Left my new (used) EX3 with battery on while importing footage, came home less than 2 hours later and a fully charged BP-U60 battery was completely drained... Would that be considered normal?

Firmware is V1.02_0078

BTW: can I update the firmware myself, if I wanted to?

The battery drain when off issue was due to a problem with the power control board in the camera. The board itself has to be replaced if you want to stop the battery drain. There is no firmware fix for that issue.

From Sony's website for the firmware upgrade:

XDCAM EX Firmware Upgrade

NOTICE: PLEASE ENSURE THAT YOUR PMW-EX1 OR PMW-EX3 IS CURRENTLY AT V1.05 OR BETTER BEFORE ATTEMPTING TO LOAD THIS UPDATE. IF YOUR CAMCORDER IS CURRENTLY AT V1.04 OR LOWER, PLEASE CALL YOU LOCAL SONY SERVICE CENTER FOR FURTHER INFORMATION.

Thanks, Chris. But do you consider the drain abormal?

And other than a possible drain issue, I see no reason to upgrade an otherwise fine working camera. Or is there?

Personally yes I do. Sony would fix it under warranty if you complained. Until they had a fix for it the advice was to never store the camera with a battery attached.

I always remove batteries even though my EX1r does not have the battery drain issue.

Well, mine is not under warranty so I can forget about that. But do the batteries also drain faster when shooting?

No it didn't seem to affect battery life when operating. It just kept using the batter after it was shut down.

You can have the power boards exchanged and have the firmware updated in the same go. The reason why Sony says updating from older to newer firmwares require you to send it into a service center is because it requires newer hardware boards that need to be installed.

I cannot think of a reason why a firmware on a logic board could possibly affect battery drain. If that is possible can someone explain it?

I have always removed the batteries on any camera I have ever owned when not in use. Force of habit.


John

I had my EX1's firmware upgraded and board replaced at the Melbourne repairer and nothing changed. Battery still drains. Foolishly I took too long to tell them about it and so the camera and their work is not under warranty anymore.

So battery drain is normal for me.