Panasonic gx7 battery problem

jerry12953

jerry12953

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Jeremy Moore
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About ten days I bought a Panasonic gx7 mail order from Calumet.

It took just three hours for the fully charged battery to discharge itself on first use. I'd taken about 40 images during that time. Surely a battery should last longer than this?

I contacted Calumet and they sent a courier to collect it; it arrived back at their warehouse on August 20th, last Thursday.

I phoned on Saturday, this morning and this evening, and got the same message each time, "I'll email the warehouse and then get back to you" . Silence.

So, firstly, does this sound like a battery fault or a camera fault?

And secondly, should I expect better service from Calumet? They have my money but I have no camera.

Thanks in advance for your replies.
 
The number of frames taken has little bearing on battery life with any CSC - without an optical viewfinder. The LCD is permanently on, whether shooting or viewing. Plus they all have pretty feeble batteries to help with size/weight. I've used quite a few CSCs, and none of them was capable of a full day's shooting, even on a fairly casual walkabout kind of day. Three hours continuous use wouldn't surprise me in the least.
 
I have a GX7, and on average if I use the screen a lot the battery lasts about 5 hrs, I only use the screen for checking images, touchscreen OFF and use the finder for framing, so if the OP has all screen functions ON probably about right if he has camera costantly on for 3 Hrs.
 
Another thought, has the OP got the WiFi On, gain a bit longer battery life with WiFi OFF.
 
Is this your first CSC? Battery life is considerably shorter than a DSLR due to the smaller battery and LCD/EVF. Three hours and 40 shots doesn't sound far from what you'd expect if the LCD or EVF were continually on and you were regularly pre-focusing.

The first thing most CSC owners buy is a spare battery (or two). Turning off auto image review helps battery life considerably. Not sure about turning off the touch screen. Mine's permanently off. I'd also use the EVF over the LCD.
 
Does sound like a fault, I can get about 250-300 shots from mine, with LCD on but WIFI off. I do turn the camera off everytime I have taken my shot though but not sure if that makes a difference.
 
Some interesting advice there. It's not my first CSC; I had a gx1 previously with an EVF. I didn't use it much but I'm not sure if I EVER charged the battery! I had read that 250/320 shots would be more like it with a CSC. I could live with that.

Could anyone point me a comprehensive list of tips on how to reduce battery usage to a minimum, for future reference?

As for Calumet, shouldn't they be getting their fingers out?
 
Other than turning off wifi, image review and disabling the lcd I doubt there's much more you can do. That said I've never done any of that and never had to worry about running out of power. I've got a spare battery just in case, but have very rarely used it.
 
When Im out and about, I usually get a bit more than 5 hrs with the wifi off, not switching camera off between shots, probably about 150-160 images, always carry spare battery.
 
Hi Jerry

Glad that all is resolved.

On this matter though can anyone here recommend a decent non-OEM battery for GX7 ?
 
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