K-5 Battery Level Indicator

kaikaiawaro · 01-09-2011, 10:47 AM

Hi there,

Does anybody out there having issues with the battery level indicator?

I am using the original battery, which comes with the K-5 and of course fully charged.

When I start shooting the indicator shows a full battery.
After shooting for a while (a couple of hours) the indicator still shows a full battery.

Now when using Liveview (videorecording or shooting stills) the indicator shows an almost empty battery (yellow) or even an empty battery (red)

It even happened that the camera shows battery depleted, before shutting down by itself. When I restart the camera, the indicator shows a full battery. As soon I use liveview it show the empty battery again. When I stop using liveview it shows the full battery after a while.

Does anybody have the same issues or could it be a faulty K-5?
To me this seems very awkward, should be be solved by firmware upgrade.

I think its strange that depending on using Liveview the battery indicator shows different statuses?

Grtz..
Jörgen

RonHendriks1966 · 01-09-2011, 11:02 AM

Well your camera uses much more energy for Liveview or video, so a depleted battery can stil make pictures, but is not sufficient anymore for liveview or video.

If you want to use these functions more in future, you should get at least a few spare battery's.

kaikaiawaro · 01-09-2011, 11:16 AM

Originally posted by RonHendriks1966

Well your camera uses much more energy for Liveview or video, so a depleted battery can stil make pictures, but is not sufficient anymore for liveview or video.

If you want to use these functions more in future, you should get at least a few spare battery's.

Thanks for you fast response, Ron.

I understand Liveview uses more energy. But why does the indicator still show a full battery, while to me it already seemed to have used quite a lot of its power. To me it seems that the indicator does not show the actual status of the battery.

Can somebody tell me for how long you can shoot via liveview, not that I am using it a lot, but just to have an idea, or for how long you can shoot video with one battery?

Regards,
Jörgen

Rick Clark · 01-09-2011, 01:43 PM

I have shoot over 400 pictures some live view and still had a full battery charge.

RonHendriks1966 · 01-09-2011, 01:58 PM

On the K-7 (no idea how it is with the K-5, to my idea it uses just a little more energy) you can make almost 2.000 RAW images on a good treated battery (4 times fully charged and depleted fully) that is fully loaded. This is with no liveview, no light on topscreen, no SR, no preview after each picture. This is a setting I use for sports Hi-speed shooting.

On liveview and all the energy-slurpings on the camera you will be good for several hours and maybe 500 RAW.

I have wen everything is in home 2 K-5's and 5 battery's.

bobmaxja · 01-09-2011, 03:26 PM

No issues on my side and not one single issues of all the one peoples talk her, No FF, No Flash issue, no stain

Gio645 · 01-09-2011, 04:11 PM

Originally posted by kaikaiawaro

Hi there,

Does anybody out there having issues with the battery level indicator?

I am using the original battery, which comes with the K-5 and of course fully charged.

When I start shooting the indicator shows a full battery.
After shooting for a while (a couple of hours) the indicator still shows a full battery.

Now when using Liveview (videorecording or shooting stills) the indicator shows an almost empty battery (yellow) or even an empty battery (red)

It even happened that the camera shows battery depleted, before shutting down by itself. When I restart the camera, the indicator shows a full battery. As soon I use liveview it show the empty battery again. When I stop using liveview it shows the full battery after a while.

Does anybody have the same issues or could it be a faulty K-5?
To me this seems very awkward, should be be solved by firmware upgrade.

I think its strange that depending on using Liveview the battery indicator shows different statuses?

My K-5 behaves as yours. The problem is more pronounced when I use contrast detect AF.

Cannikin · 01-09-2011, 05:51 PM

This is normal behavior. The following can cause the battery meter to drop dramatically, and cause premature shutdown:

Live view
Video
In-lens focus motor (SDM, DC, etc.)

You can often go hundreds of shots more after the first time it gives you a premature "low battery" shutdown, switching to normal shooting and screw-drive lenses.

Waiting a few seconds and turning it back on will often "reset" the battery meter. The battery meter is obviously calibrated to screw-drive lenses and normal shooting (mirror down). Anything that draws more power (especially constant power drain) tends to mess it up (and shorten overall battery life of course, but less than the battery meter would lead you to believe). I believe it has something to do with the higher current load causing a voltage drop. Battery meters measure remaining charge by voltage, not by actual energy content, so voltage fluctuations will mess them up.

This is also why the meter seems to stay at green for a very long time, and then drop much faster later; the discharge curve for voltage remains fairly flat for many batteries (li-ion included) until they are almost dead, and then drops off dramatically towards the end. Because the voltage does not change much during most of its life, unless you have a very accurate and calibrated meter (something hard to do with highly variable loads on cameras), it will have a hard time telling exactly how much has really been drained.

Rupert · 01-09-2011, 06:51 PM

I never even look at them on any camera I use, I find none of them accurate and when they do warn you it is usually near the last shot. I just keep spare batteries handy, and forget the meter. Batteries are cheap, why try to guess what the meter is or isn't saying?
Regards!

Frogfish · 01-10-2011, 06:26 AM

Pretty much what Rupert said. Pentax need to take a leaf out of Sony's book in regard to accurate reporting of battery levels. With both the K7 & the K5 I've found that the battery reads full ... until it's practically empty !

Kunzite · 01-10-2011, 02:55 PM

My experience is different - unlike on the K10D/K20D, with the K-5 I can shoot quite a few frames (as in: hundreds) after the battery indicator stops showing full charge. Even on "almost empty", the camera won't "die" easily.

**fs999** · 01-17-2011, 02:34 AM

There is a related problem here about SDM/HSM lenses and battery level...

xGene · 01-17-2011, 06:03 AM

Manufacturing tolerance...
I have 3 batteries (1 spare, 1 from the K7, 1 from the K5) and one of them actually behaves exactly as you described. Everytime I put an extra (electrical) load on it, the camera will display a "low battery". By extra load I mean Live View and Video. Because of thhis extra load, the voltage drop is more significant and the camera detects this as a low-voltage condition, hence the "low battery" indication. Once you remove the load and use the camera without LV or not shooting video, the voltage comes back up to normal and the "low battery" goes away.

Since I experience this with only one of my batteries, I attribute this behavior to manufactruing tolerance. Although, curiously, the K7 does not exhibit this behavior. I presume the load and/or the setting on the k5 os just more sensitive to voltage drop...

Gene

philippe · 01-17-2011, 06:48 AM

Talking batteries, and not wanting to hack this topic; is it important to format the Pentax batteries as what is strongly advised to be done with laptop batteries (MacBook)?

xGene · 01-17-2011, 06:58 AM

Originally posted by philippe

Talking batteries, and not wanting to hack this topic; is it important to format the Pentax batteries as what is strongly advised to be done with laptop batteries (MacBook)?

Format?

Would you mind describing the process? Are you referring to the action of fully charging before use?

Gene

01-09-2011, 10:47 AM	#1
kaikaiawaro Inactive Account Join Date: Jun 2010 Posts: 3	K-5 Battery Level Indicator Hi there, Does anybody out there having issues with the battery level indicator? I am using the original battery, which comes with the K-5 and of course fully charged. When I start shooting the indicator shows a full battery. After shooting for a while (a couple of hours) the indicator still shows a full battery. Now when using Liveview (videorecording or shooting stills) the indicator shows an almost empty battery (yellow) or even an empty battery (red) It even happened that the camera shows battery depleted, before shutting down by itself. When I restart the camera, the indicator shows a full battery. As soon I use liveview it show the empty battery again. When I stop using liveview it shows the full battery after a while. Does anybody have the same issues or could it be a faulty K-5? To me this seems very awkward, should be be solved by firmware upgrade. I think its strange that depending on using Liveview the battery indicator shows different statuses? Grtz.. Jörgen

01-09-2011, 05:51 PM	#8
Cannikin Veteran Member Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: SW Washington Posts: 833	This is normal behavior. The following can cause the battery meter to drop dramatically, and cause premature shutdown: Live view Video In-lens focus motor (SDM, DC, etc.) You can often go hundreds of shots more after the first time it gives you a premature "low battery" shutdown, switching to normal shooting and screw-drive lenses. Waiting a few seconds and turning it back on will often "reset" the battery meter. The battery meter is obviously calibrated to screw-drive lenses and normal shooting (mirror down). Anything that draws more power (especially constant power drain) tends to mess it up (and shorten overall battery life of course, but less than the battery meter would lead you to believe). I believe it has something to do with the higher current load causing a voltage drop. Battery meters measure remaining charge by voltage, not by actual energy content, so voltage fluctuations will mess them up. This is also why the meter seems to stay at green for a very long time, and then drop much faster later; the discharge curve for voltage remains fairly flat for many batteries (li-ion included) until they are almost dead, and then drops off dramatically towards the end. Because the voltage does not change much during most of its life, unless you have a very accurate and calibrated meter (something hard to do with highly variable loads on cameras), it will have a hard time telling exactly how much has really been drained. Last edited by Cannikin; 01-09-2011 at 06:05 PM.

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01-09-2011, 11:02 AM	#2
RonHendriks1966 Banned Join Date: Jan 2009 Photos: Gallery Posts: 9,675	Well your camera uses much more energy for Liveview or video, so a depleted battery can stil make pictures, but is not sufficient anymore for liveview or video. If you want to use these functions more in future, you should get at least a few spare battery's.

01-09-2011, 11:16 AM	#3
kaikaiawaro Inactive Account Join Date: Jun 2010 Posts: 3 Original Poster	Originally posted by RonHendriks1966 Well your camera uses much more energy for Liveview or video, so a depleted battery can stil make pictures, but is not sufficient anymore for liveview or video. If you want to use these functions more in future, you should get at least a few spare battery's. Thanks for you fast response, Ron. I understand Liveview uses more energy. But why does the indicator still show a full battery, while to me it already seemed to have used quite a lot of its power. To me it seems that the indicator does not show the actual status of the battery. Can somebody tell me for how long you can shoot via liveview, not that I am using it a lot, but just to have an idea, or for how long you can shoot video with one battery? Regards, Jörgen

01-09-2011, 01:43 PM	#4
Rick Clark Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Provo, Utah Posts: 128	I have shoot over 400 pictures some live view and still had a full battery charge.

01-09-2011, 01:58 PM	#5
RonHendriks1966 Banned Join Date: Jan 2009 Photos: Gallery Posts: 9,675	On the K-7 (no idea how it is with the K-5, to my idea it uses just a little more energy) you can make almost 2.000 RAW images on a good treated battery (4 times fully charged and depleted fully) that is fully loaded. This is with no liveview, no light on topscreen, no SR, no preview after each picture. This is a setting I use for sports Hi-speed shooting. On liveview and all the energy-slurpings on the camera you will be good for several hours and maybe 500 RAW. I have wen everything is in home 2 K-5's and 5 battery's.

01-09-2011, 03:26 PM	#6
bobmaxja Veteran Member Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Laval, Quebec Canada Posts: 2,171	No issues on my side and not one single issues of all the one peoples talk her, No FF, No Flash issue, no stain

01-09-2011, 04:11 PM	#7
Gio645 Inactive Account Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Rhodes/Greece Posts: 107	Originally posted by kaikaiawaro Hi there, Does anybody out there having issues with the battery level indicator? I am using the original battery, which comes with the K-5 and of course fully charged. When I start shooting the indicator shows a full battery. After shooting for a while (a couple of hours) the indicator still shows a full battery. Now when using Liveview (videorecording or shooting stills) the indicator shows an almost empty battery (yellow) or even an empty battery (red) It even happened that the camera shows battery depleted, before shutting down by itself. When I restart the camera, the indicator shows a full battery. As soon I use liveview it show the empty battery again. When I stop using liveview it shows the full battery after a while. Does anybody have the same issues or could it be a faulty K-5? To me this seems very awkward, should be be solved by firmware upgrade. I think its strange that depending on using Liveview the battery indicator shows different statuses? My K-5 behaves as yours. The problem is more pronounced when I use contrast detect AF.

01-09-2011, 06:51 PM	#9
Rupert Veteran Member Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Texas Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 25,123	I never even look at them on any camera I use, I find none of them accurate and when they do warn you it is usually near the last shot. I just keep spare batteries handy, and forget the meter. Batteries are cheap, why try to guess what the meter is or isn't saying? Regards!

01-10-2011, 06:26 AM	#10
Frogfish Veteran Member Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Shanghai Posts: 4,490	Pretty much what Rupert said. Pentax need to take a leaf out of Sony's book in regard to accurate reporting of battery levels. With both the K7 & the K5 I've found that the battery reads full ... until it's practically empty !

01-10-2011, 02:55 PM	#11
Kunzite Pentaxian Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Romania Posts: 15,132	My experience is different - unlike on the K10D/K20D, with the K-5 I can shoot quite a few frames (as in: hundreds) after the battery indicator stops showing full charge. Even on "almost empty", the camera won't "die" easily.

01-17-2011, 02:34 AM	#12
fs999 Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Luxembourg Photos: Gallery Posts: 8,638	There is a related problem here about SDM/HSM lenses and battery level...

01-17-2011, 06:03 AM	#13
xGene Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Toronto, Ontario Posts: 151	Manufacturing tolerance... I have 3 batteries (1 spare, 1 from the K7, 1 from the K5) and one of them actually behaves exactly as you described. Everytime I put an extra (electrical) load on it, the camera will display a "low battery". By extra load I mean Live View and Video. Because of thhis extra load, the voltage drop is more significant and the camera detects this as a low-voltage condition, hence the "low battery" indication. Once you remove the load and use the camera without LV or not shooting video, the voltage comes back up to normal and the "low battery" goes away. Since I experience this with only one of my batteries, I attribute this behavior to manufactruing tolerance. Although, curiously, the K7 does not exhibit this behavior. I presume the load and/or the setting on the k5 os just more sensitive to voltage drop... Gene

01-17-2011, 06:48 AM	#14
philippe Veteran Member Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Flanders Fields Posts: 463	Talking batteries, and not wanting to hack this topic; is it important to format the Pentax batteries as what is strongly advised to be done with laptop batteries (MacBook)?

01-17-2011, 06:58 AM	#15
xGene Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Toronto, Ontario Posts: 151	Originally posted by philippe Talking batteries, and not wanting to hack this topic; is it important to format the Pentax batteries as what is strongly advised to be done with laptop batteries (MacBook)? Format? Would you mind describing the process? Are you referring to the action of fully charging before use? Gene