5D3 Battery Issue?

[therealmav]

I have contacted Canon regarding this, but has anyone experienced any battery level issues with the MIII?

Specifically, when Canon-branded batteries (and this happens with third-party as well) get between 36%-42% of remaining power, the camera turns off as if the battery has no power left. However, if I take these batteries and put them in another camera, they average 1-2 remaining bars. They will not show power in the MIII until after they are re-charged, and even if they are placed on the charger for just a few seconds, they'll then blink with no power on the MIII yet still work fine in another camera (60D, MII).

Has anyone had this problem? I use these for video more than photo, and when recording the video, it's practically impossible to judge when the battery will basically quit, other than changing them everytime they're at half-power.

 

[PhilDrinkwater]

My camera has only had one outing but it performed very well. I got 1600 shots out of one battery and it warned me that it was about to go... and it did.

 

[awinphoto]

Know what, when i bought my 5d2 in november last year it came with a battery and bought an additional Canon battery... both with new dates on the battery... Both would not hold as long as a charge nor shoot as long as the battery that came with my 7d 3 years ago. Both shoot in average to the 500-600 point and that's almost fully exhausted... little chimping or video or menu surfing. My original battery on my 7d could go on for days and get almost 800-900 shots doing the same type of shooting. Not sure if I can take the batteries for exchange but the recent batch of batteries seem off.

 

[te4o]

I can get 3-400 shots at max with 20% LifeView among and 10 min video -. That's way off Phil's achievement. Can it be? Differences in battery or in the camera (less likely but I have three batteries in the mean time and they all last about the same - agreed from the same shop.)

No issues with battery info.

 

[Rockets95]

I'm not sure if this helps, but batteries last longer on my 7D than my wife's 5D2. I attribute that to newer more efficient technology on the 7D.

 

[JerryKnight]

I also can get ~1600 shots off one battery with plenty of chimping. I'm anxious to see how much the double-battery grip will improve things (at least 2x, but maybe more?).

That's why I don't think DSLR's are really going to be threatened by mirrorless cameras in the professional world as soon as some people think. Just looking at current Liveview performance, they're going to have to quadruple the battery capacity just to match the life of a DSLR that's used without Liveview.

Sorry, a little off-topic.. The OP's problem is probably a faulty battery (unlikely, if it's multiple batteries) or 5D3 battery monitor component. I have been changing my battery before it fails, so I don't know at what exact percentage it cuts out, but I have to think it's normally well below 40%. I would guess the percentages take into account the battery protection level, so 0% should be the proper cut-off point.

 

[therealmav]

Jerry....Canon confirmed that it could be a glitch in the camera (surprise surprise). This has happened each and every time with over 30 Canon-branded batteries, and with the same results consistently. I do think this can be seen more easily when using the camera for video rather than photo as, while recording, the camera simply shuts down.

 

[JerryKnight]

Jerry....Canon confirmed that it could be a glitch in the camera (surprise surprise). This has happened each and every time with over 30 Canon-branded batteries, and with the same results consistently. I do think this can be seen more easily when using the camera for video rather than photo as, while recording, the camera simply shuts down.

That's aggravating. Hope the warranty process goes quickly and smoothly.

Yeah, all li-ion electronics have a safety cut-off that shuts down the device before it zeros out the battery, because li-ion batteries cannot recover from a total depletion. So it sounds like the camera's safety cut-off is kicking in way too early. I doubt it's a firmware glitch; I'm pretty sure the firmware only gets the battery information from the actual circuitry that checks the battery's voltage. Maybe the upcoming Canon robot workers will have better quality control.

 

[davidbellissima]

Very interesting. I estimate I could get around 4000 shots on my 5D Mk ii with to fresh batteries in the grip. I haven't yet used my 5D Mk iii enough to see if I experience the issue being described. Hopefully not.

 

[therealmav]

This can be seen more when doing video as the camera is constantly on....

Quite simple to test this....charge a battery, go to the menu > battery level and note the % charge. Then, record video and let it continue until it stops at the 29xx mark. Then, note the battery level. Continue recording and repeat until the battery fails and the camera turns off. Note the battery % each time the camera stops recording. If you have another camera that accepts the LPE6 batteries, when it fails in the MIII, see if another camera can pull a charge and note the battery level in that camera.