A case of sudden death

[tbarker13]

So I just returned from a week-long fly-fishing trip. I took my M8 and a few lenses along and kept them close to breaks and to do some river scenes.
On one hand, I loved some of the images I came back with. But at the same time, the camera really let me down on my final morning.
I was doing a bunch of long exposures (around 20-30 seconds). In the middle of one, the camera suffered a sudden death. Wouldn't restart.
So I took out the battery and put in a fresh battery and the camera worked again. For about 20 more shots. Then it again died during a long exposure.
Switched to the third battery. Same thing happened after another dozen or so shots.
The only way to fix it was to go back to the cabin and recharge the batteries. That seemed to reset the camera, which booted up again.
(to be clear, each of my three batteries had at least a 3/4 charge before I went out that morning and suffered the mass failures)

I've had the camera since November of 2006. And so far, it has performed great. But I have to admit my confidence is a bit shaken right now.

(apologies to those who already read this post on L-Camera forum)

[Matthew Allen]

I don't know about the M8 specifically, but digital camera battery indicators are often pretty useless as their readings vary wildly depending on load.

It sounds like the high current of keeping the sensor 'live' for long exposures was pulling the battery voltage below the minimum threshold causing the camera to shut down. If that is the problem, the only real way to prevent it would be to have higher performance batteries but since they are proprietary, that's not really an option.

Matthew

[MartinP]

From the world of notebooks and other rechargeable using products I'd say that your batteries are old and dying. About a year or a year and a half is, unfortunately, the sort of time when the performance will go down almost regardless of useage pattern. As matthew said, the "unusual" drain on the battery is the time when you will first notice problems.

At least it is likely that the camera is reasonably lively as that would be harder to fix than the batteries.

[tbarker13]

I am not inclined to believe it is a battery problem. This has happened before in regular shooting. Tossed a fresh battery in, and went on my way.
The difference this time, was that it happened three times within a 30 minute period.

[MartinP]

Only you know the pattern of the problems of course, but there is a very good (from the manufacturers point of view) reason why rechargeable batteries in almost every electrical item have only a few months of guarantee.

Heavy pro dslr users will regularly kill one or more batteries a month. Batteries are consumables and are not built to last long. :(

[Matthew Allen]

I am not inclined to believe it is a battery problem. This has happened before in regular shooting. Tossed a fresh battery in, and went on my way.
The difference this time, was that it happened three times within a 30 minute period.

Yes, but the type of photography you were doing in that 30 minute period involves much higher current demands than regular shooting at normal shutter speeds.

If the batteries are past their best (or simply not up to the job - long exposures are about the most stressful situation you can subject them to in normal use) then it's not surprising that you'd see sagging voltages under load. Lithium batteries have a short working life when compared to older technologies like NiMH and NiCd anyway and this type of shooting is the first place you'd start to see the signs of age.

Matthew

[tbarker13]

I don't profess to know much about Leica's batteries.
But again, it has done the same thing under much less stressful shooting conditions - the basic 1/60, 1/125, etc. shutter speeds.
The first time it happened, my batteries were quite new.

[Ben Z]

There's a great article I found HERE (http://www.buchmann.ca/article23-page1.asp)
on the subject of battery performance/storage. Scroll down to the discussion on lithium-based batteries for info applicable to the M8. When I'm not going to be shooting for a while, I keep my batteries in a little tupperware container in the fridge. I don't top them off beforehand, because they supposedly last longest if stored cold (but not frozen!) at 40% charge.

Still, LiION batteries start losing capacity the moment they are made, and I doubt if many dealers are storing them 40% charged at 40-degrees, either. With my Canon batteries, I know they sell tons of them so buying from B&H I probably get ones that are made fairly recently. The scary thing with the M8 is that obviously to get a good price Leica has to get them made (in China or wherever) in large batches, so it's possible that even in a year or two, some Leica dealers will still be selling batteries made in 2007. There's no mfr date on the outer box, you have to look at the battery itself, on the raised part (the rectangular "box" that contains the contacts) there's a month and year engraved on it.

[ali_baba]

have you tried to just put in the same battery? my m8's lock up and i have to pop out and pop in the battery and things generally work.

[jaapv]

Chargers have been known to fail and only charge batteries up to the halfway point.