[CWRailman]

I keep very careful and accurate records of my camera battery usage. This month I have tested the Q, Q10 and am now using the Q7. On all of these camera’s the best I can get from one battery charge is 90 shots with most of the charges giving me 75-80 shots. This has been about the same for all three of the camera’s that I tested.

A fully charged battery is reading 4.18 volts. The camera usually shuts off when the battery gets to between 3.16 and 3.21 volts with one such reading of 3.44 at shut down. I have the image review screen set to 3 seconds, I am using the camera as I believe most folks would with about two minutes between shots. I have not increased the screen brightness over the factory setting. All this testing has been with .jpg. No HDR or other long processing. None of my shots are with flash and I remove the card from the camera for image transfer to the puter. What settings are needed to extend battery life to the advertised 250 shots?

I get the same results whether I use the Pentax battery that came with the camera or the slightly higher 1100mAh Wasabi batteries. I have read through many of the postings that deal with battery life and did not see an answer to this question. If it has already been answered could someone direct me to that info.

Denny

[crewl1]

Maybe turn off the LCD completely manual focus and use only the electronic shutter by shooting above the leaf shutter range?

[cjfeola]

I keep very careful and accurate records of my camera battery usage. This month I have tested the Q, Q10 and am now using the Q7. On all of these camera’s the best I can get from one battery charge is 90 shots with most of the charges giving me 75-80 shots. This has been about the same for all three of the camera’s that I tested.

A fully charged battery is reading 4.18 volts. The camera usually shuts off when the battery gets to between 3.16 and 3.21 volts with one such reading of 3.44 at shut down. I have the image review screen set to 3 seconds, I am using the camera as I believe most folks would with about two minutes between shots. I have not increased the screen brightness over the factory setting. All this testing has been with .jpg. No HDR or other long processing. None of my shots are with flash and I remove the card from the camera for image transfer to the puter. What settings are needed to extend battery life to the advertised 250 shots?

I get the same results whether I use the Pentax battery that came with the camera or the slightly higher 1100mAh Wasabi batteries. I have read through many of the postings that deal with battery life and did not see an answer to this question. If it has already been answered could someone direct me to that info.

Denny

Are you using flash? I have the original Pentax and Wasabi batteries in my Qs and Q7, and get way more than that. I usually shoot Raw+, no flash. Shot 131 pictures with the Q7 two weeks ago at a tennis match, and used about half the battery. Shot another dozen frames since, and still haven't switched it out. Just checked; I'm down to the last bar, but it's not flashing yet. So that's several weeks and 150+ shots. That was no flash at all, though. I recharge them with the Wasabi charger from the kit and leave them in there until the light turns green, which takes quite the while.

cjf

[barondla]

I have the original Q. Don't really keep track of battery life vs shots. Don't get many shots since I am usually using the Pentax Q-PK adapter, image stabilization on constantly, and LCD as bright as it will go. I change batteries like rolls of film. Image stabilization draws more juice- especially when left on constantly to stabilize the lcd image.

Wonder if shooting jpeg draws more juice than Raw? Every thing starts as Raw and then the camera has to process to get jpegs. I also have pentax and wasabi batts. Like you, don't notice any major difference in the shot count.

I have a camera with worse battery life than a Q. The Sigma DP1Merrill. 100 shots is amazing for it.

If you are indoors consider the Fuji ac adapter, or for very little money build a battery pack. You have the know how and technical expertise.

thanks
barondla

Enjoy the Q!

[Lowell Goudge]

I keep very careful and accurate records of my camera battery usage. This month I have tested the Q, Q10 and am now using the Q7. On all of these camera’s the best I can get from one battery charge is 90 shots with most of the charges giving me 75-80 shots. This has been about the same for all three of the camera’s that I tested.

A fully charged battery is reading 4.18 volts. The camera usually shuts off when the battery gets to between 3.16 and 3.21 volts with one such reading of 3.44 at shut down. I have the image review screen set to 3 seconds, I am using the camera as I believe most folks would with about two minutes between shots. I have not increased the screen brightness over the factory setting. All this testing has been with .jpg. No HDR or other long processing. None of my shots are with flash and I remove the card from the camera for image transfer to the puter. What settings are needed to extend battery life to the advertised 250 shots?

I get the same results whether I use the Pentax battery that came with the camera or the slightly higher 1100mAh Wasabi batteries. I have read through many of the postings that deal with battery life and did not see an answer to this question. If it has already been answered could someone direct me to that info.

Denny

I don't think you will ever get 250 shots put of a battery, and the life was one of the things forts commented on for the Q when it came out. Part of the trade off between using an existing or new battery, and of course, the small size.

Power pack or AC adaptor is about the only possible benefit to get more life, and of course reducing the on time period between shut downs.

I don't count but I know the Q gobbles batteries much faster than my DSLRs. I use mine mostly with the standard zoom, wide angle zoom, and the PK/Q adaptor.

I pack 7 batteries when I travel, and 2 chargers.

[CWRailman]

It looks like I am not the only one getting low battery life. No, I am not using the flash but I do have the image stabilization on all the time and all the shots are processed to high quality .jpg’s so those features may be causing an additional draw. While I am not changing the batteries quite as often as I would be changing out film, (great analogy there) I did think my 75-90 shot count was a bit low. In my personal use of this camera that is not a problem but I was wondering if it compared to what others were getting.

Conversely on my K-5 camera’s I get about the same number of shots out of each battery charge as is advertised.

Denny

[barondla]

My bet is on the SR running constantly. Seems like it even runs when reviewing pics. At least Pentax put the battery door on the end of the camera. Bottom mounted is a pain to change out on a small tripod mounted camera.

thanks
barondla

[cjfeola]

It looks like I am not the only one getting low battery life. No, I am not using the flash but I do have the image stabilization on all the time and all the shots are processed to high quality .jpg’s so those features may be causing an additional draw. While I am not changing the batteries quite as often as I would be changing out film, (great analogy there) I did think my 75-90 shot count was a bit low. In my personal use of this camera that is not a problem but I was wondering if it compared to what others were getting.

Conversely on my K-5 camera’s I get about the same number of shots out of each battery charge as is advertised.

Denny

Interesting. I have Review set to 1 second, SR on, and Raw+ with JPEG quality set to high. Autosleep is 1 minute. I tend to turn the Q7 on and off as I use it, instead of letting it autosleep. Battery life doesn't seem any different between any of our three Qs and the Q7. I don't know that I've ever gotten 250 shots -- never really counted -- but I know I've done multiple 100+ frame shoots on a single battery. My current experience feels pretty average; I'll swap batteries roughly once a month somewhere between 175 and 200+ shots.

I almost never use flash, though.

Hope that helps-maybe try reducing the review to 1 sec?

cjf

[crewl1]

I just ran a test with the interval mode to see how many shots could be produced.

I set it for one shot every 5 seconds up to the max of 999 shots.
MF, SR off, JPEG best.
The camera shut off after recording 999 shots and still shows battery at 3/4 full.

Note that the camera 'sleeps' between shots and only flashes the shot it takes on the LCD for about a second.

First shot was at 8:33 AM and last shot was at 9:56 AM.

Funny thing is it wrote three folders with 500 pics, 163 pics, and 336 pics.
Not sure why the number of shots was distributed that way, maybe I need to format the card.

Battery is a generic one, says Progo, 3.7v 1400mAh 5.2Wh

Looking at the Pentax original battery it says 3.6v 1000mAh 3.4Wh, so I will re run the test with this one next to see if there is a difference.

[crewl1]

Similar test with Pentax original battery completed the 999 shots but the battery was in the yellow zone at the end, so the lower capacity is reflected.

[barondla]

There are two SR image stabilizing modes. One only works at the moment of exposure. You do not see it working on the lcd. This should draw very little extra power vs SR turned off. The SR can also run anytime the camera is on. This helps stabilize the lcd image for handheld photography with big, adapted lenses. Having the sensor move constantly really drains my Q batteries quickly. Oh well.

Thanks
barondla

[CWRailman]

There are two SR image stabilizing modes. One only works at the moment of exposure. You do not see it working on the lcd. This should draw very little extra power vs SR turned off. The SR can also run anytime the camera is on. This helps stabilize the lcd image for handheld photography with big, adapted lenses. Having the sensor move constantly really drains my Q batteries quickly. Oh well.

Thanks
barondla

You say 2 SR image stabilizing modes. I can only find one which I thought activated the shake reduction for the camera lens. The control I am aware of is on the second "menu" screen and is called Shake Reduction. Is there another setting someplace? Is that the continuous setting that drains power and if it is shut off does the Shake Reduction still activate when the shutter is depressed?

How appropriate, as I turned my camera on to see what menu screen the setting was on, it gave me the depleted battery warning then shut down. I had been using it earlier and did run it down quite low.

Denny

[barondla]

Yep, two modes. Under camera menu,or info screen turn on SR. Then move to the custom function menu, page 1 #4. - shake reduction options. There you will find mode 1 and mode 2. Mode 2 stabilizes the lcd before and after the shot. It also warns that it uses more power. In quiet locations the buzz sounds like a mosquito. These are the menu settings for the original Q. Think the Q10 is the same. Don't know about the Q7.

Yes, SR will work when the shutter fires in either mode. With adapted lenses I need mode 2 to to help with long, manually focused lenses, and the toy lenses. Don't discount the toy wide- it does incredible macro shots without any attachments. there is a thread on that here. One aperture- 7.1. Incredible dof. Think it looks better than 01 shot at f8.

The default is mode 1(green writing on menu). You are probably set to that. You may be able to reduce your battery life, to a roll of film, by using mode 2. Especially, if you crank the lcd brightness up all the way to fight the sun. The Q is fun.

Looked at your blog. Very informative read. I will study it in more detail. You make the small trains look real. Also like your straight forward explanations. Well done.

thanks
barondla

[CWRailman]

Yep, two modes. Under camera menu,or info screen turn on SR. Then move to the custom function menu, page 1 #4. - shake reduction options. There you will find mode 1 and mode 2. Mode 2 stabilizes the lcd before and after the shot. It also warns that it uses more power. In quiet locations the buzz sounds like a mosquito. These are the menu settings for the original Q. Think the Q10 is the same. Don't know about the Q7.

Yes, SR will work when the shutter fires in either mode. With adapted lenses I need mode 2 to to help with long, manually focused lenses, and the toy lenses. Don't discount the toy wide- it does incredible macro shots without any attachments. there is a thread on that here. One aperture- 7.1. Incredible dof. Think it looks better than 01 shot at f8.

The default is mode 1(green writing on menu). You are probably set to that. You may be able to reduce your battery life, to a roll of film, by using mode 2. Especially, if you crank the lcd brightness up all the way to fight the sun. The Q is fun.

Looked at your blog. Very informative read. I will study it in more detail. You make the small trains look real. Also like your straight forward explanations. Well done.

thanks
barondla

Thank you for you comments on my blog. Pleased to hear that you may have found something of interest even if you are not involved with the hobby.

Thanks for your input. I checked out the manuals for the Q and the Q10 and that Custom option you spoke of is available on both of those camera’s but it is not available on the Q7.

On page 81 of the Q7 manual it indicates that there is only a 10 shot difference in the total number of shots when using the flash and not using the flash. That in itself seems a bit hard to believe.

Here is an explanation of how the CIPA test is conducted and based on my experience with these camera’s, I don’t see how any of the Q series get 200 plus shots under these conditions.

How to Rate Battery Runtime – Battery University

Denny