Near-dead Canon batteries - do you short them out?

A quick and easy way to drain the battery is to leave the camera on ... no photos but just on as if you were preparing an imaging session.

I assume taking off the auto-off feature would help that!

A quick and easy way to drain the battery is to leave the camera on ... no photos but just on as if you were preparing an imaging session.

I assume taking off the auto-off feature would help that!

Yes and, generally, it should always be OFF.

Many times you will see something unexpected (ex. a plane heading towards the moon) and your camera has turned itself off due to a lack of activity ... by the time you realize it is off, power up and the camera is ready to be used, the plane has already passed. :oops:

Thanks for the suggestions Anto!

I had the same battery in my Nikon D50 for two weeks solid on holiday and took 632 shots. Never even used the spare. The more powerful batteries used in DSLRs can last a long, long time if you have the various power saving options set.

However batteries do tend to drain in the cold. If you're out observing for the night, any time that you're not using the camera for a stretch pop the battery, put on the terminal cover and put it in a pocket where it will be warmed by your body heat. Likewise keep any spares you're carrying in a separate pocket (so that you know which is which) close to your body.

However batteries do tend to drain in the cold. If you're out observing for the night, any time that you're not using the camera for a stretch pop the battery, put on the terminal cover and put it in a pocket where it will be warmed by your body heat. Likewise keep any spares you're carrying in a separate pocket (so that you know which is which) close to your body.

That one I copped on to recently!