Turn off....or leave on

[jrda2]

Out for a day of shooting on a hike in the mountains I find myself turning the power switch off and on frequently.  I may have a location for a planned shot or two, but a lot of my pics are spontaneous....like when a moose walks out on the trail or a pretty flower catches my eye.  Would it be better to just leave the power switch in the on position for the entire day, or is it advised to turn the camera off when it might be 30 minutes until the next picture?

[kubelik]

there's no reason to have to turn off your camera.  even when it is sitting in my bag at home between events it is clicked to "ON".  the canon cameras (and pretty much every DSLR out there these days) essentially turn themselves off after a minute or two of non-usage, and there is really no battery drain happening when they are in the on-but-sleeping state.

I don't know which camera you have, but with my 5D Mark II in the ON position, I can easily shoot all day, filling several 16 GB CF cards.  I have also gone as much as a couple weeks between using the 5D Mark II, with it set to the ON position, and haven't noticed any additional drain on the battery.

[PaperTiger]

When we shoot weddings, the cameras are on all day. I've never used more than 3 batteries between 2 cameras in a day. The only time we get into the 4th battery is when we're shooting video, and it's manageable if you switch the camera out of video mode to put the mirror back down.

I think it's perfectly fine to leave it on the whole time.

[awinphoto]

there's no reason to have to turn off your camera.  even when it is sitting in my bag at home between events it is clicked to "ON".  the canon cameras (and pretty much every DSLR out there these days) essentially turn themselves off after a minute or two of non-usage, and there is really no battery drain happening when they are in the on-but-sleeping state.

I don't know which camera you have, but with my 5D Mark II in the ON position, I can easily shoot all day, filling several 16 GB CF cards.  I have also gone as much as a couple weeks between using the 5D Mark II, with it set to the ON position, and haven't noticed any additional drain on the battery.

+1 as long as you have a reasonable delay time set on the camera to turn off in like 1-4 minutes or so when it's idle.  No need to turn off. 

[kad]

Just to chime in, same answer as everyone else has given. I leave my 60D on all of the time. Turn it off to change lenses and/or batteries.

-K

[DBCdp]

And again, I leave em on all day...only turn em off when packing up. It's just not imaginable to have the camera in hand and not be ready for a pic with a half-press of the shutter button!

I do turn em off for storage though, the batteries are lithium and the potential for a problem, while rare, is still there and I try to avoid any potential strain on the battery.

[jrda2]

Thanks for the replies

[marekjoz]

I found twice, that leaving camera ON in a backpack caused battery completely out because of accidently pushed buttons when it was carried. Currently - after shooting I switch it off. I don't have enough spare place in backpack and afraid, that accidently pushed buttons (shutter or lifeview) can make also IS working unnecessery, which could again be a bit unhealthy for lens, when it's in a trunk or carried by me. So by me - when shooting always ON, but after shooting - always OFF.