Leica M8 - battery life

[isorgb]

Hi

how many pictures (RAW) can you take with full battery?
Single shot, manual setting, look at LCD after each shot.

What does the M8 when the battery is discharged?
Shutter is not active, but red diode (right down corner) is lighting when you press the shutter?

My M8 after taking about 150 shots to stop working, but before it seems to me that the battery indicator shows 2 or 1 dots. My M8 has always stops working after quickly taking 4-5 pictures.
Is it battery problem or something else?

 

[jaapv]

Normal for the use you describe is about 300-450 shots, depending on the amount of chimping. Why are you looking at the LCD after each shot?😕 If you have your technique right, you can shoot with confidence and only need the LCD for a quick check or setting change at long intervals.

 

[isorgb]

Normal for the use you describe is about 300-450 shots, depending on the amount of chimping. Why are you looking at the LCD after each shot?😕 If you have your technique right, you can shoot with confidence and only need the LCD for a quick check or setting change at long intervals.

Not quite "after each shot".
I have M8 for one week. I'm still learning lightmeter and I usually check histogram after shot. I try to remember how I should under/over expose in each photo situation. You know, new camera, new experience. I would like to have lightmeter in my head.
When I used Epson R-D1 i usually worked with closed LCD.

It troubles me that the battery runs down quickly. Or maybe it's not a battery problem?
That's why I ask. What can you say about red diode?

 

[jaapv]

Ok - that is un\derstandable 🙂
1. Put the camera to auto-shutdown. It wakes up really fast after 0.7 secs, that is about the time you need to put it to your eye and less than the time it takes to focus. There is a widespread misunderstanding that you have to wait for the diode to stop flashing to shoot - no, as soon as the VF display comes on, it is ready.

2. If the battery is empty, the camera will shut down. Indeed there may be enough juice left to flash the diode, but that has no relevance.

3. The battery, if it is not new, might have been maltreated in its previous life - it may have belonged to a discharge fetishsit, which will kill off Li-Ion batteries. Batteries have a limited life anyway, although my originals from 2006 are still going strong.

4. Are you sure it is an original battery? Third party batteries show all kinds of weird behaviour - from being perfect to being unusable.

5. If you buy a new battery, be aware it will have to run through a number of cycles to come up to full capacity. After that try to avoid running it down all the way to zero although doing that from time to time doesn't matter.

6. The charger is confusing. Both the yellow and the green diode have to burn constantly to indicate full charge. (newer type)

 

[user237428934]

When I absolutely avoided looking at the display it might last over 200 frames. I get 150-180 out of a battery with normal use. A 2nd battery is enough for me.

 

[jaapv]

That is exceedingly low, Tom. I run mine well past the 300 mark, sometimes well past 400.
For full information on the subject look here:



http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica...0260-anatomy-leica-m8s-power-consumption.html

 

[isorgb]

Thank you Getleman.
180-350 pictures - big difference.

I will check my battery with LCD off permanently.

 

[Damaso]

Looking at the LCD constantly will drain the battery faster than anything else. You should be able to easily get twice as many images. Did you buy your M* used? Is the battery used? That might make a difference...

 

[jaapv]

Why don't you just buy a new battery. You need two anyway, and once that one is run in you'll have full capacity.

 

[Bobfrance]

Approx 200 shots (over about 8 hours) is the norm from a battery in my M8. My batteries were second hand when they came to me (1 Leica and 2 after-market).
I really should get a new one, but at £70+ each I'm not in a hurry.

The red light after shooting a few shots consecutively doesn't sound like a battery issue. I suspect it's simply the camera buffering as it writes the shots to the card. I presume you're shooting RAW?

 

[isorgb]

Looking at the LCD constantly will drain the battery faster than anything else. You should be able to easily get twice as many images. Did you buy your M* used? Is the battery used? That might make a difference...

I bought demo, camera and battery in foil. Battery looks never used, but I don't know. You know, battery smells new 😉

Why don't you just buy a new battery. You need two anyway, and once that one is run in you'll have full capacity.

OK, I am planning to buy second battery.
I'm not looking for the Holy Grail, but seller is very reliable and solid, I have full 2-years Leica warranty. If battery is clearly weak it maybe could be replaced.
I would like to be reliable too and don't want to speak up to seller about something, which I should not.

 

[isorgb]

Approx 200 shots (over about 8 hours) is the norm from a battery in my M8. My batteries were second hand when they came to me (1 Leica and 2 after-market).
I really should get a new one, but at £70+ each I'm not in a hurry.

The red light after shooting a few shots consecutively doesn't sound like a battery issue. I suspect it's simply the camera buffering as it writes the shots to the card. I presume you're shooting RAW?

Exactly, original battery is expensive.


Yes, I use RAW format. Sandisk Ultra 2GB 15MB.
I tried turn off and on camera, re-insert card and battery. Without success, only the red LED lights up when press the shutter. After charging the battery, the camera works normally.
Firstly I thought that is freeze camera, but after a few minutes I knew that I need charge battery.

I will check it on a fully charged battery. I will be taking pictures fast, to fill the buffer. I will see how camera work.

 

[Timmyjoe]

I've only had my "used" M8.2 for a month now, but my battery life (original Leica battery) seems to be much longer than described above. I've shot around 700 shots and the battery still has juice in it. Reading the Leica manual for the camera, it says that every so often you should run the battery down, fully recharge it, then run it down again and fully recharge (something about "setting" the battery).

So when I got the camera I did that. Charged the battery to full, ran it down to less than half, recharged to full, ran it down to less than half, recharged to full, and like I said, shot 450+ images on Thursday, and 250+ images yesterday, and it still shows juice.

I shoot DNG(RAW) only, no jpg, and have the LCD off, and only chimp about every twentieth shot. Don't know why the battery is lasting so long, maybe I got a good one.

Best,
-Tim

 

[jaapv]

If you read Mark Norton's thread, you'll find that you avoid all main currect drains: No JPG, LCD sparingly, presumably autoshutoff to two minutes, and probably no soft release. In that case it is quite doable to run over 700 shots, but I did not want to be accused of exaggerating.

 

[Gabriel M.A.]

That is exceedingly low, Tom. I run mine well past the 300 mark, sometimes well past 400.
For full information on the subject look here:



http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica...0260-anatomy-leica-m8s-power-consumption.html

Same here. I wonder if many people who experience low battery life with the M8 aren't "playing" the shutter; you know, half-pressing it often or for an extended period of time often; not turning off the camera and then putting it into a camera bag (even if the auto off setting is turned on, of course a minor depressing of the shutter button will wake up the camera).

 

[user237428934]

Same here. I wonder if many people who experience low battery life with the M8 aren't "playing" the shutter; you know, half-pressing it often or for an extended period of time often; not turning off the camera and then putting it into a camera bag (even if the auto off setting is turned on, of course a minor depressing of the shutter button will wake up the camera).

This may be the case. I often walk through the street and when I think something worth photographing might come along I half press the shutter to wake the camera up. But often enough I don't take a photo. This might drain the battery. Since I have a 2nd (original) battery this is not so important for me anymore. It's rare that I take more than 200 photos a day and I can always charge the batteries at night.

 

[isorgb]

OK, thank you very much.
I will remember each sugestions and I will "use" it.
Today I tried to freeze my camera with full charged battery. I took many shots fast after first and fast after next and fast after next and..... and once again this operation. I did not "broke" battery or camera. Camera wrote files and was ready to next shot. Camera works properly. I forgot about LCD at this time and I will see how many pictures I will take.

Next step what I did: RTFM! Manual Book said that 2-3 first charge of battery is important to next long life of battery.
Anyway, I will buy second battery.

Thank you again!

Pozdrawiam!

 

[menos]

Never shoot a battery low in the M8.2.
I use 4 batteries for one body, numbered and cycling.
For general days with little photography, I have a fresh battery in the camera and a fresh spare in the bag, should one of them have a fault.

For heavy shooting, I carry all batteries and cycle them through the camera.
I generally shoot a fresh battery until one, maximum two indicators are missing from the battery icon and cycle to the next.
This lasts me about 150 shots before I charge.

I shoot the camera since a bit over a year and none of the batteries (including the one, that came with the camera) shows any hit in performance.
i feel, that shooting this way, the batteries will last me a few years still.

I do exactly the same with my D3 and did the same with my EPSON R-D1.

I shoot differently with my F5, which runs on Eneloops and get charged, when the camera stops.

Get as many batteries, as you can and don't bother.
It's the lens and the batteries, that are important to photography, isn't it ;-)