# Canon EOS 7D Battery drain Issue



## isad008 (Mar 11, 2014)

Hello,

Last week I bought a new Canon EOS 7D body. Before starting to use the camera for the first time I fully charged my battery and started using it. I used the camera for one week. I shoot raw with back display always on and LCD brightness to very low. I took around 200 images, 10 with live view mode and 2-3 image with flash and a 30 sec video and my lens is 24-105 f/4 L. I turn off the camera when not in use. 

But after 200-250 images my battery just rans out of juice. According to canon, the battery supports up to 1000 shots with fully charged battery. I don't use flash at all and I did mostly indoor shoots. What I feel like is my battery is draining pretty fast. Seems very unusual. After facing this issue I tried to find out how fast my battery was draining. So I shoot 3 raw images and found that battery just drained 1% so I keep doing it and eventually found that each 3-4 images taken my battery loses 1% of charge. I can only take around 220-280 images with a fully charged battery.

Super disappointed 

I hope any Canon 7D user could shed some light with this matter. Let me know if I am doing anything wrong here. Thanks in advance.


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## Valvebounce (Mar 11, 2014)

Hi isad008.
First of all welcome to the forum.
I believe that the lithium ion (and most other) batteries may need several charges to reach full operational efficiency. Also bear in mind that the viewfinder display overlay (transmissive? LCD) requires power to operate, it remains powered even when off. Test this by looking through the viewfinder with the power off and dropping the battery out, the viewfinder will darken after a moment, replace the battery and it will brighten again. Hence nights with the battery in will drain the battery even when switched off.
Hope this helps.

Cheers Graham.


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## John Strung (Apr 6, 2014)

I often go shooting birds and and can shoot 700 shots in a few hours with my 7D without completely draining the battery.


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Apr 6, 2014)

Return the camera or request a new battery. The battery is not covered by the Canon Warranty, so you should act quickly and likely will have to exchange the camera.

Its not necessary to shut off the camera, you just wear out the switch. It still has power. The camera will go to sleep after a minute or so, and use very little power, about the same as it uses with the switch off.


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## dgatwood (Apr 7, 2014)

There's nothing wrong with your camera or your battery. Using live view mode (the back display) burns *a lot* of power. Two hundred shots is typical when using live view. You get a thousand shots per battery when using the optical viewfinder (which uses no power).


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Apr 7, 2014)

isad008 said:


> Hello,
> 
> Last week I bought a new Canon EOS 7D body. Before starting to use the camera for the first time I fully charged my battery and started using it. I used the camera for one week. I shoot raw with back display always on and LCD brightness to very low. I took around 200 images, 10 with live view mode and 2-3 image with flash and a 30 sec video and my lens is 24-105 f/4 L. I turn off the camera when not in use.
> 
> ...


 
You should be getting at least 500-700 images using the camera as you describe above. Taking 10 live view images should have little impact, the video will affect it a bit.

I have had 3 Canon 7D's and all of them got over 700 shots per charge used as you describe. Either the battery, or the camera has a issue.


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## dgatwood (Apr 19, 2014)

Mt Spokane Photography said:


> isad008 said:
> 
> 
> > Hello,
> ...



Sorry, my bad. I somehow misread that as 200 shots on live view. Yes, getting only 200 shots in non-live-view mode is unusual. Make sure the body's automatic shut-off isn't turned off somehow. Then try a different lens, followed by a different battery. If none of those things help, your camera is draining excessive power.


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