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

Anto, that "Battery grip" for the Canon is on my wish list, I just haven't got round to buying it yet!

Seanie,

I have the original Canon power grip which is rather expensive. I have seen Chinese (what else) clones which are very attractively priced. In fact, for each Canon unit you will find available for sale, there are another 20 Chinese copies.

The ones I have seen were Canon ones (through Argos). I presume the attractively priced Chinese clones are just as god as the real deal, seeing as it is just a simple non-machanical/electrical device?

Seanie.

The ones I have seen were Canon ones (through Argos). I presume the attractively priced Chinese clones are just as god as the real deal, seeing as it is just a simple non-machanical/electrical device?

I do not have any experience to base an opinion but I would be almost certain they would have precisely the same functionality.

For example, I have the angle-viewer which one attaches to the back of the viewfinder similar to a diagonal on a telescope. My Chinese clone is really good and cost me 1/3rd the price of the actual Canon unit.

Either Canon has grotesque mark-ups or the Chinese have really cheap labour. Perhaps a combination of both.

So if you recharge near dead batts...............when you use them, you are only getting the recharged portion of power?

I did not know this and always wondered why "fully" recharged batts dont last VERY long. Now i know. So next time my batts are low......when not using the cam.......i'll put my cam on movie mode and let them drain completely.

Here's my understanding of what to do with the different sorts of battery...

NiCd - these have the original "memory effect". They need to be discharged as far as possible before recharging otherwise capacity is reduced.

NiMH - as above only less so. Older ones tend to self discharge over a period of weeks though I think they're better these days.

Li-Ion - no real memory effect, but they will die if kept fully charged all the time. If you have a laptop which is run on mains all the time, use it on battery now and then!

Lead-acid - Never let it run down completely - it won't recharge!

As an aside, regular alkalines can be "topped-up" in an NiMH charger provided they're in mid life - they won't recharge if they're dead.

I would be wary of shorting out the battery, only do it if you are certain that you know what you are doing. I also have a totally dead 300D battery and plan on getting 2 new ones over the web soon enough.