Canon 6D GPS Poor Battery Life - Canon 6D Battery Runs Down When GPS Switched On

While the Canon 6D battery life may be great for taking modelling photos, I've found that leaving the Canon 6D internal GPS on while the camera is switched off runs the battery dead within a few days. With GPS switched off while the camera is off the battery remains charged.

Unfortunately the only menu option on the 6D is to turn the internal GPS on or off, there is no choice to switch GPS off when the camera is switched off which would still allow GPS data to be added to photos taken. The option that you would expect to switch the GPS off when the camera is turned off is the "Use GPS to track camera". With this option off there seems no point in the GPS being permanently turned on.

You can tell if the GPS is switched on by looking at the top LCD plate of the Canon 6D when the camera is turned off. If the GPS is still active the screen will be showing GPS in the bottom corner. With GPS off this disapears.

Hopefully Canon will be able to resolve this with a firmware update so that you can retain GPS live only when the camera is on rather than GPS remaining live when the camera is off.

Canon 6D High ISO Test Review - Noise Performance Compared

Review of Canon 6D High ISO Performance - Comparison of ISO Noise

As the newest full frame DSLR camera in the Canon lineup the ISO noise performance of the Canon 6D should match or beat any of the previous Canon DSLR cameras. On paper it doesn't disappoint with a standard range of 100 to 25600 that can be extended to 102400. In comparison the Canon 5D that I am replacing has an ISO range of 100 to 1600 and can be extended to ISO 3200. That means the Canon 6D has a whole 5 (yes FIVE) stops more ISO choice than the Canon 5D Mark 1 and two more stops than the Canon 5D Mark 2 that went up to 25600 in extended settings.



Canon 6D High ISO Test Review - Noise Performance Compared

 

These shots were taken to show the capability of the Canon 6D in low light and high ISO. I've deliberately only started the series at ISO 1600, below that noise is not an issue which is quite an incredible situation we have arrived at.

The images below are of the same scene but shot at an incredible ISO 51200 and 102400 - interestingly the EXIF shown on the image is 65535 which is the maximum setting! Amazing to think that with film the maximum general ISO would be 3200 and even that was very grainy.

Canon Digital Solutions Software Installer Fails - Universal Installer Error

I've found that trying to install the latest Canon Digital Solutions software fails on certain PCs and there seems to be no easy way to resolve it. This has happened using Canon software on Windows Vista 64 bit with the error Universal Installer Windows has stopped working.

Canon Digital Solutions software error - Universal Installer Windows has stopped working

The solution that I have found to successfully run the software which includes my favourite image browser, Digital Photo Professional, is to install on another PC. Copy the folders from under C:\Program Files x86\Canon to a memory stick and replace them on your target machine.

As long as the software is already installed on the destination machine you can then run the Canon solutions software using the files that installed on the old PC.

NOTE: This worked for me but there is no guarantee that it will work for everyone. I would recommend that you back up any files that you replace so you can reverse the process if it doesn't work!"