Camcorder Reviews

My wife and I bought this for our Optura 2000MC to go on our honeymoon and found this to be very useful for day long excursions. We hardly needed to look at the power bar the whole time. Also the size was helpful because it helped balance the camera for a steadier shot. Definitley worth getting.

I love my ZR45MC, but it really requires this extended battery.

The battery that came with my ZR45MC is woefully inadequate for anything but a handful of brief cameo shots. Also, the charge doesn't hold for any extended period of time. You may pull out your ZR to catch a great moment in time only to find that the battery has discharged while idle in the camera bag. Not using the LCD does help the situation quite a bit.

This extended battery makes a good primary battery and seems to go more than twice as long as the normal one. Also, you can then use the original as a backup (as long as you refresh it's charge occassionally :-) ).

The battery is great, but Amazon offers the accessory kit with the same battery, plus a mini-dv tape and a carrying case for the same price. The case is useless for the ZR series, but might come in handy for some other purpose.

Sure, when you're looking for a battery, the big, flashy five-hour megavolts are tempting. But if you are an entry level photographer, this is the only battery you need. I got this battery with the Canon ZR-20 I purchased recently, and so far, this battery has never dieded on me. Litium-Ion is a geek term meaning you can charge the battery whenever it's convenient, instead of (like the old VW bettle) waiting until you're out of juice to refill. With two hours of recording time at full charge, even with the LCD screen out, chances are you'll never need another battery for years. That is, unless you go professional, which is another story all together...

I bought this battery to have as a backup for the identical one that came with my Canon Powershot G5. The battery is fabulous. I've always been very displeased with the shooting capacity of digital cameras in general - they would run out of battery in a very short time. This battery was one of the deciding factors for me buying a Canon Powershot G5. According to a test on dpreview, it's the best performing battery (when used in the G3) out there for any digital camera (at the time of testing).

I've taken a few thousand pictures with it so far, and I'm very pleased. When using the LCD display for a mix of movies and pictures (on my G5), I get around 600 pictures out of one fully charged battery. I've never completely "emptied" the battery with the LCD screen off (preview only), but based on my experience so far, I would think that you'll get somewhere between 600-1000 pictures out of one fully charged battery - maybe more - when the LCD is not on all the time. If you take a lot of pictures (I can easily take 500 on a weekend trip), I would still recommend buying an extra battery though. I'm panicked about ever running out of battery (or memory) while I'm shooting.

Should you buy a cheaper non-Canon brand equivalent battery? I've not tried an equivalent for the BP-511, but I've got a DigiPower equivalent for my Canon Powershot S200 (Elph II), and it's crap. I would never buy and equivalent for my G5 camera, because in my experience, it's quite apparent that you get what you pay for.

Pros:
* Extremely good capacity - 500-1000 pictures on one charge with normal use.
* Charges relatively quick in my G5 - about 90 minutes

Cons:
* Very heavy. It'll weigh down your camera, but for the capacity it provides, I personally think it's worth it.

Conclusion: It's a very good battery - capacity is fabulous. I've had no problems with it - it doesn't overheat, it doesn't stop working, and so far after about 6 months of operation, I've noticed no drop in capacity. I give it an unconditional 5 stars!!!

I love the BP-511 batteries with my Canon G2. I bought 2 extras for my China trip 2.5 years ago and was amazed that a single battery went a day and a half with heavy shooting. Never had to change within a day.

Now, 2.5 years later, the batteries have shorter lifespans. Reading the rest of the comments, I understand that they are "old." And it appears I've violated the "do not store fully charged" instruction. Oh well, I'll just buy a couple more!

Love the Canon Camera as well.

This battery lasts for a full day of shooting. This was one of the main things I liked about the Canon G1. Other cameras go through disposable batteries about every 30 shots or so.

More information visit:

http://www.powershotpro1.com

I only had the thin Canon battery coming with my Elura 2. On average I could take about 30min video before the battery drys. This battery lasts forever! I haven't had a chance to completely dry it up yet. The best part is that it doesn't feel that big at all as I was concened about the big size.

100% recommend it !

To use the Elura 2 or 2 MC effectively you have to have the BP-422 or a third party battery. The standard battery is quite pathetic. If you have the big LCD screen open, you can literally see the battery life draining away as you shoot. Maybe 20 Min of life. Just sad.

Unless you have 5 of these batteries, you cannot even shoot a 60 minute tape. It is preposterous -- to have this battery as the standard for this video camera.

The whole reason for buying an Elura is it's SMALL. Same thing for this battery.

It runs the camera for about an 45 minutes. Am I taping the whole time? No. The camera uses energy when on whether taping or not, so it would be silly to ask Canon to predict how many actual minutes of tape will be shot.

I carry a spare in my pocket. (They're small, so it's no problem.)