Canon 20D: Raising the Bar for Prosumer Digital SLRs

Battery Performance

Our general method for battery testing is to reset the camera to its default settings and change the recording mode to the highest quality option. Then, we take 5 pictures without the flash and 2 pictures with the flash until the battery is dead. For more information on our battery test, please refer to our Testing Procedures page. For this test, we used the included 511A Lithium-Ion battery on the 20D. The 10D results come from our previous review with the use of the 511 Lithium-Ion battery. The batteries were fully drained before charging for the test.

	Number of shots taken in one battery charge
20D (BP-511A)	4,353
10D (BP-511)	1,727

Our battery test shows that the 20D is capable of a very impressive 4,353 shots in a single charge with the new BP-511A battery (supplied with the camera). In our earlier review of the 10D, we discovered it to be capable of 1,727 shots in a single charge. In the 20D manual, Canon suggests that if the BP-511 were used in the 20D, the battery life would drop by 25%. We think that along with the higher power output of the new battery, the speed and efficiency of the 20D had a large part in providing so many shots. Remember that these numbers do not represent casual shooting. We perform these battery tests in one sitting. In the 20D and 10D manuals, Canon rates the cameras with the following shooting capacity using the CIPA (Camera & Imaging Products Association) criteria:

CIPA
	No Flash	50% Flash
20D (BP-511A)	1000	700
10D (BP-511)	650	500

Anyway you look at it, both cameras have a very impressive battery life. However, if the supplied battery does not provide enough power, both cameras have optional battery grips. The 20D supports the new BG-E2, which can hold either two Lithium-Ion batteries or 6-AA batteries. The 10D supports the BG-ED3, which can hold two Lithium-Ion batteries. The grips are about $170 and the BP-511(A) goes for about $50.