EOS 3 Film Body Question - Vert Grip Booster

SilverGlow · Dec 9, 2008

I'm loving my two EOS 3 bodies, however I am concerned about how long the battery they use will be available for sale. Now I can buy a vertical grip/booster which takes AA batteries, with the thought that if the normal battery is no longer available, the AA batteries would be. Now I don't need the 7 frames/sec that this booster provides, however I like the idea of it taking AA batteries.

Any thoughts about this?

Laurent · Dec 9, 2008

I own an EOS3, with the PBE2 grip. It makes the camera somewhat heavy but not too heavy (at least IMO).
The grip is aboslutely great for vertical shots, and using AA batteries is nice.

The only issue I have with it is the fact that batteries seem to 'die' suddenly. I'm now using NiMh celles, but have to be cautious about this, since I can test the batts before leaving, see them full (at least that's what the camera says) and be unable to do more than a few shots. I'm not using the 7 frames per second or anything that may be costly.

SilverGlow · Dec 9, 2008

Laurent, thanks for the response. When you're using the normal built-in battery (without grip) do you have an issue with battery life?

haris · Dec 9, 2008

Thing with EOS3 and battery life is next: When batery level display shows battery isabout half or even two third full, be sure battery will die fast. Thing is, and it is said in manual, battery life display is innacurate. Mine EOS3 works about 40 to 50 rolls (36 frames) showing battery is full, then display shows baterry is two third full and after that camera can shoot only few rolls, not more than 5. So, don't trust battery indicator.

About 40 to 50 rolls of film is normal with 2CR5 battery. It depends how much you use autofocus, eye focusing, display light, do you use for example 70-200 IS lens on autofocus and through all focusing range or just 50mm prime manually focusing, etc...

Laurent · Dec 9, 2008

SilverGlow said:
Laurent, thanks for the response. When you're using the normal built-in battery (without grip) do you have an issue with battery life?

I've not used the built-in battery enough to judge. I used it a few times, and am still using the very same that came with the camera when I got it.

haris : in my case, when it says 2/3 full, I usually cannot even shoot one roll. I heard similar things when a French magazine tested the EOS3 for 400 Thousand shots, and they said it was consuming a lot of batteries until it got "used" enough to consume less.

SilverGlow · Dec 9, 2008

So do you agree that I should not expect the 2CR5 battery to be around a decade or two from now?

2F/2F · Dec 9, 2008

AAs in the booster are designed to be more of a stop-gap measure than for continuous use. They drain very quickly.

They only stopped producing the EOS 3 last year, I believe. I would not worry about the batteries too much.

I would be more worried about film in 10 to 20 years than I would be about batteries. As soon as the motion picture industry goes digital, film will be on its last legs almost literally overnight (as if it is not already). They may keep making black and white, but not unless colleges continue to be staffed by those who push film as a learning medium. Judging my the recent influx of young, dumb, digitally-raised professors at my school, I would not count on that. Expect a bad economy to hasten this demise, as it already has, with people always seeking the most economical way to work. Remember that professional digital cameras have not even been around for a decade, and look what they have done to the industry. The end started with Clive Howes of Getty Images making the decision to transmit the first digitally-captured image over the wires. That was just sniper fire, however. Then, it's kind of like a nuclear bomb hit Film Town as soon as the D1 came out, and we film users are all the survivors of the attacks. We've made it till now, but the fallout will get us eventually...

haris · Dec 9, 2008

Laurent said:
...haris : in my case, when it says 2/3 full, I usually cannot even shoot one roll. I heard similar things when a French magazine tested the EOS3 for 400 Thousand shots, and they said it was consuming a lot of batteries until it got "used" enough to consume less.

Can be, I think (I haven't use mine EOS3 regullary for long time) whatever battery indicator shows, if one put new 2CR5 battery, about 50 rolls is maximunm before battery dies. Saying that, I have battery I bought 2 years ago, still almost full. I keep it out of camera when camera is not used, and that only shows how much I use mine EOS3 now

haris · Dec 9, 2008

SilverGlow said:
So do you agree that I should not expect the 2CR5 battery to be around a decade or two from now?

If you can find affordable battery pack, you can buy one and, if nothing else (if 2CR5 will still be long time in production), you will have peace of mind.

cmo · Dec 10, 2008

The Power Booster is not bad, and one thing is interesting with the Eos 3: the noise it makes sounds different, it becomes less annoying, a different pitch. If you can cope with the extra weight, get one. If you want to save money, the PB-E1 also works fine with the EOS 3.

Talking about batteries, I run two EOS cameras with NiMH batteries. But I bought the batteries some years ago. Today you get much better stuff: "Low self-discharge NiMH batteries". They simply have the power when you need it, even if the camera or strobe was not used for weeks. I have some of these now and can very much recommend to look out for the new type:

"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low_self-discharge_NiMH_battery

ath · Dec 10, 2008

If you are worrying about the 2CR5 you can get a battery grip (without booster) for the 3.
Personally I would start worrying about this when 2CR5 start to get hard to find. Then I would buy a 10 years supply and look out for a battery grip.

Tim Gray · Dec 10, 2008

2CR5's have a long shelf life. So buy a pack of 10 online. It's cheaper that way anyway.

Also look into the BP-E1 grip. It holds a 2CR5 and 4 AA's and isn't quite as big as the PB-E2. When I got my 1V the other year, it came with the PB-E2 which is nice, but I rarely use it. I've been on the lookout for a decently priced BP-E1 grip...

David Callard · Aug 20, 2010

2F/2F said:
AAs in the booster are designed to be more of a stop-gap measure than for continuous use. They drain very quickly.

They only stopped producing the EOS 3 last year, I believe. I would not worry about the batteries too much.

I would be more worried about film in 10 to 20 years than I would be about batteries. As soon as the motion picture industry goes digital, film will be on its last legs almost literally overnight (as if it is not already). They may keep making black and white, but not unless colleges continue to be staffed by those who push film as a learning medium. Judging my the recent influx of young, dumb, digitally-raised professors at my school, I would not count on that. Expect a bad economy to hasten this demise, as it already has, with people always seeking the most economical way to work. Remember that professional digital cameras have not even been around for a decade, and look what they have done to the industry. The end started with Clive Howes of Getty Images making the decision to transmit the first digitally-captured image over the wires. That was just sniper fire, however. Then, it's kind of like a nuclear bomb hit Film Town as soon as the D1 came out, and we film users are all the survivors of the attacks. We've made it till now, but the fallout will get us eventually...

That is a very good point about film. I hope there will always be enough film users to keep it coming - I guess that's up to us. Something else occurs to me too: When the motion picture industry develops sensors suitable for their cameras that technology will probably bring the cost of all sizes of sensors down to a point where even medium format sensors will be an affordable proposition.

Josh Harmon · Aug 20, 2010

I would just buy a rechargeable 2CR5 battery, I have 3 film EOS cameras and two of them take 2CR5s. Ofcourse I shoot mostly MF and they don't get used often enough for me to make too much judgement.

Josh

film_man · Aug 20, 2010

Given that you can still buy those flat or other weird batteries that much older manual cameras use for meters, ancient light meters or other such stuff, I wouldn't worry too much about 2CR5s going extinct any time soon!

flatulent1 · Aug 21, 2010

Tim Gray said:
2CR5's have a long shelf life. So buy a pack of 10 online. It's cheaper that way anyway.

Being safe rather than sorry, I would stock up on batteries as well as film, if this is a concern.

EOS 3 Film Body Question - Vert Grip Booster

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