Replacing cards/batteries mid shoot

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jimmy83

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Probably nothing to worry about at all, but during a shoot and you are running low on space or battery do you turn the camera off first and then replace either or? Or just go all guns blazing and eject as quick as you can? :p

This happens alot to me in football shooting-very annoying at the same time. Yes ive got a grip on order and need some bigger cards now! Slow card are also a real pain, when they take ages to buffer and copy to the card iam there waiting as I miss a goal or chanellenge!
 
I always turn the camera off before I change cards or batteries and lenses.
 
I believe trying to eject a card while it's reading (red light) is a bad idea; but then fast cards eliminate this to a degree. I'd suggest turning it off before changing either, as having to try and reset the camera during a shoot would be bad.

The higher range cameras especially the 7D can shoot about 130ms after turning it on so I don't see it being an issue. You can shoot with a fully charged battery for a heck of a time too? It's quoted as 800 shots but then the 60D that also uses the LP-E6 is quoted as 1200 and I've gotten 1600 over 7 days.

Canon original batteries make a big difference, I have an amazon one that doesn't seem to show the right percentage, and use Sandisk extreme pro for cards - they cost especially for CF but then I don't like waiting. You can get about 450 raw from a 16gb.
 
jimmy83 said:
Probably nothing to worry about at all, but during a shoot and you are running low on space or battery do you turn the camera off first and then replace either or? Or just go all guns blazing and eject as quick as you can? :p

This happens alot to me in football shooting-very annoying at the same time. Yes ive got a grip on order and need some bigger cards now! Slow card are also a real pain, when they take ages to buffer and copy to the card iam there waiting as I miss a goal or chanellenge!
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How many shots are you getting from 1 fully charged battery?
 
Remember the six "P"s - Proper Planning Prevents Poness Poor Performance! The frames remaining counter gives plenty of warning that you're running low on space, as does the battery meter when that's getting low. When you first spot the possibility of running out of either, get a spare ready and when you get an opportunity (ball out of play, injury etc), swap the low one out. Always a good idea to switch off during any swaps as well as waiting for the "Card in use" light to go out.
 
'Poness'?? Sure you prepared that thoroughly, Nod? :p
 
Write it down in capital letters apart from the "one" which needs to be written as a numeral!
 
Ah! I see now. That's the trouble with emigrating from Demn to Zummerzet. You forgets the laaaaaaaaanguage, moi bay!
 
I always switch off if I need to change the battery or card.

Although in the recent EOS mag, they were saying although its best practice to do so, they don't and have had no problems at all - need to make sure the cameras not writing to the card before you do anything though ...
 
I always switch it off when changing anything.

Just think if you hit the shutter button by mistake whilst taking the memory card out. Unlikely but if it happened could corrupt the memory card data
 
Whenever I've tried changing a battery in the grips on either of my bodies the camera shuts off anyway. That would be a given on my 5D3 cause both batteries slide out on a tray but on my 7D the batteries are separate and face forward so I only have to take one out at a time, but it still cuts off. As for card space, I've never run out while I've had anything to shoot. When the shots remaining counter is getting low I have another ready to just slap in during a break in the action.

I use 3rd party batteries in the grips, both bodies take LP-E6, and I can get around 3000 shots on a pair if I'm using AF and IS all the time too.
 
Also wait for red light to stop flashing before you turn it off ideally.
 
Why about changing a lens? Does everyone turn the camera off first?
 
I try to remember but don't always! Contrary to popular belief, the sensor doesn't build up a static charge while turned on (or not enough of one to make a difference to the dust). I do always remember to turn off when playing with cards though.
 
Nod said:
I try to remember but don't always! Contrary to popular belief, the sensor doesn't build up a static charge while turned on (or not enough of one to make a difference to the dust). I do always remember to turn off when playing with cards though.
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Ditto, lost count of the numbers of times I've changed lens while turned on. I have had to clean my sensor before though so perhaps not the smartest idea.
 
It's never good practice to unplug any ancillary whilst it has power applied to it, whether that be a battery, memory card, speedlight or lens. The circuitry isn't designed to handle the current surge that occurs when you do this - it might cope, it might not.

In the case of a lens, you should bear in mind that it has to be twisted into position resulting in several of the contacts on the lens coming into contact with several of the ones on the body. If the ones on the body are powered (as they may be with the camera turned on) then you risk exposing circuits in the lens to voltages they're not designed to work with. Again, they may cope or they may not and just because they cope this time doesn't mean they won't next time.

Let's face it, you've got a camera that takes about 10mS to power down and about 100mS to power up - how much action are you gonna miss in that time?
 
Well, for Canon cameras at least, turning the switch to 'Off' doesn't actually turn the camera off. All it does is tell the camera to ignore all the things that would normally wake it from sleep mode. Current is still flowing.

So, no I don't bother switching it off to change batteries, cards or lenses.

Besides, one battery and one card last a full day - unless I'm shooting more than 1200 shots!
 
Bristolian said:
It's never good practice to unplug any ancillary whilst it has power applied to it, whether that be a battery, memory card, speedlight or lens. The circuitry isn't designed to handle the current surge that occurs when you do this - it might cope, it might not.

In the case of a lens, you should bear in mind that it has to be twisted into position resulting in several of the contacts on the lens coming into contact with several of the ones on the body. If the ones on the body are powered (as they may be with the camera turned on) then you risk exposing circuits in the lens to voltages they're not designed to work with. Again, they may cope or they may not and just because they cope this time doesn't mean they won't next time.

Let's face it, you've got a camera that takes about 10mS to power down and about 100mS to power up - how much action are you gonna miss in that time?
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I suspect that in the case of dSlrs they are designed exactly with that in mind.
 
DemiLion said:
I suspect that in the case of dSlrs they are designed exactly with that in mind.
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Why do you think that?

D300 manual
Page 32: "Always turn the camera off before inserting or removing batteries"
Page 34: "After confirming the camera is off, ...." (instructions on fitting a lens)
Page 35: "Be sure the camera is off when removing or exchanging lenses"
Page 39: "Always turn the camera off before inserting or removing memory cards"

Every camera manual I've ever read has instruction like that throughout its text. Maybe the manufacturer knows something we don't?
 
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