Here's the deal. I bought some Cactus triggers for use with my Nikon speedlights.(910 and 2 900"s). The triggers do not wake up the flash from standby mode, I knew that going in. I will just set my units to cancel out standby mode. I'm just curious how much power it drains when you don't use standby. Is it a huge difference or just a minor difference, or somewhere in between. I know there are other variables, but can anyone give me a rough idea of what I need to be prepared for. I use Powerex rechargeables. Thanks.
It would depend on how long your shooting session is, and how much time you spend between shots, but generally speaking I haven't found sleep mode ("Auto Power Off" in Canon-speak) to significantly increase the battery life of my Speedlites.
For off-camera flash on a stand, we use an external battery pack along with the "auto off" turned off. So far that has worked for our banquets, about 4 hours.
