[Fogel70]

Any product I've had that have battery meter that show percentage has worked better than Pentax cameras. Then I get a much better info on battery status when turning on the product. Nowadays there is so much stuff in the cameras (wifi gps...) it has become more important to get accurate battery status.


Sure, showing battery status in percent may not be perfect but much better than not doing it. All smartphones and Sony cameras I have used have had a reliable battery meter. Nikon not only store charge level in the battery, but also how many pictures has been captured since last change and health status of the battery.

If a battery has become damaged and rated capacity has become much lower sure the meter may not work well, but on the other hand, a better battery managing system can tell you the health of your battery and when it is worn out.

[victormeldrew]

Estimating the charge left in a lithium battery is indeed complex. Voltage is not a useful proxy, but a rough estimate is perfectly possible. The best way is to measure the current that has been extracted thus far, to estimate the charge that remains (which is fairly trivial using a simple current monitor IC, as long as you have a non-volatile way of saving the data) - however, it has its downsides. If the battery is (or is as good as) fixed, like in a mobile phone, all is dandy. If the user has the option of pulling out the battery and placing another in, you have no option but to guestimate the charge in the new battery from its voltage, which is very sketchy if the battery is part-charged. Worse, when the battery gets old (or 3rd party) and its capacity is markedly different from the nominal spec, then you will always overestimate what is left, unless you recalibrate. Recalibration is of course not possible with a changeable battery device like a camera, without adding a chip with a serial number to the battery and then things get expensive and annoying for the user (but good if you want to prevent 3rd party accessories).

All in all, lithium batteries outperform all other current technologies wrt charge density, so they are really the best option in a handheld device, but the major drawback is their resistance to being measured. Most devices are happy with simple bars which really mean 'full-ish, nearly empty, or somewhere in the middle' - anything with percentages is really only giving the appearance of being accurate, but is only ever usefully accurate with a new, OEM battery that is always in the device and which is occasionally run flat to allow for calibration. For the most part, devices use a mix of both techniques, estimating charge left by current used, then updating its estimate if the battery voltage disagrees with the estimate. This leads to the situation when, especially with aging batteries, the meter drops slowly to say 30%, then suddenly changes its mind and shows 5% before abruptly powering off.

[Mikesul]

A numeric percentage estimated by the camera is not more accurate than the segmented gauge used by Pentax and others. If it is half green that is roughly 50% etc. Just because a computer gives you a precise number does not mean that it is, in fact a precise number. A percentage on the screen is just a false sense of security.

[Fogel70]

A numeric percentage estimated by the camera is not more accurate than the segmented gauge used by Pentax and others. If it is half green that is roughly 50% etc. Just because a computer gives you a precise number does not mean that it is, in fact a precise number. A percentage on the screen is just a false sense of security.

Not really, it is usually much more precise than that. And systems using smart batteries are able to tell that a new calibration of the battery has to be done if battery meter and battery capacity is too far off. Like with Nikon batteries, when camera detects that battery meter is far off the camera set the status on the battery for recalibratiom, so the next time you charge the battery the charger will inform you that battery need recalibration which is done by a press of a button on the charger.

I believe most manufacturers of smart batteries use SMBus protocol for communicaton between battery, camera and charger.
BU-601: How does a Smart Battery Work? ? Battery University

[Larrymc]

Folks this one has been completely driven off in the ditch with all this technical gibberish. Who cares? The answer is to carry a couple of extra batteries and change them as needed. I have four (one is the original 4 yr old battery) and sometimes carry all four with me, one in the camera and three are in a pocket in small plastic bags. How hard is it to change batteries when the indicator tells you its getting low..........not hard at all! Yet, there are some people who will always nit pick every thing. Why not be prepared when you go out and shoot.

Larry

[Not a Number]

Folks this one has been completely driven off in the ditch with all this technical gibberish. Who cares? The answer is to carry a couple of extra batteries and change them as needed. I have four (one is the original 4 yr old battery) and sometimes carry all four with me, one in the camera and three are in a pocket in small plastic bags. How hard is it to change batteries when the indicator tells you its getting low..........not hard at all! Yet, there are some people who will always nit pick every thing. Why not be prepared when you go out and shoot.

Larry

Yeah, what's the big deal? Back in the film days you had to change the roll of film every 12, 24 or 36 shots and carry around all those rolls of film. Or every shot if using plates or sheet negatives.

[Mikesul]

Yeah, what's the big deal? Back in the film days you had to change the roll of film every 12, 24 or 36 shots and carry around all those rolls of film. Or every shot if using plates or sheet negatives.

Exactly. Vocal objections to the LI90 could only occur in a Culture of Complaint. What ever happened to adaptability?

[stevebrot]

Yeah, what's the big deal? Back in the film days you had to change the roll of film every 12, 24 or 36 shots and carry around all those rolls of film. Or every shot if using plates or sheet negatives.

...and even then, there was a spare battery in the bag.


Steve

[victormeldrew]

Exactly. Vocal objections to the LI90 could only occur in a Culture of Complaint. What ever happened to adaptability?

Exactly. And we should all be happy riding horses and reading books by candlelight. Progress is just for moaners.
We should all agree to be content with what we have forever more.

[Larrymc]

Exactly. And we should all be happy riding horses and reading books by candlelight. Progress is just for moaners.
We should all agree to be content with what we have forever more.

Now, who the heck inferred that? It seems that the L190 battery has served Pentax really well over the years (645D, 645Z, K-01, K-1, K-3, K-3II, K-5, K-5 II, K-5 IIs, K-7. Pretty good old workhorse, I'd say! When Pentax needs a better battery I'm sure they will implement a change. I imagine most Pentaxians who owned a k-7 were pretty happy that Pentax kept the same battery so they don't have to go out and spend money on a new battery or two when they upgraded their systems.

Larry

[Fogel70]

Exactly. Vocal objections to the LI90 could only occur in a Culture of Complaint. What ever happened to adaptability?

To me it seems, the most vocal objections in this thread are against a suggestion of improving battery meter of Pentax cameras.

[ThorSanchez]

To me it seems, the most vocal objections in this thread are against a suggestion of improving battery meter of Pentax cameras.

I'd love a very accurate battery meter that tells you down to a single-digit percentage how much capacity is left in the battery, without increasing size, weight, cost, or parasitic losses that decrease battery life. I'm just a little skeptical that it's feasible.

[Fogel70]

Nikon managed to release a new smart battery for D200 12-13 years ago, that was the same size as previous version and the new battery had higher capacity and was backward compatible with older cameras. So I believe Ricoh can do something similar today.
https://www.nikonimgsupport.com/na/NSG_article?articleNo=000026466&configured=1&lang=en_SG