Canon EOS 20D battery life

I have the 2 batteries in the grip of my Drebel and they just go and go and go and then PLOP it's over.

I was very pleasantly surprised at the battery life. HOwever I was dis-surprised that I had little or no warning when they died finally.

I read (in the rebel xt pdf) that first the XT uses one battery till the voltage drops then it uses both till they go down. Yes, I know the XT batts aren't the same, but still.

Or something.

I yak all this since I suspect your gorgeous sexy 20D works batteries the same as my little Drebel.

Aftermarket batteries are like, way cheaper.

Run the battery down till it won't shoot another frame (keep the other on hand for when it goes). Then charge it all the way up and leave it on the charger for a couple hours after it stops blinking... it probably just needs to calibrate by going through a few full cycles like that. As long as you got functioning hardware (which you probably did) then it should take MANY hundreds of images...

Hello...According to the manual its more like 1000 at 68degrees f and 750 at 32degree...without flash...did you fully charge the battery before using it...I don't even know how many shots I get on a full charge...I know I've never run out of juice...in one day on a full charge...even with heavy flash usage and deleting shots as well as uploading new firmware...

I charged it up until it was a solid light, then for a little while longer, but maybe it does need to go through the drain and charge a couple of times to get things going. I think I'll do the two battery deal, just need to buy a couple more! ugh! and maybe another charger?
Thanks guys,
G2 and yes, the 20D is a beaut! ;-)

I have a 20D and the battery indicator reads -2/3 battery life after 200 or so exposures with the BG-E2. This is a problem with the grip (false readings) as I have shot well over 800 images with my batteries reading almost dead.

On a single battery with my 20D and a 70-200 f/2.8 IS lens in full IS mode I've shot hundreds of images. The manual states that you should leave the battery on the charger for at least an hour after the light turns solid. I've shot in cold and VERY COLD weather with no power issues, having a second battery around is nice but I haven't convinced myself I need the battery grip yet. The 20D is well balanced w/o it. The DRebel wasn't the case.

I would suggest taking the battery grip off, shoot with just one battery and see how long it lasts. If there is a problem it could be a steady/slow drain in the BG-E2. The BP-511 and 511A batteries are great!

New LiIon batteries need to go through several charge/discharge cycles before reaching their potential.

Also, just because the battery indicator shows less than full does not mean the battery is any where near failing. It might be, but it might not, depending on the particular battery and the voltage meter calibration in the camera. I prefer to have the battery check sensitive enough to show when the battery is partially used rather than surprise me 3 minutes before sudden death.

You can get BP-511 batteries on ebay for less than $5 each if you buy two at a time. Surprisingly, they work well.

Makes you wonder. They can cram 8 million pixels into something the size of a postage stamp, and can't make a battery indicator work. Go figure.

The battery that came with my 20D drained very rapidly the first time out, but has been good for hundreds of shots since the 2nd recharge.

Two $12 backups I bought from Sterlingtek were good with the first charge - appeared to last longer than the original Canon battery.