Premium/ How to improve the battery performance of your Olympus camera
When I switched from Canon DSLRs to a mirrorless system, the last thing I thought about was the battery life. I had more to think about, like file quality, construction, lenses, weight, features…
After starting to use mirrorless equipment, I noticed some difference in battery life to what I was used to with Canon. But to be honest, it was nothing alarming.
I never felt that the issue of battery life interfered with my photographic outputs. Of course, I don’t have just one battery, just as I had in Canon’s era. In addition to the original, I have two extra ones that, not being branded, have been doing well over the years – although I note that they don’t allow such intensive use as the original ones, but they also cost a lot less than half the price…
Some photographers have moved to the mirrorless system and despair about battery life. Just browse some blogs, websites and social networks of photography to come across this problem. Some don’t understand and even insist that they will leave the system as a form of retaliation.
However, I should remember that many times the responsible turns out to be the user/photographer and not the battery or camera. Of course, mirrorless technology is more energy consuming, if we may say so, than a typical DSLR. Batteries are also smaller and less capable, resulting in lower overall performance when referring to the life of our batteries. But, if used well, they can offer much more than many complaints.
In a conventional DSLR, the viewfinder is optical, while in a mirrorless it is electronic, so it’s almost inevitable that the battery will not last that long. But there are little tricks you can take into account and rules you must follow to avoid running out of battery, at the precise moment when the groom is falling into the pool, the sun has just touched the horizon, the lion rushes to catch his prey, your newborn child sketches his first smiles.
Just by way of example, I currently have three cameras and seven batteries: three original and four third-party batteries, as mentioned earlier. As I write this text, I have just purchased two more batteries with a double charger, because after these years, I can see that the third-party ones no longer offer me the same performance. Nothing significant, but for the price you can buy these batteries, it’s not worth thinking about.
But I know of photographers who have and carry 6, 7 or 10 batteries with them. It is true that when a battery weighs about 45 grams, taking four or five inside the pockets doesn’t cause any inconvenience, which no longer happens when we think of carrying the same number of batteries for a DSLR.
If you are against the idea of carrying a fleet of batteries and just want to improve the responsiveness of the original and eventually one or two you may buy, here are some suggestions to improve your experience.
CONTINUE READING…
Only for Premium Subscribers!
To access these articles you must be a PREMIUM subscriber to Olympus Passion.
SUBSCRIBE NOW and get instant access to all Premium articles, all prior and upcoming magazines, all special editions, all previous videos, discounts and offers. If you are seeking relevant information about this camera system, or useful tips from photographers using the Olympus system, this is the most valuable place for you.
BASIC Plan subscriber? Upgrade to PREMIUM!
- Access your account HERE and sign in with your email address and password as always
- In this step click the ‘Subscriptions’ tab and then ‘Change plan’
- Now you can change from the BASIC plan to the new PREMIUM PLAN
- Finally, the system will only apply a proportional value to the remaining charge and change the plan immediately.
Already a Premium Subscriber?
