My apologies for not being able to contribute over the last 6 months - life in the back of beyond without internet, television, radio has been trying!!
I own a Canon D60, and have been having difficulties with batteries. All was fine until a nice day at Slimbridge when my fully charged battery suddenly died after ~30 shots. I replaced this with a brand new one, charged it up and headed off to Scotland. This time, the new battery only lasted for about ~20 shots before giving up. Any ideas as to whether this is a battery, charger or camera fault? Photography has taken a steep downward spiral, as I can never rely on my battey lasting the length of a session's shooting.
Any help or suggestions would be very much appreciated!
Pete
Posted by Nigel Blake on March 28, 2006 at 10:27 AM
I think this is a problem with the camera, I had a similar problem with a 10D that went when I loaded a later firmware, so it might be worth reloading the most recent firmware and trying the camera to see if the problem remains, if it does then it will be best to send it back to Canon for a check over.
No radio,tv or internet how is the moon these days,Do you have a battery grip on the camera if so try it without-sorry cant be more help
Posted by Peter Barritt on March 28, 2006 at 2:59 PM
with your kit there is a "Battery" that fits in the camera and plugs into the mains. This is for cleaning the digital sensor. I'm sure the guys are right about this being a camera problem but this should tell you for definite. Glad you made it safely back from Wales. Pete
Posted by John Varley on March 28, 2006 at 3:20 PM
Hi Pete. Like Nigel I suspect the camera...or lense.
My field is electronics - and i've used lithium rechargeables for various projects - I think they are the first really good rechargeable technology - but they have their little quirks.
Lithium rechargeable batteries are unlike rechargeables such as NiCads, in that they are a little intelligent. Some electronics is built into the battery for protection purposes during charging and use. If they are on a load such as a camera which demands (even briefly) a current in excess of specification the battery will shut down and pretend to be dead.
It still may be almost fully charged. When the battery is reattached to the charger, the current trip will usually be reset and it may very quickly appear to be fully recharged - because it was n't empty in the first place.
Does your dead battery appear to recharge very quickly?
The odds are it is a camera fault - but it may be a faulty lens - which is sometimes taking an excessive current - try running off some frames with different lenses. with and without AF.
It could possibly be that you've an old & dead battery, and a new and dead battery. What brands are the two batteries?
The 2nd battery that I bought for the D30 was a Hahnel BP511, it worked fine for a couple of years and then pretty much overnight lost it's ability to hold a charge. It's behaviour is similar to that that John describes above. (It might not be dead/useless...but may as well be as far as the camera is concerned!). Other than another battery that was dead from the shop and replaced immediately, that's the only problem I've had with over 11 BP-511's.
I'd try a few other lenses too to see how the camera performs - esp. lenses without any IS. Other than that, you could try sending the new BP511 back and see if it's replacement behaves the same way...
Can't help on the electronics side, leave that to the experts... however I would just point out that I have just had two Canon Batteries die on me, both around two years old, Replaced them with a couple from 7day shop and all is well....
Not much help, but try a new freshly charged battery, if that still 'dies' in the camera then the fault will be elsewhere as stated.
I'm having the exact same problem with my 20D and grip. I have 6 batteries and over the last 2 months have not ogt more than about 45 shots out of 2 fully charged batteries in the grip. Take them out and put them in the charger and it comes back within 40 seconds as being fully charged. I was going to experiment this weekend to rule out the grip by taking it off. I can't believe that all 6 batteries (different ages) are shot?
Discussion
7 repliesMy apologies for not being able to contribute over the last 6 months - life in the back of beyond without internet, television, radio has been trying!!
I own a Canon D60, and have been having difficulties with batteries. All was fine until a nice day at Slimbridge when my fully charged battery suddenly died after ~30 shots. I replaced this with a brand new one, charged it up and headed off to Scotland. This time, the new battery only lasted for about ~20 shots before giving up. Any ideas as to whether this is a battery, charger or camera fault? Photography has taken a steep downward spiral, as I can never rely on my battey lasting the length of a session's shooting.
Any help or suggestions would be very much appreciated!
Pete
My field is electronics - and i've used lithium rechargeables for various projects - I think they are the first really good rechargeable technology - but they have their little quirks.
Lithium rechargeable batteries are unlike rechargeables such as NiCads, in that they are a little intelligent. Some electronics is built into the battery for protection purposes during charging and use. If they are on a load such as a camera which demands (even briefly) a current in excess of specification the battery will shut down and pretend to be dead.
It still may be almost fully charged. When the battery is reattached to the charger, the current trip will usually be reset and it may very quickly appear to be fully recharged - because it was n't empty in the first place.
Does your dead battery appear to recharge very quickly?
The odds are it is a camera fault - but it may be a faulty lens - which is sometimes taking an excessive current - try running off some frames with different lenses. with and without AF.
Hope this helps - John
The 2nd battery that I bought for the D30 was a Hahnel BP511, it worked fine for a couple of years and then pretty much overnight lost it's ability to hold a charge. It's behaviour is similar to that that John describes above. (It might not be dead/useless...but may as well be as far as the camera is concerned!). Other than another battery that was dead from the shop and replaced immediately, that's the only problem I've had with over 11 BP-511's.
I'd try a few other lenses too to see how the camera performs - esp. lenses without any IS. Other than that, you could try sending the new BP511 back and see if it's replacement behaves the same way...
Good luck
Can't help on the electronics side, leave that to the experts... however I would just point out that I have just had two Canon Batteries die on me, both around two years old, Replaced them with a couple from 7day shop and all is well....
Not much help, but try a new freshly charged battery, if that still 'dies' in the camera then the fault will be elsewhere as stated.
Rob