p.1 #1 · Canon 1DMkIIn batteries discharging with very little shooting. Problem w/camera?
Hi all,
I seem to be having issues with batteries on my Canon 1DMkIIn keeping a charge lately. I've got two batteries, one OEM and one aftermarket.
Recently I shot a good couple dozen photos when the Endevour flew by, putting the camera back on the shelf when I was done, battery attached. I made sure that all three "On" switches were set to "Off" before doing so.
Today, I grabbed my gear for a shooting expedition around town. When I got to the first spot...NOTHING!!! It didn't even light up the flashing battery symbol. This was the OEM battery.
I then grabbed the aftermarket. This one gave me the flashing battery indicator for a little while before shutting off as well. For all intensive purposes, this is a new battery, having seen perhaps four charge cycles.
Now, I'm back home with both batteries on the charger. After plugging them in, I hit the refresh buttons. One is slowly flashing, while the other one is solid. (The OEM 1DMkIIn charger flashes quickly when fully charged...right?).
Is it normal for batteries to discharge, even if the camera power switches are completely turned off? Or am I missing a switch which I forgot about?
p.1 #2 · Canon 1DMkIIn batteries discharging with very little shooting. Problem w/camera?
The older style batteries to suffer from a memory effect. You might try pressing the condition (or whatever it is called) on the charger and taking the batteries through a few condition/charge cycles. Failing that you can get a 3rd party replacement battery for $20 or so.
p.1 #3 · Canon 1DMkIIn batteries discharging with very little shooting. Problem w/camera?
But, that's the crazy thing. One of them IS a 3rd Party replacement battery this is pretty much brand new. Perhaps 300 frames AT MOST!!
I'll try the multiple conditioning option and see what happens. jerrykur wrote:
The older style batteries to suffer from a memory effect. You might try pressing the condition (or whatever it is called) on the charger and taking the batteries through a few condition/charge cycles. Failing that you can get a 3rd party replacement battery for $20 or so.
p.1 #4 · Canon 1DMkIIn batteries discharging with very little shooting. Problem w/camera?
Batteries do self discharge, and as they get older, they hold less charge.
Aftermarket batteries often come from China and may have little or no QC, so its a risk to get one. NiMH is not a difficult technology, but I've had plenty of poor NiMH cells that were from big name brands.
The charger is solid while charging, and 2 flash/sec when charged. The batteries are Ni-MH and do not have a memory.
It can also be a issue with the camera, so using known good batteries can help narrow it to camera or battery.
p.1 #5 · Canon 1DMkIIn batteries discharging with very little shooting. Problem w/camera?
Weird, my MkIIn batteries can get as much as 4500+shots on one charge on one battery (no metering or AF with that many shots, but last at least 2500+ shots with metering and AF and a bit of chimping.
p.1 #6 · Canon 1DMkIIn batteries discharging with very little shooting. Problem w/camera?
Caleb Williams wrote:
Weird, my MkIIn batteries can get as much as 4500+shots on one charge on one battery (no metering or AF with that many shots, but last at least 2500+ shots with metering and AF and a bit of chimping.
That is impressive for 1DMK2. I remember getting 500-800 on a charge. The 1DMK3 does 3-4000 per charge. It was amazing how much lighter by pack got when I moved to the MK3.
p.1 #7 · Canon 1DMkIIn batteries discharging with very little shooting. Problem w/camera?
Batteries do get old, after 5-10 years it may have reached end-of-life.
The new battery might have a bad cell or something, probably defective if it is doing that after only 4 charge cycles. If even one cell out of the six-or-so is bad, it can ruin the whole battery.
NIMH will self-discharge over the course of a few months. They get memory effect very rarely, it's practically nonexistent.
If you have the proper equipment like a voltmeter and a delta-peak charger and discharger, you can do some more analysis but otherwise you are probably better off just getting some new batteries.
