2012 at 06:54 PM

Will Patterson
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p.1 #3 · 1DX battery life in the cold?

Just an update - I got an Error 02 in my status log in the camera, which says it detected a sudden and unexpected drop in battery performance, and it was on one of those nights where I was outside in the cold for a while. I hope I don't have a bad battery! I'm calibrating it now.

Nov 23, 2012 at 08:22 PM

xterra07
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p.1 #4 · 1DX battery life in the cold?

In my 1D4, 100% battery would show 70% on a +12 degree morning, then later warm up and show 100%, same for batteries reviving from 20% to 50% once warmed up. Keeping a battery warm, then switching them out, warming the other.. that's the recipe. Quantum Turbo 3 has a camera connection port (but that's a big heavy device), and I haven't seen a 1D4 or 1D X connector to Quantum for power.... generally warming the batteries is enough, as well as starting out with 100% charged (and warmed in a pocket until it's time to shoot)

Nov 24, 2012 at 04:06 AM

Shutterbug2006
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p.1 #5 · 1DX battery life in the cold?

Li-ion batteries are supposed to boast better performance in cold weather down to +0F compared to NiMH and NiCad. I encountered a fellow photographer last winter who put hand warmers in his camera bag pockets where he stored his spare 1D series batteries. You can get them at the dollar store. They last about 7 hours. But I wouldn't expect you to need them with Li-Ion batteries unless you're shooting in real cold weather.

You can permanently damage a Li-Ion battery and affect it's operating characteristics if you store it at a too-low discharge level, so it's always good to charge them if you won't be using the equipment for a few days.

Nov 24, 2012 at 04:33 AM

parquin
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p.1 #6 · 1DX battery life in the cold?

Well, I was at a car rally in Bancroft Ontario from before 7am until after 10 pm It never got above freezing (and was well below during the dark hours). I shot about 1200 images. At the end there were still 2 bars on the battery gauge. I was impressed

Nov 27, 2012 at 02:53 PM

rcm123
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p.1 #7 · 1DX battery life in the cold?

When I was in Alaska last Fall, we wrapped foot warmers around the battery hatch on the camera bodies and it dramatically extended battery life. The foot warmers have a sticky side (unlike the hand warmers), but they leave absolutely no residue on the camera body.

Nov 27, 2012 at 03:23 PM

runamuck
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p.1 #8 · 1DX battery life in the cold?

rcm123 wrote:
When I was in Alaska last Fall, we wrapped foot warmers around the battery hatch on the camera bodies and it dramatically extended battery life. The foot warmers have a sticky side (unlike the hand warmers), but they leave absolutely no residue on the camera body.
+ they will warm your hand while you are holding the camera.

Nov 27, 2012 at 03:41 PM

rscheffler
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p.1 #9 · 1DX battery life in the cold?

I kind of noticed this as well at the afternoon game I photographed this past Sunday. I guess it was a few degrees above freezing, and by the half the battery was slightly below half power. I shot about the same number of images that game as games earlier in the season, and with many of those the battery hit the 50% point at the end of the game.

Nov 27, 2012 at 04:50 PM

Will Patterson
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p.1 #10 · 1DX battery life in the cold?

rcm123 wrote:
When I was in Alaska last Fall, we wrapped foot warmers around the battery hatch on the camera bodies and it dramatically extended battery life. The foot warmers have a sticky side (unlike the hand warmers), but they leave absolutely no residue on the camera body.

That's a really good idea, something sticky that can wrap around that battery compartment/vertical grip area of the camera. I may try that in the future.

Nov 27, 2012 at 07:27 PM

Access
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p.1 #11 · 1DX battery life in the cold?

Shutterbug2006 wrote:
Li-ion batteries are supposed to boast better performance in cold weather down to +0F compared to NiMH and NiCad. I encountered a fellow photographer last winter who put hand warmers in his camera bag pockets where he stored his spare 1D series batteries. You can get them at the dollar store. They last about 7 hours. But I wouldn't expect you to need them with Li-Ion batteries unless you're shooting in real cold weather.

Unfortunately this is a problem for just about all types of batteries, though I think lead-acid works reasonably well in the cold? Warming the battery to roughly 30 or 40 degrees centigrade before using it can help, other than that, no easy solution really. If you have to shoot in the cold regularly you might be able to rig up an external lead-acid battery (in a pocket or something), just make sure it's the deep cycle type.

Nov 27, 2012 at 07:29 PM

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