Just picked up my XF300, and am headed out on a shoot in Nepal on Monday. Some of the location shooting may run a couple of days with no ability to recharge battereies. I found one post here that stated that battery life is better than the XHA1, but by how much? Trying to decide how many extra batteries to pick up before I leave.

Thanks

When you turn on the XF it will give you a minute count as to how long the battery will last under the current settings. If you close the LCD you'll get significantly longer life out of each battery. I managed to shoot sparingly (around 20 gigs) over several days on one of the small batteries.

Personally I'd pick up a couple of the big batteries and keep them handy. They will run continuously with the LCD on for 7 hours. I chose the cheaper canon battery without the electronics to tell the camera the time remaining.
I did 5 shoots this week (2 were full days and the others were several hours each) and my stock plus two big batteries lasted with plenty of juice to spare.
And before i get reprimanded, I carry the camera power supply/charger with me everywhere just in case!

Thanks guys,

And thanks to DV info for this forum. It is totaly against my better judgment to head directly out on a paid shoot with a new Camera before having the chance to really get to know it. The threads on this forum are getting me up to speed.

Hi Frank,

I've used my old XL2 batts on my XF300 with no problems. I've even used my XL2's third party batts no problem. But I've bought another third party battery on ebay (rated at 7300mAh) and that seems to last long; though I've yet to shoot all day with the XF cam.

I'd take Robert's advice and take a few large batteries with you. Hhmm, unfortunately it might be too late for you to pick up some third party batteries if you're flying out this week.

Good luck,

I managed to pick up 5 third party batteries (4 with the brand label "Pisen", and one with a fake Canon logo on it) here in Saigon yesterday, so I should be good. Gotta love the price here in Vietnam for these compatibles - $25USD each! The camera stores that I checked in Singapore the other day when I picked up the camera were wanting more like $200 for their compatibles! I know that some will question the wisdom of using these compatibles, but I have used one of the Pisens, purchased here in Vietnam, in my XHA1 with no issues, and the life was almost as good as the real Canon batteries.

I also managed to pickup a couple of batteries for my laptop, so I think that I am now ready to go tapeless in the bush! At least for a few days ... We shall see!

USPS Announces Changes in Lithium Battery shipping - Retail Shipping Associates - Pressroom - News Archive - Industry News Archive (http://www.rscentral.org/News/Pressroom/afv/topic/aff/1/aft/7122.aspx)

Better buy quickly before they stop us!