Battery Life with upgrade?

[rvaubel]

iUser
Its good your going to do a test. Thats what we need more of to resolve whether their is v a practical issue or not. I would assume everyone would expect a little less battery life.
I'm leaving on a Aegean vacation and I just want to know if I'm going to need to buy a charger that will do more than one battery at a time. No big deal.

Rex

 

[furcafe]

Sorry for offending you, but I was not comparing anyone to a 5 year-old & not criticizing anyone for using the new menu features. I was simply following up on krimple's point that adding new features that require use of the LCD, all other things being equal, will result in more power consumption & shorter battery life. Yes, I'm sure it's possible to improve power management via firmware, but just because Canon can do it w/their cameras doesn't mean that Epson can (the R-D1 can't do a lot of things that other DSLRs can, such as custom white balance, which I would @ least think is a major shortcoming). I wouldn't necessarily assume that Epson's engineers were completely unaware of the power issue. It seems more likely to me that they know about it but didn't think it outweighs the benefits of the added features/improvements. By "no free lunch" I mean that every benefit imposes a cost. It would be nice if some people wouldn't take things so personally.

From your description, we apparently use the R-D1 in a similar way. I, however, have not noticed any significant reduction in battery life, certainly nothing like 50%, using either generic or Epson batteries.

Like RML, I also don't use any of the new features besides pixel mapping and 1600 noise reduction. I don't use the review LCD any more than before (and that is- hardly) and I do only when I want to chekc the histogram, whcih I generally don't. I guess it would be nice if members here (furcafe and others) would not make assumptions about other's use, as if we are discussing the games of 5 years old kids with a new toys. Most of us are unlikely to "use new features" just for the fun of it- we use the R-D1 to take picutres, and at least I use it as close as possible to the way I was always using my Leica cameras, that is, using it like a manual camera and not like a computerized toy. I think such assumptions disturb the possibility of a serious discussion.
BTW, as far as I remember, few years ago one of canon's cameras (10D, 20D don't remember exactly) got a firmware upgrade which reduced battery life significantly, and after a while it was corrected by a new firmware which solved that problem. Now who is the next one to scream No Free Meal? It is not trivial at all that a firmaware upgrade would lead to change in battery life. Very often, in fact, firmware upgrade contains a better power management which increases battery life significantly. (had that with my Kodak slr/C as well as with my Treo Palm...)

 

[kai-gc]

Firmware upgrade problem

Firmware upgrade problem

Hi,
i have been trying to upgrade the firmware as perepson instrucktions and nothing happens?
I wait for a while then check that the camera is till functioning normaly, which it does.

Any sugestions. I am using a 512 mb card.

Thanks

 

[RML]

It's important to literally follow the instructions, espeically those telling you how to get into the upgrade menu. Push those buttons and keep pushing them before switching on the camera.

 

[AusDLK]

Certainly not an exhaustive test but I shot almost 200 images yesterday and still had juice in the battery. In fact this seems to be an IMPROVEMENT over what I was experiencing before the upgrade... All images shot in RAW mode and virtually no use of the LCD. Go figure based on some of the previous postings...

 

[rami G]

Kai-gc, as RML said, make sure you are pressing the correct buttons. Initially I confused the user's button with the right arrow (that functions like the "enter" for some operations). In the instructions there is an icon that appears near the button you are supposed to press.

ausdlk, I hope you are correct. I don't have any clue what was my LCD brightness prior to the upgrade but I reduced it now and hope it will solve some of my own issues. (I also hardly use the LCD but I do use it for histogram when uncertain about exposure)

 

[rvaubel]

I was the one that thought the LCD screen was brighter after installing the upgrade. On further examination, I have concluded I was probably imagining things. The reason I say this is I reset the default parameters and found that the LCD brightness screen defaults to 6 bars out of 8. That what probably happened when I installed the software to begin with. I mistakingly thought I had a couple of extra bars of brightness to play with.
At least thats my latest theory.

Rex
P.S. I still think I'm using getting less battery life than before.
I'm still looking for a charger that will charge more than one battery at a time.

 

[saxshooter]

I'm still looking for a charger that will charge more than one battery at a time.

I was looking for chargers for a while (until I got a second OEM charger with my recent warranty repair) and I was eyeing this single charger being sold at B&H which charges the same batteries.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=WishList.jsp&A=details&Q=&sku=387509&is=REG

I never came across a charger that charged multiple batteries.

Good luck.

 

[Ed Schwartzreic]

I have a close clone of this B&H charger, which has served me well. Smaller than the OEM one, it also has a 12V car cord.

Ed

 

[rvaubel]

With my reduced battery life (75 shots or so) and an vacation coming up, I figure I need to carry 3 batteries for an all day outing. At the end of the day it would be nice to charge all three at once. If I had a charger that could charge a pair, then with the OEM unit, I could charge them in a serial fashion. I really don't want to carry three chargers.

Rex

 

[jlw]

75 shots seems 'way low unless you really use the LCD a lot.

I was one of the people who had posted that I had noticed what seemed like somewhat reduced battery life -- but I was talking about a reduction along the lines of from 400 shots to 350 shots!

I wonder if you might have had another problem (such as a battery going bad) arise coincidentally at about the same time you applied the firmware update...?


BTW, for the person who posted about Canon's firmware update that improved battery life: The reason they were able to do that was that their original update contained a programming bug that spiked battery life ridiculously. They then had to issue a bug-fix update to correct their own error.

I think it's quite plausible that Epson's update contains features that reduce battery life somewhat under some circumstances but not others, which would explain why some of us are seeing an issue and others aren't. As someone else posted, Epson could well have been aware of this but decided to go ahead with it on the basis of "the greatest good for the greatest number."

What we need now is someone with a non-updated R-D 1, an updated R-D 1, and a microammeter. Such a person could measure the power drain in various operating modes, and see whether there's really been a change.

ANOTHER THOUGHT AS I'VE BEEN WRITING THIS: There could be a completely different explanation for why some of us have been seeing a battery-life "reduction." At various times before the update, some of us had been reporting various odd behaviors when battery power would start to get low. I recall someone else having had the camera lock up; I myself have encountered a situation a few times in which the camera would "click" but not write any data to the memory card, causing me to think I had taken several pictures that I didn't actually get.

I wonder if Epson might have addressed these problems by making the firmware more "conservative" in its power handling -- i.e., shutting the camera down earlier, before these types of problems occur.

I think most of us would agree that would be a good tradeoff: Better to have a camera that takes pictures reliably for somewhat fewer shots per charge, rather than one that gets slightly more shots per charge but at an increased risk of losing shots without warning toward the end of the charge.

 

[rvaubel]

I have to admit to having a terrible chimping problem. The 16X magnification feature with RAW files just makes the problem worse. I never got more than 125 shots even before the upgrade so I don't know where to lay the blame. I am evaluating a couple of new lens so thats part of the excess chimping problem. In real life shooting situation I would use less batteries but I don't mind carrying 3 sets anyway. Although in the long term I would like to find out what is going on batterywise, the near term problem is how to recharge those batteries at the same time. I don't want to stay up all night recharging serially. And I don't really want to carry 3 chargers either.
Although my DSLR gets a lot more life, it's battery pack consist of 2 cells. The Epson doesn't have much "there" there when it comes to cell size or weight. That's a good thing with regards camera size so I'm not complaining.
Before the upgrade, I got use to changing the battery whenever I changed the 1GB memory card. No big deal. But now everything is kind of out of sync.
I have a voltmeter but I wouldnt have a clue of either what to measure or how to measure.
Meanwhile, I've seen some chargers that appear to have space for two batteries but don't advertise the fact. I might take a chance. At worst at least I can charge two batteries simultaneously.

Chimpaholic in Berkeley
Rex

 

[rvaubel]

Oh, I havent had any "weird" problems. The camera has performed normally without any odd shutter sounds or anything else.
Rex

 

[JeffGreene]

Rex et al:

I noticed a slight diminution of battery life (approx. 10%) immediately after the upgrade, but after dialing down screen brightness and resetting for everything except long exposure noise reduction, have seen no real difference, but then again I'm not a pro, and may not be using the camera in the same way.

Respectfully,

 

[lightwriter]

Battey life seems about the same for me. I use the camera/features as I did before the upgrade.
Auto off: 3 min (I try to turn it off myself if not shooting.)
NR: on
Autor review: off
RAW only
Use preview occasionally, maybe a bit more than before
All Epson batteries.

I am on vacation right now, shooting quite a bit intermittently. Yesterday, I took 65 shots before the battery meter came off of 'F'. I will track this one and report back.

 

[tlg]

I'm new to posting, but I was so happy to read on this web site of the new firmware. I had been lamenting the upgrades announced fort the RD 1s. I just did a big shoot over the weekend, continous use, moderate chimping. I had it set on Raw + Jpeg. I went through 4 batteries and 4 G of shooting. Not bad in my opinion. My one complaint is the Jpeg is too large. I am only using if to make editing Raw files easier so I don't need to be burning up extra space and write time with the large jpeg.

 

[rvaubel]

I went through 4 batteries and 4 G of shooting. Not bad in my opinion. .

Thats about my usage too. I don't mind going thru the batteries, I just want to know how you recharge them every night. I'm going on vacation and I don't relish the thought of charging them serially. With one charger, it would keep me in my room for 8 hours every night. With 2 chargers, maybe I could do 2 before dinner and then 2 before bedtime.
When I shoot at home 1GB card is normally enough. Maybe 2
But with 4 or 5 batteries down the tubes in a day there must be a way too not be a slave to battery charging.
I suppose I could buy 4 more chargers. But I would rather buy a couple twin chargers or better yet, one that charges 4 at a time.
I see what I think are twin chargers on the net. But they are not discribed that way.
Any solutions anyone?

Rex

 

[tlg]

I have three chargers. It would be nice if they had a charger that could do more than one. I have my doubts that we will be seeing this.

 

[Rayt]

I did the upgrade last night. I then played with the camera's new magnify function for an hour shooting about 30 frames and magnifying each one. It was pretty alarming to see my freshly charged battery losing half its juice according to the gauge. Glad I have 3 extra batteries.

 

[Jim Watts]

Well after sitting on the fence for a while letting all you guys do the beta testing for me 😉, to see if there were any bugs or downsides, I have just upgraded my R-D1 with the new firmware. The single shutter press, histogram retention and better position and raw magnification improvements are well worth having. A quick before and after check does show some slight improvement in noise at 1600 iso, but not as much as I expected from other reports here. Perhaps I was expecting too much, but I'll happily take whats on offer.

No conclusions on battery life yet which was this was my reservation about the upgrade, but I'm ordering up a couple of more Epson batteries just in case.