Canon R6 I R6 Battery Drain

[Adecoleman]

Has anyone experienced the LP-E6NH Battery draining quickly.
I have used it a couple of times where it has gone from 100% down to 47% after 140 images. On Wednesday i charged the battery to 100% when i returned home
and left it out of the camera and before i went out with the camera this morning i put it into the charger and it had lost a lot of it's charge which i find strange.
I have the camera set on ECO power saving mode and i have followed a few other power saving tips which i have used on my 5DMKIV etc. I haven't experienced battery drain like this on any other of my Canon Cameras and wondered if i have something switched on that is using the battery so quick. I have purchased another LP-E6NH from Wex as a backup and also have some good lasting LP-E6N from the 5D. If this is the standard for the battery consumption i think i might need to buy the Grip sooner rather than later.

Can anyone share their experiences and also some battery life saving tips please

 

[Dave Williams]

I'm pretty certain you have something working that is causing the power drain because I have taken 1000 images and still had 50% left! One of the main savings might be turning off continuous AF. If you leave that on the lens continues to search when you are not using it , you can hear the focus working as you carry the camera. I also never have GPS switched on either..or Bluetooth and Wifi.

 

[Adecoleman]

I'm pretty certain you have something working that is causing the power drain because I have taken 1000 images and still had 50% left! One of the main savings might be turning off continuous AF. If you leave that on the lens continues to search when you are not using it , you can hear the focus working as you carry the camera. I also never have GPS switched on either..or Bluetooth and Wifi.

Hi Dave,
Thanks for the reply
I never have Continuous AF switched on and have never used GPS,WIFI,Bluetooth

 

[Dave Williams]

How long to you leave the screen live for?

 

[Adecoleman]

How long to you leave the screen live for?

It is set on ECO mode so it powers off after a couple of seconds and then reactivates when i press the shutter button

 

[Adecoleman]

How long to you leave the screen live for?

It is set on ECO mode so it powers off after a couple of seconds and then reactivates when i press the shutter button

 

[saodzynz13]

Mine seems to drain really quickly too. I just received my R5, so I am working on fine tuning my settings to fit my needs as well as prevent unwanted draining. Sorry I am not much help for your inquiry, just feel your pain! Just continuing to learn I guess!

 

[David Eaton]

I haven’t noticed any unusual battery drain. I do have the battery grip, but, I’ve done multiple sporting events on a charge and have never had battery worries. I am using the grip, but if I’m shooting a high school basketball double header, I’m easily shooting 800 images...and I could do back to back doubleheader days with no battery issues.

Tomorrow I’m scheduled for a softball doubleheader and a volleyball doubleheader, I’ll have backup batteries with me, and I’ll probably be shooting two bodies for softball, but I don’t anticipate any battery issues. Monday I’ve got volleyball and high school basketball, likely just one body, but I don’t anticipate having to change batteries. Again, I do have a battery grip, but I’ll shoot a lot of images during the games.

That said, I much prefer fully charged batteries in the camera when I start a day’s events!

 

[David Eaton]

Here’s an update after the day’s event....I probably shot 1,500 images between two softball games, a short high school event, and three sets of a volleyball match. I had two bars left on the battery meter when I took the batteries out to recharge. Again, I use a grip so I have two batteries, but given I was at two bars, I imagine I could have squeezed this out of one battery.

 

[guydunnuk]

Mine seems to drain really quickly too. I just received my R5, so I am working on fine tuning my settings to fit my needs as well as prevent unwanted draining. Sorry I am not much help for your inquiry, just feel your pain! Just continuing to learn I guess!

Try switching it to Airplane mode and that Bluetooth and Wi-Fi are off.

 

[saodzynz13]

Try switching it to Airplane mode and that Bluetooth and Wi-Fi are off.

Thanks for the tip! I don’t think I have it on that setting. I’ll try that out

 

[Lookyloo69]

Has anyone experienced the LP-E6NH Battery draining quickly.
I have used it a couple of times where it has gone from 100% down to 47% after 140 images. On Wednesday i charged the battery to 100% when i returned home
and left it out of the camera and before i went out with the camera this morning i put it into the charger and it had lost a lot of it's charge which i find strange.
I have the camera set on ECO power saving mode and i have followed a few other power saving tips which i have used on my 5DMKIV etc. I haven't experienced battery drain like this on any other of my Canon Cameras and wondered if i have something switched on that is using the battery so quick. I have purchased another LP-E6NH from Wex as a backup and also have some good lasting LP-E6N from the 5D. If this is the standard for the battery consumption i think i might need to buy the Grip sooner rather than later.

Can anyone share their experiences and also some battery life saving tips please

II have the R% with the fancy new battery and the camera sucks it like a slurpy lol i do have plenty of the predecessors. When i spoke toCanon they informed me that my camera has some kindof gyroscopic thing that runs in the background in addition to the standard items ....

 

[tpatana]

As I wrote at the wedding forum, I had 13h day yesterday, took 4000 pics with 4 batteries, two of them Canon and 2 Wasabi batteries. Didn't see any difference from Canon to Wasabi. I used Canon first, then Wasabi, and later on the day as I became more conscious about batteries I started turning off the camera when not shooting, so actually the wasabi batteries did better but it wasn't similar usage.

I don't have any eco-modes enabled, but wireless items are turned off. I had wifi on couple times as I quickly copied few files to my phone.

 

[Lookyloo69]

i will look into those setting

 

[Stoo]

I haven't noticed a battery drain like you're experiencing, but I have noticed that the camera tells me the batteries need replacing but when I start to charge them they are still about 40% charged according to the charger. I am using a grip with 2 LP-E6NH, I still manage to take a fair amount of photos with it on, it just seems strange that the camera tells me the batteries are dead and the charger tells me different.

 

[Shotbycurtin]

After looking at the reviews, the feedback was to expect a shorter than expected battery life, especially if you are using anything other than the NH batteries. I haven’t done any extensive shooting as yet though will do so in April, though have bought the battery grip to ensure I’ve enough juice for the day.

Currently in the UK (no pun intended) you get a free battery with the grip, which is a worthwhile saving.

 

[Olar]

I've only had my R6 for 10 days and am still trying to learn all the setting options. On my first day of shooting out on the trails I found the display screen was always on whenever I looked down at the camera and as a result the battery was draining quickly. It turns out that with the automatic viewfinder my hand, or something, was activating it while walking with the camera down at my side slung with my BlackRapid strap. I have since turned off the auto EV which has greatly helped on the battery consumption.

 

[Joetheslug]

After looking at the reviews, the feedback was to expect a shorter than expected battery life, especially if you are using anything other than the NH batteries. I haven’t done any extensive shooting as yet though will do so in April, though have bought the battery grip to ensure I’ve enough juice for the day.

Currently in the UK (no pun intended) you get a free battery with the grip, which is a worthwhile saving.

Yeah, I got that deal.

 

[Lookyloo69]

well i will say i finally had a day of three shoots and i ran on two batteries ... upwards of 900 shots and 600 in a dark music venue .... didn't miss a beat

 

[Copterdoc]

I'm pretty certain you have something working that is causing the power drain because I have taken 1000 images and still had 50% left! One of the main savings might be turning off continuous AF. If you leave that on the lens continues to search when you are not using it , you can hear the focus working as you carry the camera. I also never have GPS switched on either..or Bluetooth and Wifi.

I agree with Dave, although I will say that the batteries do not last as long as in the 5D MkIII but then again, it's all battery-powered on the R series. I have turned continuous Auto Focus on for very specific uses and forgot to turn it off. This is a significant battery.

 

[Shotbycurtin]

As I wrote at the wedding forum, I had 13h day yesterday, took 4000 pics with 4 batteries, two of them Canon and 2 Wasabi batteries. Didn't see any difference from Canon to Wasabi. I used Canon first, then Wasabi, and later on the day as I became more conscious about batteries I started turning off the camera when not shooting, so actually the wasabi batteries did better but it wasn't similar usage.

I don't have any eco-modes enabled, but wireless items are turned off. I had wifi on couple times as I quickly copied few files to my phone.

Probably about the rate of attrition as me. Shot 2855 images, raw+jpeg, on Saturday Until the camera died. Camera started with fresh batteries at 100%. Wi-fi was enabled for half the day then I switched it to Airplane mode. Rear screen was also on, with the image. Switched it off with 15% battery to go. Using a grip and two NH batteries.

 

[Greg]

For me, using the menu for any length of time will severely drain the battery.

I have all the features that could drain the battery turned on, thats because I'm still adjusting to the R5. But I limit the use of the LCD that is a big drain.

It should be possible to use one of the Customised settings to turn off everything except what is necessary for your photo shoot, that should save a lot of time rummaging through the menus

 

[Wileyone]

I think there may be something wrong to cause that sort of a drain. I was out yesterday and was on high speed continuous + with continuous af, using a zoom lens and took over 1500 pictures, I did go a little mad with the 20fps but got some amazing shots I wouldn't have, but a whole load of same or rubbish ones using a sigma 100-400mm. managed to get a great tit landing and taking off which happened in a millisecond.

 

[Dave Williams]

Shooting video eats up battery too!

 

[DanH]

I have a new R6mkII, it's about 3 wks old. I use an RF to EF adaptor to adapt to my Tamron 24-70 f2.8 lens. With the lens connected to my camera I'm seeing rapid battery drain (camera is in Airplane mode, & switched off. Lens IS & AF are turned off).
IF I remove the lens from the adaptor, the camera battery drain ceases.
Any thoughts on that angle? Anyone else have that experience?
Solutions?

Dan

 

[Copterdoc]

I have a new R6mkII, it's about 3 wks old. I use an RF to EF adaptor to adapt to my Tamron 24-70 f2.8 lens. With the lens connected to my camera I'm seeing rapid battery drain (camera is in Airplane mode, & switched off. Lens IS & AF are turned off).
IF I remove the lens from the adaptor, the camera battery drain ceases.
Any thoughts on that angle? Anyone else have that experience?
Solutions?

Dan

So it seems you have isolated the current draw to the lens. With the camera in "Airplane mode," you have eliminated the probability of drain via the WiFi issue previously identified by canon. If the camera power switch is "OFF" and the battery is still draining, then it would seem to be something with the lens. I'm not sure what that could be. If you have another EF lens that you can place on the camera to see if it still drains, then it isolates the issue to this specific lens. You can also confirm the battery drain is not caused by the camera by installing an RF lens and checking it. The canon EF-RF adapter is a passive "pass-through" adapter and should not cause an issue. Since you confirm that removing the Tamron 24-70 f2.8 lens from the adapter eliminates the problem you have effectively eliminated the adapter as the issue so the only thing left would appear to be the communication established between the Tamron 24-70 f2.8 lens and the camera itself. I can't seem to imagine how this communication could be established with the Camera switched OFF.

You have not explained how you are measuring battery drain in your troubleshooting procedures. Can you clarify that?

 

[DanH]

So it seems you have isolated the current draw to the lens. With the camera in "Airplane mode," you have eliminated the probability of drain via the WiFi issue previously identified by canon. If the camera power switch is "OFF" and the battery is still draining, then it would seem to be something with the lens. I'm not sure what that could be. If you have another EF lens that you can place on the camera to see if it still drains, then it isolates the issue to this specific lens. You can also confirm the battery drain is not caused by the camera by installing an RF lens and checking it. The canon EF-RF adapter is a passive "pass-through" adapter and should not cause an issue. Since you confirm that removing the Tamron 24-70 f2.8 lens from the adapter eliminates the problem you have effectively eliminated the adapter as the issue so the only thing left would appear to be the communication established between the Tamron 24-70 f2.8 lens and the camera itself. I can't seem to imagine how this communication could be established with the Camera switched OFF.

You have not explained how you are measuring battery drain in your troubleshooting procedures. Can you clarify that?

I admit my measurement method is rather subjective - with the lens attached, using a fresh battery, via the battery info screen on the R6ii, I could see 15% battery discharge in an hour. Insert a fresh battery, disconnect the lens, check the same screen 3 hrs later, 1% discharge.

So since then I've tried another trick I saw online: right after shutting off the camera, without disconnecting the lens, open the battery door, remove & re-insert same battery. Went back to check the camera 7hrs or so later and the battery reads 91% equating a 9% discharge... Much better, but not quite where I want to be. To me this certainly points towards some sort of continuing communication between the Tamron lens and the R6ii even after the power switch is turned off. I will try the a different EF lens tomorrow and see what results from that
I should also note that I have not made it through ALL the screens on the R6ii to verify that I am making the best use of the camera's power saving ability.

edit: I just connected a Tokina 11-16 f2.8AF lens to my R6ii. With the camera power switch OFF(duh), the auto focus motor activated as soon as I clicked the lens into place. So now I have a fairly clear indication that R6ii is not totally powered OFF, even though the switch says so?
(FWIW 7:45pm, battery @ 64%, power switch off, lens AF off, battery removed & re-inserted.)

 

[Copterdoc]

I admit my measurement method is rather subjective - with the lens attached, using a fresh battery, via the battery info screen on the R6ii, I could see 15% battery discharge in an hour. Insert a fresh battery, disconnect the lens, check the same screen 3 hrs later, 1% discharge.

So since then I've tried another trick I saw online: right after shutting off the camera, without disconnecting the lens, open the battery door, remove & re-insert same battery. Went back to check the camera 7hrs or so later and the battery reads 91% equating a 9% discharge... Much better, but not quite where I want to be. To me this certainly points towards some sort of continuing communication between the Tamron lens and the R6ii even after the power switch is turned off. I will try the a different EF lens tomorrow and see what results from that
I should also note that I have not made it through ALL the screens on the R6ii to verify that I am making the best use of the camera's power saving ability.

edit: I just connected a Tokina 11-16 f2.8AF lens to my R6ii. With the camera power switch OFF(duh), the auto focus motor activated as soon as I clicked the lens into place. So now I have a fairly clear indication that R6ii is not totally powered OFF, even though the switch says so?
(FWIW 7:45pm, battery @ 64%, power switch off, lens AF off, battery removed & re-inserted.)

There seems to be some background process possible when opening and closing the memory card door on my R5 so it would seem that there is some power available or a switch that activates certain functions even when the power switch is off. When removing and reinstalling my RF lens with the camera switch OFF, I hear a soft shutter click sound so it appears that there are other functions that can be triggered when the camera is "OFF". I would normally expect that these would be momentary functions using some form of sensing or mechanical switch to activate the momentary function. Other than that, and the "AIRPLANE mode" previously described, I do not have any battery drain issues to my knowledge. I always have a lens (usually RF) attached so that is my configuration. I am interested in knowing if your tests show this to be related to a specific lens or not.

 

[DanH]

UPDATE for those following this thread...
Today @ 5:45pm, I checked my battery status after connecting my Tokina lens to my R6ii last night - and it shows... 64%! that's NO drain at all over 22 hrs. So then is just my Tamron lens? So now when I turned off me camera, I did not remove the battery & I turned on the Tokina's AF. The next step will be to determine whether or not my problematic battery drain is isolated to my Tamron or not. I'll be testing my Sigma lenses as well.

Stay Tuned!

 

[DanH]

UPDATE for those following this thread...
Today @ 5:45pm, I checked my battery status after connecting my Tokina lens to my R6ii last night - and it shows... 64%! that's NO drain at all over 22 hrs. So then is just my Tamron lens? So now when I turned off me camera, I did not remove the battery & I turned on the Tokina's AF. The next step will be to determine whether or not my problematic battery drain is isolated to my Tamron or not. I'll be testing my Sigma lenses as well.

Stay Tuned!

R6ii Battery drain Update 12/29 4pm
Checked my R6ii this morning at 8am, still at 64%. So I turned on the Tokina's AF.
4pm - Battery still at 64% - clearly NO drain issue with the Tokina lens, whether lens features are on or off.
4:05pm - mount a Sigma 35mm 1.4ART lens AF on, cycle power, leave battery in - see what happens

Dan