Battery life ???
May 21, 2013 14:07:51 #
I tried for the first time last night to take a picture of star trails. I started at about midnight....fell asleep and when i woke up a few hours later my battery was dead. I'm using a Canon T3 with the 18-55mm kit lens. Also a fully charged newer litium battery. My settings where:
Camera on a tripod with a remote shutter release
Lens at 18 mm F 3.5
Manual focus to infinity
IS off
ISO 100
White balance "daylight"
Shutter speed "Bulb"
Long exposure noise reduction "On"
File size "Large"
So my question is #1: how long will a "fresh" battery last during long exposures. #2 when I get home this afternoon and put in the charged up battery will I have any image.
Thanks for your help.
Camera on a tripod with a remote shutter release
Lens at 18 mm F 3.5
Manual focus to infinity
IS off
ISO 100
White balance "daylight"
Shutter speed "Bulb"
Long exposure noise reduction "On"
File size "Large"
So my question is #1: how long will a "fresh" battery last during long exposures. #2 when I get home this afternoon and put in the charged up battery will I have any image.
Thanks for your help.
May 21, 2013 14:41:08 #
How cold did it get at night?
Yes, temperature has a lot to do with how a battery works.
EstherP
Yes, temperature has a lot to do with how a battery works.
EstherP
May 21, 2013 14:52:49 #
May 21, 2013 15:03:54 #
missletoe wrote:
Ester, I'd say around 67 degrees
No, that shouldn't be cold enough for the battery to stop working.
You don't give the brand-name of your batteries, but that would be the only other possibility I can think of: If they are a less expensive brand, it may be the quality of the batteries.
Sure hope you get it figured out!
EstherP
May 21, 2013 15:24:44 #
Esther, i'm just wondering how long a freshly charged battery should last
May 21, 2013 15:43:02 #
missletoe wrote:
Esther, i'm just wondering how long a freshly charged battery should last
But that's just it, it depends so much on the batteries. I have had the same set of 4 Optex batteries in my flashlight for about six weeks, used the flash a number of times, and they're still going strong.
But some time ago I put a set of Radio Shack batteries in the flashlight, they were empty that same evening....
Esther
May 21, 2013 15:45:04 #
mwsilvers
Loc: Central New Jersey
missletoe wrote:
I tried for the first time last night to take a pi... (show quote)
A single long exposure with your Rebel battery will kill it in around 2 hours or less. Perhaps even sooner if you have your 18-55 lens' IS switched on. The battery used for the 60D, 7D, and 5D series (the same battery for all three) will last around twice as long. if you are going to be doing this a lot get extra batteries or an external power supply.
May 21, 2013 15:46:40 #
May 22, 2013 07:09:02 #
missletoe wrote:
I tried for the first time last night to take a pi... (show quote)
First shut off long exposure noise reduction, you can easily reduce noise in post processing and what noise reduction is doing is trying to take a second picture, that may be what drained your battery. I know there are people on line that say keep noise reduction on but I have not had a problem with it off
May 22, 2013 10:31:44 #
missletoe wrote:
Esther, i'm just wondering how long a freshly charged battery should last
How old is the battery? How many times has it been charged/cycled. It may just be that the battery is approaching end of life.
May 22, 2013 10:45:26 #
Just holding the shutter open on the DSLR is a fairly heavy power drain. Olde mechanical cameras used no power for bulb exposures.
As to shooting hours on bulb, unless you are in a truly dark sky area, like, can't see your hand on a new moon, and there are very few of them these days, hours of exposure might just yield a bright white frame.
If the moon is in the sky, its illumination of the water vapor in the sky would guarantee overexposure if the moon was anywhere near the shot being taken.
Another trick would be to do a sequence of shorter star trails, and combine them in post. You must have a good tripod for such a shot. 97.5% of tripods would not be up to that task.
As to shooting hours on bulb, unless you are in a truly dark sky area, like, can't see your hand on a new moon, and there are very few of them these days, hours of exposure might just yield a bright white frame.
If the moon is in the sky, its illumination of the water vapor in the sky would guarantee overexposure if the moon was anywhere near the shot being taken.
Another trick would be to do a sequence of shorter star trails, and combine them in post. You must have a good tripod for such a shot. 97.5% of tripods would not be up to that task.
May 22, 2013 13:48:53 #
May 22, 2013 14:29:33 #
romanticf16
Loc: Commerce Twp, MI
If you shoot in RAW the camera won't have to waste energy converting the image into a jpeg. You can do the RAW to jpeg conversion and set your color temp after capture with the Canon software.
May 22, 2013 14:33:56 #
mwsilvers
Loc: Central New Jersey
strikerazde wrote:
Get a grip..... a battery grip will add hours to your battery life.
His issue was a single exposure lasting several hours. While a battery grip with a second battery would extend the exposure time, it still would have probably gone dead in this case. Two batteries for his model body would have only given him an exposure time of maybe 3 to 5 hours.
May 22, 2013 16:02:36 #
strikerazde wrote:
Get a grip..... a battery grip will add hours to your battery life.
I agree, look on KEH, B&H for a used grip. Just picked up a used grip at B&H for $35 for my XSI. It was listed at 9, but could not tell it from new, except no manual.
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