Today I tested the capacities of the two batteries that came with my second hand FZ30, because I was thinking they were going flat too quickly. As it turns out, I was only misinterpreting the battery display, but some of you might be interested in the results.
I had read that I should get about 280 shots, as measured using the CIPA standard. That involves using flash for every second shot, turning the camera on and off every now and then, etc. I didn't do that, I just clamped the shutter down and took continuous shots till the card was full, deleted them all, and repeated till the battery was flat.
I also used MF, and manual exposure, which would also reduce the power consumption. The LCD was off, EVF was on.
On the standard battery, marked as 710mAh, I got over 2,500 shots. The 3rd party battery, marked as 1200mAh (no brand), I got over 5,500.
I was expecting quite a few more shots than using the CIPA method, but not that many! That was at 8MP. At 3MP I got about 500 and 1000 more shots respectively.
I also tested leaving the camera idle (power saving off) with the 710mAh battery. It got somewhere between 3/4 and 1 hour, I didn't notice the exact moment it went flat. I didn't bother with the 1200mAh battery, I was getting tired of it by then.
Interesting to compare with my Canon S3 - it gets 7 hours idle time out of a set of Eneloops. I can't remember how many shots, but it wasn't as high as the FZ30. Perhaps it's the much higher resolution EVF of the FZ30 that eats up the idle time.
I had read that I should get about 280 shots, as measured using the CIPA standard. That involves using flash for every second shot, turning the camera on and off every now and then, etc. I didn't do that, I just clamped the shutter down and took continuous shots till the card was full, deleted them all, and repeated till the battery was flat.
I also used MF, and manual exposure, which would also reduce the power consumption. The LCD was off, EVF was on.
On the standard battery, marked as 710mAh, I got over 2,500 shots. The 3rd party battery, marked as 1200mAh (no brand), I got over 5,500.
I was expecting quite a few more shots than using the CIPA method, but not that many! That was at 8MP. At 3MP I got about 500 and 1000 more shots respectively.
I also tested leaving the camera idle (power saving off) with the 710mAh battery. It got somewhere between 3/4 and 1 hour, I didn't notice the exact moment it went flat. I didn't bother with the 1200mAh battery, I was getting tired of it by then.
Interesting to compare with my Canon S3 - it gets 7 hours idle time out of a set of Eneloops. I can't remember how many shots, but it wasn't as high as the FZ30. Perhaps it's the much higher resolution EVF of the FZ30 that eats up the idle time.