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EOS R8 Battery life is ridiculously short

Eaglesnest
Enthusiast

The battery life on my new R8 is ridiculously short. After a full charge, it shows low battery power after just a few of shots. Is there any reason why? Thank you for the tips. 

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION

shadowsports
Legend
Legend

Greetings,

In case your question about removing the battery from your camera when its not in use wasn't answered, I use the following as a guide.  

The longest I leave a battery in my camera is about 7 days.  If I'm not going to use my camera within that period, the battery comes out.  I never store a camera with a battery installed long term. 

If you aren't going to use a battery for an extended period, charge it to 50% or 70% and store it that way.  Cool dry place.  

Heat, my camera or lenses would never be subjected to a trunk, car interior or temps above 105*.  Either air conditioning or its with me.  If I was in the desert, or direct sunlight it would be shaded. 

If its too hot for me, its too hot for my gear.   Its a camera and I'm going to use it, but I'd try to protect it from extremes as best I could, taking reasonable precautions while enjoying it.  

~Rick
Bay Area - CA


~R5 C (1.0.7.1) ~RF Trinity, ~RF 100 Macro, ~RF 100~400, ~RF 100~500, ~RF 200-800 +RF 1.4x TC, BG-R10, 430EX III-RT ~DxO PhotoLab Elite ~DaVinci Resolve Studio ~ImageClass MF644Cdw/MF656Cdw ~Pixel 8 ~CarePaks Are Worth It

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21 REPLIES 21

Waddizzle
Legend
Legend

Welcome to the forum.  Congratulations on your camera purchase.

There settings and techniques to reduce power consumption.  For example, I would disable photo preview after every shot.  Stop “chimping” after every shot, which means looking at it for flaws.  The rear screen does not have the display resolution to make that judgement.  

All I ever do is check the exposure ever once in a while.  There are other settings that affect power consumption, like Continuous AF and OVF display settings., for example.

It is the same battery used in entry level Rebel DSLRs.  ???  I believe Canon made a judgment error to not use the larger E6 battery found in their midrange DSLR camera bodies.  The E6 battery is used in the R5, R6, and R7 bodies.  I recommend that you buy a few spare batteries to carry with you.

--------------------------------------------------------
"The right mouse button is your friend."

deebatman316
Elite
Elite

How many pictures can you get before the battery goes down. The battery could be faulty do you have another one to test. The R8 does use a lower capacity battery compared to the R6 Mark II and R5.

-Demetrius
Bodies: EOS 5D Mark IV
Lenses: EF Trinity, EF 85mm F/1.8 USM
Retired Gear: EOS 40D, EF 50mm F/1.8 STM & EF 70-210mm F/4
Speedlites: 420EX, 470EX-AI, 550EX & 600EX II-RT

I would also like to know what lens you are using to cause such a rapid battery drain.

--------------------------------------------------------
"The right mouse button is your friend."

I've seen 3rd Party Mount adapters cause rapid battery drain too. Lenses mainly 3rd Party can also do the same too.

-Demetrius
Bodies: EOS 5D Mark IV
Lenses: EF Trinity, EF 85mm F/1.8 USM
Retired Gear: EOS 40D, EF 50mm F/1.8 STM & EF 70-210mm F/4
Speedlites: 420EX, 470EX-AI, 550EX & 600EX II-RT

I used 100 mm 2.8 Macro EF lens with an adapter.(Canon adapter)

Tried with the right mouse button, still unable to see answers to other members questions. 

Which EF 100mm Macro lens. Canon has released a few different revisions over the years.

-Demetrius
Bodies: EOS 5D Mark IV
Lenses: EF Trinity, EF 85mm F/1.8 USM
Retired Gear: EOS 40D, EF 50mm F/1.8 STM & EF 70-210mm F/4
Speedlites: 420EX, 470EX-AI, 550EX & 600EX II-RT

No I don't have another battery. The camera is less than a month old.

I reduced the time preview from 8 to 4 secs. Hope this will help.


@Eaglesnest wrote:

No I don't have another battery. The camera is less than a month old.

I reduced the time preview from 8 to 4 secs. Hope this will help.


I suggested that you should disable preview entirely.  The less the rear display is used, the better.

[EDIT] I also disable the rear exposure display from turning on when my eye is not up to the OVF.  If I wish to see a “Live View” display, then I simply press [INFO].

--------------------------------------------------------
"The right mouse button is your friend."

If it is the original EF 100mm Macro that uses an Arc Form Drive AF Motor. Those older Arc Form Drive lenses are power hungry. They tend to run the battery down faster in my experience.

-Demetrius
Bodies: EOS 5D Mark IV
Lenses: EF Trinity, EF 85mm F/1.8 USM
Retired Gear: EOS 40D, EF 50mm F/1.8 STM & EF 70-210mm F/4
Speedlites: 420EX, 470EX-AI, 550EX & 600EX II-RT

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