6D's Wifi Drain on Battery (?)

[Don Haines]

As a light room user, I can download track logs from my GPS or smartphone, this is my workaround....

Did not know you could do this.... Will have to give it a try.....

Always learning new things on this forum! Thanks!

[Area256]

I used the 6D for some travel photography last week.  I found the GPS power drain (with update frequency of 30 seconds), to be quite acceptable.  I shot about 200 pictures a day, left the GPS on for about 8 hours of the time, and the battery level would be around 60% by the end of the day.

WiFi on the other hand will eat through batter life fairly fast if you leave it on constantly connected to a Smartphone.   However for the times it's needed, it comes in very handy, and it means I didn't need to take a remote release.

[prjkt]

The elevation is the least accurate aspect of GPS in general and I think the manual does mention it.

Sea level is not an absolute concept either... are you sure they weren't 17m waves?

That's a good point, I didn't check the exact coords - might try that now, no the waves were at the tallest about 30-40cm - calm Port Philip Bay weather

[Lord_Zeppelin]

I think my 6D may be defective. I have the GPS and Wifi off, and I've shot about a total of 19 photos on the current charge, and with the camera sitting off in my bag for 3 days, the battery is stone cold dead. I'm using the OEM battery that was included with the cam, and another Canon LP-E6 that I picked up from Amazon (not third party seller either, so it's a legit canon battery).

I've had my Tamron 24-70 F2.8 on the camera the entire time. I've read where people have some issues with the 5D3 and third party lenses, so I hope that's not the case, as I love the lens and prefer to leave it on the body...

EDIT~ As an update to my original post, apparently there is a well-documented issue with the Tamron 24-70/2.8 and the newer Canon bodies, like the T4i and 6D, where the lens drains the battery even if the camera is off. Mine battery showed 98% charge, and then after sitting for roughly 2 hours, completely off, it's down to 91%. So I put my Canon 50mm/1.4 on it, and let it sit for 2 hours...and it's still at 91%.

The POTN forum post I saw regarding the T4i said Tamron knows about it and will exchange the lens with one that doesn't drain the battery. I friggin hope so, cause I'm loving the quality on this lens.

[oscaroo]

EDIT~ As an update to my original post, apparently there is a well-documented issue with the Tamron 24-70/2.8 and the newer Canon bodies, like the T4i and 6D, where the lens drains the battery even if the camera is off. Mine battery showed 98% charge, and then after sitting for roughly 2 hours, completely off, it's down to 91%. So I put my Canon 50mm/1.4 on it, and let it sit for 2 hours...and it's still at 91%.

Wow!
That's shoddy.

I was keen on that lens but now I'm staying away.

[Marsu42]

EDIT~ As an update to my original post, apparently there is a well-documented issue with the Tamron 24-70/2.8 and the newer Canon bodies, like the T4i and 6D, where the lens drains the battery even if the camera is off.

Doh - that's disappointing, but newer Canon bodies showing strange problems with 3rd party gear is somehow not unusual ...

... BUT the good news is that as far as other forum posts say Tamron is aware of this fact, newer 24-70 versions with serial numbers 002xxx+ don't show this behavior and Tamron replaces lenses if there's a problem with the 6d - that's 6 years warranty and good customer service for you.

[wellfedCanuck]

I usually disable wifi, enabling it only when I'm using my phone to remote-shoot or email images. Same for the GPS.  Also, I have the tracklog set to 5 minutes- unless you're shooting from a moving vehicle- you don't need anything with more update frequency- you can't move around fast enough on foot to make a signficant difference to your track position.

If I forget to disable the GPS I'll lose a half-charge over 2 days with the camera switched off. The GPS will continue to update which they should fix with firmware. Why track-log if the camera is shut off? This doesn't make sense unless you're using a Lojack-type where-the-hell-is-my-camera system...

[Marsu42]

you don't need anything with more update frequency- you can't move around fast enough on foot to make a signficant difference to your track position.

I've been carrying around a small gps logger with my 60d for years now, and I'd tend to disagree - when doing documentary shots it can be very important to see where exactly you were standing, and I can move a lot in 5 minutes, even in 1 minute. But on the bright side, the gps drain on the 6d battery seems to be lower than I feared when I first read about this feature.

[wellfedCanuck]

you don't need anything with more update frequency- you can't move around fast enough on foot to make a signficant difference to your track position.

I've been carrying around a small gps logger with my 60d for years now, and I'd tend to disagree - when doing documentary shots it can be very important to see where exactly you were standing,

Interesting. Ordinary GPS is seldom accurate enough to get you within 30 feet, I would have thought that'd be good enough for most photographers. If you're talking accurate camera-shot line-ups- GPS ain't gonna get you there without survey-grade enhancement.

[Marsu42]

If you're talking accurate camera-shot line-ups- GPS ain't gonna get you there without survey-grade enhancement.

That's correct, 10m (or less on signal reflection/occlusion) is about the precision of my gps unit and it's certainly not usable for professional surveys - but my point is that I can move 10m in 5 minutes, so the low battery drain in this scenario wouldn't be realistic for me since I'd have to set a faster update interval.

[Don Haines]

you don't need anything with more update frequency- you can't move around fast enough on foot to make a signficant difference to your track position.

I've been carrying around a small gps logger with my 60d for years now, and I'd tend to disagree - when doing documentary shots it can be very important to see where exactly you were standing,

Interesting. Ordinary GPS is seldom accurate enough to get you within 30 feet, I would have thought that'd be good enough for most photographers. If you're talking accurate camera-shot line-ups- GPS ain't gonna get you there without survey-grade enhancement.

GPS accuracy is highly dependant on the number of satelites visible in the sky.... best case accuracy for commercial handheld is 2 meters X-Y plane and about 10 meters vertically. Some of the satellites are in polar orbits and some in geosynchronous orbit, plus a bunch of fairly recent LEO's (LEO is Low Earth Orbit, just added two more into the tracking system at work on Thursday). All of the recently launched SARSATs (Search And Rescue SATelites) are also GPS transmitters. Depending on when and where you are, you can see as many as 30 in the sky or in some cases (deep valleys, north side of mountain at high lattitude) you might only see them intermittently. I'm at roughly 46 degrees north and we have five fixed dishes tracking geosynchronous satellites ( all less than 25 degrees above horizon) and eight dishes tracking the moving orbits.... some passes last for three or four hours, some for just a few minutes. In other words, the number of satellites you can see is constantly changing and so is the accuracy of your GPS unit.

Your signal strength is affected by heavy cloud cover (thunderstorms and the like), foliage, buildings, and electromagnetic noise. When using portable GPS in an urban setting it is not unusual to only see two or three satellites, yet 10 meters away you can see six or seven. With just 3 or 4 satellites visible your X Y accuracy can fall to 40 meters and Z location MAY be indeterminate.

There is a good article on GPS at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GPS_signals

[Don Haines]

Sadly, that was to be expected - the gps feature probably is just a gimmick because they've got a combined wifi/gps chip, and the gps doesn't even record the camera direction.

GPS gives you position, but not direction. When you are moving, the unit can say "I was there and now I am here" and calculate from that the speed and direction you are moving, but it still will not be able to tell you which way the camera is pointing.

The direction the device is pointing usually comes from sensing the direction of the earth's magnetic field and gives you a direction based on magnetic north. Better devices, particularly those that know location, apply a magnetic declination value to the sensor and calculate a direction based on true north. The best devices also use accelerometers and inclinometers to give you a more accurate direction, plus angle.

[Marsu42]

The direction the device is pointing usually comes from sensing the direction of the earth's magnetic field and gives you a direction based on magnetic north.

I know, but since Canon's external gps unit contains an electronic compass I don't think it would have been impossible to also put it into the 6d camera - they managed to squeeze in gps and wifi after all... just the location information simply is underwhelming to me since imho an external logger is better for this.

[Don Haines]

I know, but since Canon's external gps unit contains an electronic compass I don't think it would have been impossible to also put it into the 6d camera - they managed to squeeze in gps and wifi after all... just the location information simply is underwhelming to me since imho an external logger is better for this.

I never cease to be amazed at what features get included and which are left out..... And not just with Canon.