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Photo Forum / Digital Photography / DSLR Cameras / February 2007

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Canon 1D MkII power consumption

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eawckyegcy@yahoo.com - 09 Feb 2007 13:10 GMT
Yesterday, I mentioned the Canon 10D has negligible current draw when
"on", but not doing anything, and suggested most cameras are the
same.  When I got home, I wondered about the 1D2 ... so I sacrificed
the wall-wart power gizmo that came with the camera to the gods (I'd
never used it in almost two years, and have another for my DCB
stuff).  Measurements with a Canon 1DMkII with EF 500/4 IS affixed,
powered by a 13.8V 35A power supply through the above cable:

power switch off:  19mA

(!) This is somewhat difficult to explain, and almost certainly wrong
since the camera battery lasts longer than the ~3 days it would drain
at that rate.  But that's what the meter said.  (Yes, the meter
dropped to exacly zero when I turn off the P/S.  Bizarre.)

power on,

  idle  19mA (just sitting there, no back or top display, etc)

See above:  this can't possibly be right, but the Fluke 189 said
electrons were flowing and who are we to question Fluke?

  wait  50mA (back and top display on)

  AE 205mA (half-press of shutter)

Evaluative metering.  The number was independent of exposure mode and
other stuff.

  AE wait 170mA (release half-shutter)

this state lasts a few seconds then reverts to "wait", above.

  AE+IS 214mA (note the minimal extra draw due to IS)

Madly shaking the camera around didn't change this number.

  AF+AE 333mA (focus racking in and out, peak current)

Typical is about 320mA.

  preview, active 286mA (varies with intensity)

"Active" in the sense you have a finger on a button.

  preview, idle 182mA

"Idle" being no buttons are being pressed.  This lasts until the
preview shuts down due to lack of input.

  preview, image selecting 442mA (peak)

Obtained by madly cycling through images.  More a measure of card
access than anything else.

  8fps firing  1.35A (peak)

A very high current, but the spike is brief.  Some day I'll get a
fancy scope...
Colin_D - 09 Feb 2007 22:05 GMT
> Yesterday, I mentioned the Canon 10D has negligible current draw when
> "on", but not doing anything, and suggested most cameras are the
[quoted text clipped - 10 lines]
> at that rate.  But that's what the meter said.  (Yes, the meter
> dropped to exacly zero when I turn off the P/S.  Bizarre.)

<snip>

I gather you were powering the camera through an auxiliary socket and
not through the battery compartment.  I hope you didn't apply the full
13.8 volts to the camera; I thought they ran on a 7.2 volt Li-ion?

Also, powering through an auxiliary port may involve shunt circuitry or
bleed resistance within the camera to prevent a no-load supply from
rising above 7.2 volts.

Colin D.

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eawckyegcy@yahoo.com - 12 Feb 2007 13:06 GMT
> I gather you were powering the camera through an auxiliary socket and
> not through the battery compartment.  I hope you didn't apply the full
> 13.8 volts to the camera; I thought they ran on a 7.2 volt Li-ion?

Actually, I did just that.  Canon's 1D cameras all come with an
adapter that looks like an NP-E3 battery, but with a small plug on the
outside.  Into this you plug a cord from a wallwart that produces
13.5V (measured).  I just chopped the cord off the wallwart and
connected it to a normal 13.8V P/S through an ammeter.

> Also, powering through an auxiliary port may involve shunt circuitry or
> bleed resistance within the camera to prevent a no-load supply from
> rising above 7.2 volts.

The output of this adaptor is equal to its input (13.5V).  But what
you say is in fact the case:  even when not plugged into the camera,
this adapter consumes 19mA.  Probably a diode.  So from all of the
current figures I gave, one should subtract 19mA.  Unfortunately, this
is semi-disturbing news to people who may think to power their camera
via an external battery through this adapter (e.g., Digital Camera
Battery etc).  A quarter watt of power is being sucked down, even when
the camera is "off".
Colin_D - 12 Feb 2007 21:01 GMT
>> I gather you were powering the camera through an auxiliary socket and
>> not through the battery compartment.  I hope you didn't apply the full
[quoted text clipped - 18 lines]
> Battery etc).  A quarter watt of power is being sucked down, even when
> the camera is "off".

Ok, solved.  Good.

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Roger N. Clark (change username to rnclark) - 13 Feb 2007 05:02 GMT
>>I gather you were powering the camera through an auxiliary socket and
>>not through the battery compartment.  I hope you didn't apply the full
[quoted text clipped - 18 lines]
> Battery etc).  A quarter watt of power is being sucked down, even when
> the camera is "off".

Thanks for the info.
Roger
 
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