Trying to do the initial conditioning of my new camera battery, so I need to run it down to about 25%. Now, most batteries come factory pre-conditioned, but mine being a noname chinese battery and on top of that having cost me only $10, I don't think so.
So I set it to shoot all afternoon, every minute. And even then after 5 hours I had only used up one line on the battery meter. These things last long.
So I went to long exposures,and I'm having a bit more success using those. I'm down to 50% battery after having shot a full hour in 30 second bits. From what I hear long exposures are notorious for eating up battery power. So I should be about done and ready to recharge in a few hours.
Interesting thing I read today, BTW, is that Li-Ion batteries don't like it if you store them fully charged. Seems that storing them at around 40% is the ideal scenario to maximize their useful life. You take them down to 40%, store, and recharge before each use.
But, I've been storing my D80 battery fully charged and to be perfectly honest it's still going and going after almost 3 years. Then again, it's always in the camera so the standby mode very gradually (and I mean very) wears it down, guess that must help somewhat to keep it in good condition.
Problem is now that I have 2 batteries, there's always one that's going to be stored, and will need periodic exercise and care.
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