Malcolm_Stewart
Carpal \'Tunnel
Reged: 11/07/2005
Posts: 2578
Loc: Milton Keynes, UK
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FWIW...
I've now measured the power consumption of my 30D without lens, and with the 18-55 kit lens, and with both an EF 135 f2L, and an EF 300 f2.8L IS USM fitted. I broke into the lead from the ACK-E2 power supply to the pseudo-battery and measured the current using a DMM, a Sinometer MAS 343 using the DC ranges from 10A down to the 4mA range as appropriate. The small volts drop in the meter caused the low battery symbol to blink except when on the 400mA and 10A ranges, but then I didn't have enough resolution for the lower current readings.
The results were as follows:
30D without lens, "ON" 26.3mA
30D without lens, in sleep mode, 0.032mA
30D without lens, "OFF" 0.032mA dropping to 0.031mA after a minute.
30D - turn ON, current peaks at around 120mA
Fit kit lens, turn ON, current peaks at around 140mA
and drops to 26.3mA.
Focusing kit lens (non USM) - current peaks at ~250mA
Focus held ~80mA
Current taken during a short 5fps sequence ~700mA
EF 135 f2L fitted
current taken when focusing* - peaks >300mA, and ~88mA with focus held
Current taken during a short 5fps sequence ~800mA
EF 300 f2.8L IS USM fitted
current taken when focusing* >300mA, and ~180mA with focus held and IS ON, ~130mA with IS OFF. So IS appears to take 50mA more current in Mode 1 when active.
Caging* and un-caging* the gyros raises the consumption to around 220mA.
Current taken during a short 5fps sequence, IS ON ~900mA.
*Higher peaks seen quite often but seem to be short duration, and I suspect that I really need an oscilloscope (with memory) to capture what's happening.
Slide show
current peaks at around 330mA, and drops to 157mA, then peaks to 330mA when next image is fetched.
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Trying to replicate the above results with my 5D showed that the "ON" current was ~50mA, and that a 3fps sequence with the 135 f2L fitted drew around 900mA. I was unable to make any meaningful measurement of the quiescent current as my 5D was much more susceptible to the slight voltage drop of the meter than was the 30D. (It simply flashed the display.)
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Malcolm Stewart
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alanworland
newbie
Reged: 13/07/2006
Posts: 33
Loc: Essex
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Interesting, so it would appear that sleep mode is as good as off
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Malcolm_Stewart
Carpal \'Tunnel
Reged: 11/07/2005
Posts: 2578
Loc: Milton Keynes, UK
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So it would appear. Note that I didn't wait very long before doing other tests.
What pushed me into doing the tests was erratic behaviour with my 5D when using my EF 300 f2.8L IS with the original battery, which was then 30 months old. Shooting a short sequence with the 300 f2.8L stopped the camera dead, and I could hear the IS working away before the stop, so it must have been using some power! Removing the battery and re-installing - no fault found. Put a smaller lens on the 5D, and all appeared to be normal. Behaviour returned completely to normal after I purchased a new BP511.
As I indicated, my 5D seems more sensitive to slightly low battery volts than my 30D. I think it may be significant that the 1D MkIII battery is nominally 11v - well above that from the BP511, and this may help explain why people say the focusing etc. is more responsive with the 1D series. What I haven't tried is checking whether the 11v gets to the battery terminals in the camera throat on my 1D MkIII. Normally, the camera knows when a lens is fitted so I may have to use my AF-confirm adapter to fool the camera into believing that a lens is present when it's simply my test leads!
I also had some suspicions that my 5D might be draining the battery when asleep, rather than OFF. I still don't know the answer to that one, but the 30D seems the same either OFF or asleep.
I also have an old 10D which takes the same battery adapter, so I could measure that if anyone is interested.
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Malcolm Stewart
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