6D GPS Drains battery when idle

[heyjp]

Got my new EOS 6D for christmas (present to self... how else did Santa know what I need want).

Great camera.  Love the low light.  Love the WiFi.  ALMOST love the GPS.  The GPS tends to drain the battery about 25% per day.  On a 8-10 hour heavy shooting day, that's not a problem.  I can still shoot 500-600 shots and the GPS only drains 8-10% during that time.

However, when the camera is in the bag... you can shut off the camera and shut off the GPS logging, and it still drains 25% per day.  Leave the camera in the back for 4-5 days... and the battery is shot.

Only option is to take the battery out or use the menus and disable GPS and re-enable when you use camera again.

I think Canon needs a separate GPS timeout of about 3-6 hours.  If GPS logging is disabled, GPS should shutdown after a few hours of non-use.

It's a drag to take your camera out after leaving in the bag for a couple of days and battery is already 50% down or more.

Jim

[ender78]

The reason for leaving the GPS on is that it can be slow to re-acquire a signal once turned off.  Leaving it on allows it to lock quickly onto the satellites.

[heyjp]

Yeah, but I'll take a couple of minutes to re-lock when I start shooting over losing 50% of my battery in 48 hours. Seems pretty "expensive". And, worse case, after a few shots the GPS is locked and I have a record of where the "roll" was shot.

Jim

[7D5D]

Sounds like a C. fn is necessary:

GPS state when power switch is off
0 = On
1 = Off
2 = Off after 60 minutes

[heyjp]

I'd vote for something like that!

Jim

[domina]

what happens if I take out the battery?

[heyjp]

Well, your battery certainly won't drain while it's out, but your camera uses a second small battery to maintain control settings and clock. Normally that battery does'nt get used much except while changing batteries. It lasts for a couple if years or more. But, with battery oit, I assume it drains much faster.

[hsbn]

Wish they will release a firmware to address this issue. I want to save spare battery for GPS while shooting not when the camera is off.

[heyjp]

I did read a couple of days ago that a 6D firmware update is scheduled for May or June . Hopefully this is an issue that is covers!!

Jim

[bigal1000]

Can't you just turn it off or carry a spare battery?

[heyjp]

I always carry a spare battery, but I would rather the spare battery be a spare battery. 🙂 If you are a pro or use your camera daily, not a big issue. But if you weekend warrior, your main battery will be dead every weekend.

I am currently hitting the menus and turning GPS off after every use, but that's a bit of a pain. Sometimes I forget to turn on which defeats the purpose of having GPS. Or forget to turn off and main battery is dead in 3-4 days.

Might be easier to just take the battery out after every use, but that seems silly.

Jim in Boulder