GoPro battery time question

[Malpaso]

Does having the GoPro on but not taking video use as much battery as running video? Until recently, I was running the GoPro on a headband, turning it on at the beginning of the dive and taking video constantly until the end of the dive. I could always get two full dives out of a battery charge, in the neighborhood of two hours.

I just switched to a gopole, and I now only start and stop the video when there is something specific to shoot. Today, the first dive was 90 minutes, the second was 60 minutes. I had the camera on, but did very little video, as there wasn't much to see. The battery ran out about half way through the second dive.

Is the two hour charge life the same, even though I wasn't actively shooting, or is the battery dying out?

 

[3D diver]

In my experience the battery life depends on the on-time, not the shooting time. I change batteries between dives, whether I need too or not.

 

[toozler]

I can usually film two ~60min dives with one battery and with the LCD by keeping the brightness setting on low, activating the auto-shutdown for both camera and LCD and using one-button recording option. The camera stays off most of the time, turns on quickly and starts shooting. If I don't use it for a minute, turns itself off again. Filming a whole dive fills up your card with a lot of useless footage that you eventually have to watch and crop out later.

 

[socaljohn]

just on uses juice. when I forget to turn off between dives, it dies during 2nd dive. when I turn it off, I usually get through 2 hr long dives.

 

[Malpaso]

Thanks. I should probably get a second battery then. Are any of the after market ones decent, or should I spring for the GoPro ones?

 

[Hatul]

I have the Wasabi with double charger and it seems to last about as long as the GoPro brand.

 

[MEENO]

I got the smatree brand
it works fine for me and I love the 3 channels charger . I change the battery between dives
the smatree batteries lasts the same as the original GoPro

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Smatree[emoji768]-Replacement-battery-3-Channel-Camcorder/dp/B00OIODJMU

by the way am using the GoPro Hero 4 Black with the LCD

 

[Malpaso]

How about extended life batteries? I'm leery about changing batteries in a wet environment.

 

[seeker242]

The "battery bacpac" will double the battery time, perhaps more, but you lose the view of the LCD. And you have to change the backdoor on the case, but that's no big deal.

 

[3D diver]

The "battery bacpac" will double the battery time, perhaps more, but you lose the view of the LCD. And you have to change the backdoor on the case, but that's no big deal.

Not an option for 3D...:depressed: