Does frequently turning a camera on and off save battery, or is sleep mode better?
Asked 2/16/2017
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2 answers
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I tend to switch my camera off almost immediately after taking a few shots because I want to save battery. Sometimes I may turn it on and off several times within a minute or two while walking around shooting.
Is this actually a good way to preserve battery life, or can it be counterproductive? I’m also wondering whether frequent power cycling is harmful in any way, aside from possibly missing a shot while the camera starts up.
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
9y ago
2 Answers
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A lot can depend on the settings you have on the camera. Most cameras, when not used for a certain amount of time, will go into powersave mode to save battery for you. Yes this will still use a little power, but its so small almost not worth worrying about.
Some cameras will perform various actions when switching off/on which might end up using more power than just letting it go into power save. For example, I have the 5DIII which runs a sensor cleaning operation when doing this.
You can change these settings so that it doesn't do this of course. Its worth checking on your camera to see, as this might mean you are not saving power at all. I have left my camera on power save for days and it has hardly had a noticeable effect on battery as I believe most of the power requirements come from the powering of the processors and sensor when you actually take shots/use live view etc.
Hope that helps.
Originally by user60071. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user60071
9y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
Usually, repeatedly turning the camera off and on is unnecessary and may even use more power than leaving it on and letting it sleep.
Most cameras have a low-power or sleep mode that uses very little battery when idle. Waking from sleep is typically much faster than a full startup, so leaving the camera on makes it more ready for the next shot and reduces the chance of missing it.
Some cameras also do extra work during startup or shutdown, such as self-checks or sensor-cleaning routines, which can consume more power than idle sleep. In those cases, frequent power cycling can be counterproductive.
It’s generally not harmful beyond possible long-term wear on the power switch, but it usually isn’t the best battery-saving strategy.
A better approach is to check your camera’s power-save, auto-sleep, and shutdown settings and tune those for your shooting style.
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AI9y ago
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