topic Re: Canon 7D II battery drainage. in EOS DSLR & Mirrorless Cameras

Canon 7D II battery drainage.

wlocasto — Sat, 20 Dec 2014 21:38:36 GMT

I can get 700-1000 exposures per battery charge on a freshly charged LP E6N battery, however, if I simply put a freshly charged battery in the camera and let it sit for a week (NO exposures) the battery level goes from 100% to 76%...! GPS checked as disabled...any body else getting this?

Re: Canon 7D II battery drainage.

ebiggs1 — Sun, 21 Dec 2014 14:13:35 GMT

Even so, the GPS doesn't completely stop. I don't have a 7D Mk II but I have seen reports that battery life is not as good as it was on the 7D.

Re: Canon 7D II battery drainage.

wlocasto — Sun, 21 Dec 2014 16:57:54 GMT

It seems similar when starting with fresh battery for the day but when it sits unused it continues to drain while in the bag - unlike the 7D...I would have thought Disabled meant "Off" but obviously it does not. My chargers will get more use...Thank You for your reply!

Re: Canon 7D II battery drainage.

RobertTheFat — Sun, 21 Dec 2014 17:50:46 GMT

@ebiggs1 wrote:
Even so, the GPS doesn't completely stop. I don't have a 7D Mk II but I have seen reports that battery life is not as good as it was on the 7D.

Not to make excuses for high battery drainage on the 7D2, but it did have a tough act to follow. I own two 7D's and have always considered the efficiency of their battery usage to be outstanding.

That said, we've sometimes been told that this or that camera can't have its GPS turned all the way off because it could confuse users who might unreasonably expect the GPS to obtain a fix instantaneously when it was turned back on. One might have hoped that Canon would not extend that reasoning to the arguably more sophisticated user community of the 7D2.

Re: Canon 7D II battery drainage.

MickvK — Tue, 28 Jul 2015 11:06:46 GMT

Hi, I have a new EOS 7D MKII and have noticed the battery drain. The GPS will track the camera's travels even when the camera is switched off, if it is activated in the camera's menu's, if GPS is disabled in the menu's it doesn't work. What is causing the high battery use is the viewfinder!!!

it's live all the time.....OKAY, try this, with the camera switched off, look through the viewfinder, manually focus on a subject, release the battery hatch, flip the white battery retaining lug. Viola, the viewfinder goes grayed out. For some reason the viewfinder is alive as long as the battery is in the camera.

MickvK, Australia.

Re: Canon 7D II battery drainage.

wlocasto — Tue, 28 Jul 2015 15:52:55 GMT

Mick,

Tried your explanation and got the same results - great catch! I've resolved to simply keep spare batteries charged and usually put a new one in when going out to shoot...! I was spoiled by the battery life of my 7D's but somehow I'll get by...!

Bill.

Re: Canon 7D II battery drainage.

RobertTheFat — Tue, 28 Jul 2015 17:21:05 GMT

@wlocasto wrote:
Mick,

Tried your explanation and got the same results - great catch! I've resolved to simply keep spare batteries charged and usually put a new one in when going out to shoot...! I was spoiled by the battery life of my 7D's but somehow I'll get by...!

Bill.

This sounds like a firmware bug that should be fixed. Right, Canon? (Just sayin'; I have no dog in this hunt. Although it has occurred to me to get a 7D2 for my wife, if I can persuade her to carry a camera that heavy.)

Re: Canon 7D II battery drainage.

MickvK — Wed, 29 Jul 2015 01:31:17 GMT

Hi Bill,T

The "live" viewfinder may not be the reason for the short battery life, I just removed the battery from my 60D & 70D and the viewfinder gray's out in those too. It may just be that the twin Digic 6 prcessors and the big buffer need plenty of power, although I recall the battery life dropping when camera not used for a week. I have everything in the menus turned off and shoot raw, I guess I'll just take extra batteries and remove the battery when not ready to shoot. BUGGER!!

MickvK, Australia.

Re: Canon 7D II battery drainage.

mcarrelb — Sun, 11 Oct 2015 15:09:10 GMT

Did you get answer to the drainage issue on your battery?

I have also a Canon 7D Mk II and I noticed the same issue (which I did not have with 7D).

Does the latest Frimware fix the pb?

Marc, France

Re: Canon 7D II battery drainage.

wlocasto — Mon, 12 Oct 2015 02:28:38 GMT

Mark,

I've decided to keep extra batteries charged and not worry about it since it doesn't seem to be out of the ordinary...besides, I love the camera's features which use more power w/o the added weight of the 1D series and their larger batteries...!

Re: Canon 7D II battery drainage.

MickvK — Mon, 12 Oct 2015 10:00:48 GMT

I've not had a positive result with the battery drain, except to remove the battery whenever I am not using the camera and have also purchased a second battery. I think the high performance of the 7D MKII twin digic 6 processors and the 61 point focus system are high users, but still can't work out why it drains with non use. I have noticed my 70D drains the battery when not being used also.

Re: Canon 7D II battery drainage.

Waddizzle — Mon, 12 Oct 2015 16:31:52 GMT

Just to be sure, I assume that this happens with no lens attached to the camera, too?

Re: Canon 7D II battery drainage.

MickvK — Tue, 13 Oct 2015 01:55:12 GMT

What? I don't take lenses off my cameras, that just invites crap into the camera body, two lenses and two camera bodies.

Re: Canon 7D II battery drainage.

Waddizzle — Thu, 15 Oct 2015 18:25:17 GMT

@MickvK wrote:
What? I don't take lenses off my cameras, that just invites crap into the camera body, two lenses and two camera bodies.

Not even for a test?

Okay, to each his own, I guess. Two bodies and cameras, it is. No need to change lenses.

Re: Canon 7D II battery drainage.

MickvK — Fri, 16 Oct 2015 18:28:59 GMT

Sorry for the flipent reply. As I have updated to the next new camera I have kept the last one for my 24-105 USM lens. I used to have one body and three Tamron lenses and that was a recipe for trouble.

Re: Canon 7D II battery drainage.

Blakstar64 — Tue, 20 Sep 2016 01:46:54 GMT

@Waddizzle wrote:
Just to be sure, I assume that this happens with no lens attached to the camera, too?

I know this is an older thread, but this is exactly what the problem is. If I leave a lens on my 7D MK II, the battery will drain overnight. No lens, battery level didn't change in 5 days. Curious.....

Re: Canon 7D II battery drainage.

NuB234 — Wed, 12 Jul 2017 19:03:25 GMT

I hav also battery drainage. i have three (3) batteries, so im not caught of guard...can it be fixed by Canon? has anybody tried?

Re: Canon 7D II battery drainage.

Blakstar64 — Wed, 12 Jul 2017 22:59:12 GMT

UPDATE...I returned my 7D MKII to Canon and they replaced a board that was shorted. I no longer have the issue.

Re: Canon 7D II battery drainage.

NuB234 — Sun, 27 Aug 2017 16:21:57 GMT

I know I'm a little late to the conversation;; but i found if you simply open the door on the battery that it does turn off the power to the battery. thus preserving the battery through down times. TADA. and i have been using one battery over a weeks time without difficulties...

Re: Canon 7D II battery drainage.

RobertTheFat — Sun, 27 Aug 2017 16:33:39 GMT

@NuB234 wrote:
I know I'm a little late to the conversation;; but i found if you simply open the door on the battery that it does turn off the power to the battery. thus preserving the battery through down times. TADA. and i have been using one battery over a weeks time without difficulties...

But you're missing the point. The likely source of your problem is that you're leaving GPS turned on. By default, GPS continues to operate (and drain the battery), even with the camera turned off, so that it doesn't have to spend time discovering where it is, the next time you take a picture.