Canon S100 battery life?

[trigfunctions]

Hi all - I'm thinking about upgrading to an S100. It has a ton of great new features, but it looks like they come with a pretty skimpy battery.
One review I read said it was good for about 200 shots. That's not really enough for a multi dive trip, so a battery change would be required and I really don't like doing that on dive boats.

Does anyone have any experience with these? And, can anyone explain why Canon keeps making these great cameras with such tiny batteries?!

 

[asha]

And, can anyone explain why Canon keeps making these great cameras with such tiny batteries?!

+1. I don't have the S100, but my s90 and s95 are only good for one dive per battery. It sucks changing batteries between dives, and it sucks even more having to keep track of all those batteries!

 

[NautilusCairns]

By minimising all excess current draw like flash output, display time, focus light, auto shut down etc I can get two dives out of the Wasabi batteries in my S95. but then I need to change. it is a bit of a pain I agree.

 

[chile7236]

i can get two 60 minute dives out of my S100

 

[muzikbiz22]

Up to 3 dives with S90 + Wasabi battery.

 

[Interceptor121]

The rating of the S100 and S95 according to CIPA standards is 200, this means 100 shots at full flash and 100 without
I have take 450+ shots with my S95 at full flash before the camera refused to take another one using an original battery which to me means the camera with all focus settings disabled a sharp autopower off and minimum setting for the flash will easily do 150+ in the water, whist in TTL will probably be a bit lower
The question is not how many dives you can do but how many shots you can take assuming you don't waste the batteries looking at the pictures you took etc etc
I rarely take more than 100 shots on a day diving anyway at this stage, in general less than 25 per dive unless there is something really special
How many shots per dive you guys take?
For those using Wasabi batteries I heard that despite the higher capacity they last same or less than the Canon, I use energizer and they actually last the same. Have you checked the Wasabi with CHDK to see what is really the voltage they provide? I wouldn't want to think that they are below 3.7 quite quickly and around 3.3 the camera refuses to shoot. So if it starts already at 3.65 it will effectively last less

 

[chile7236]

i think last night was the most i've ever taken over 2 dives and it was around 70.

 

[NautilusCairns]

The rating of the S100 and S95 according to CIPA standards is 200, this means 100 shots at full flash and 100 without
I have take 450+ shots with my S95 at full flash before the camera refused to take another one using an original battery which to me means the camera with all focus settings disabled a sharp autopower off and minimum setting for the flash will easily do 150+ in the water, whist in TTL will probably be a bit lower
The question is not how many dives you can do but how many shots you can take assuming you don't waste the batteries looking at the pictures you took etc etc
I rarely take more than 100 shots on a day diving anyway at this stage, in general less than 25 per dive unless there is something really special
How many shots per dive you guys take?
For those using Wasabi batteries I heard that despite the higher capacity they last same or less than the Canon, I use energizer and they actually last the same. Have you checked the Wasabi with CHDK to see what is really the voltage they provide? I wouldn't want to think that they are below 3.7 quite quickly and around 3.3 the camera refuses to shoot. So if it starts already at 3.65 it will effectively last less

For capacity aren't we talking about amperage rather than voltage?

 

[Interceptor121]

The theory is that a higher capacity will last longer
However once you drop below a certain current the residual capacity is useless to the camera
each camera will have a certain impededence and chdk can show the voltage so you have an idea of the charge left
In theory two batteries will start both at 3.7 and then drop voltage and hence current
However it is possible that a battery with higher total capacity drops faster to lower voltage and effectively lasts less than a battery with a better discharge pattern and lower total capacity
You only need 1% improvement in the discharge constant from the Canon compared to your wasabi and your 1400 mAh will be at same charge than the canon but after that will drop much faster

It is a similar scenario of eneloop batteries. Generallly for applications like strobe higher capacity the better for cameras you need a lower discharge more than total capacity

 

[Interceptor121]

Just for clarity this may help even better
http://softsolder.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/canon-nb-5l-first-tests.png

Apparently the supposed higher capacity don't really have higher capacity, you can see the quicker discharge