Stress, High Blood Pressure, and Breathing & Shedding Light on Canon EOS-7D Mark II Battery Misconceptions

The Streak Continues: 294

I finally finished editing/re-writing Arash Hazeghi’s first draft the new DPP 4.0 RAW Conversion e-Guide that we are doing together. We have another phone conference scheduled for this morning. This blog post, the 294th in a row, was published just before 7:30am from my home in Indian Lake Estates, FL.

As always, I would appreciate your using the BIRDS AS ART B&H affiliate links for all of your major gear, video, and electronic purchases, using our Amazon logo-link for all of your household purchases, and visiting the BAA Online Store for your tripod, tripod head, LensCoat, miscellaneous, accessories, and eGuide purchases as well. Please remember, web orders only. 🙂 Please remember also that all are invited to e-mail for gear advice.

EOS-7D Mark II Thanks!

Thanks a stack to the 22 folks who pre-ordered their EOS 7D Mark II bodies (and lots of accessories) using a BAA affiliate link.

If you are ready to order, please click on the logo-link immediately below to pre-order. This will be one hot-ticket item; the sooner you get your name on the pre-order list, the sooner you will have a 7D II in your hands.

Not convinced? Click here and be sure to check out yesterday’s blog post as well.

Breathing Your Way to Better Health

As my 60-year old younger sister Arna had two TIAs (mini strokes) fairly recently, my health guru, Dr. Cliff Oliver of The Center for Balance in San Diego, CA, suggested that I have a carotid artery ultrasound done. Nearly 20 years ago, Cliff saved me from killing myself with food, mainly more than half a million Oreo cookies dunked two at a time in cold milk. Today when Cliff says “Jump” I do not ask “Why?,” I ask “How high?”

I first met Cliff Oliver on a Bosque IPT nearly two decades ago. Thank God for that. For the complete story of how I went from a 240 pound 50 year old with uncontrolled diabetes, an ulcer, atrial fibrillation, high blood pressure, coronary artery disease (on every heart medication known to mankind) to a relatively healthy 184 pound 68 year old on zero heart meds with an A1C that hovers around 5.0, shoot me an e-mail with the words “Health Basics File” cut and pasted into the Subject line.

When I arrived at the church in Plant City, FL for the ultrasound test, the nice lady at reception talked me into a battery or four tests rather than just the carotid artery scan. I should be getting the results by mail in another week or so. In the meantime they took my blood pressure. It was high, something like 170 over 98. For the past ten years my blood pressure in the doctor’s office has routinely averaged about 135 over 75 so I was of course a bit concerned.

On the way back to ILE, I stopped in Lake Wales and purchased an Omron Blood Pressure Monitor, model BP 742N. I had had one years ago but after using it for ages it bit the dust.

I figured that I had been a bit nervous about the ultrasound test, that my pressure had been high because of cuff psychosis, and that when I took my BP at home it would be back to normal. That did not happen. My blood pressure that first day ranged from about 170-180 over 95-98. In a word, high.

After some thought I realized that though I have always salted my food, I had really been overdoing it lately. Secondly, I realized that about four months ago, when my blood pressure had been normal, that I had quit taking OXY A+ drops as I was thinking that they were negatively affecting my stomach in a rather unpleasant way.

So I called Cliff. He suggested that by getting some empty gel caps and putting the drops in those that my stomach would not be affected. And of course he agreed on eliminating salt.

Most importantly he said that I should resume doing the 4-7-8 breathing that had once been a part of my daily regimen. It is recommended that you do the 4-7-8 breathing twice a day, once in the early morning and once when you get into bed at night. As my Mom said when I was a kid, “This child does not know the meaning of the word moderation.” Little has changed. I’ve been doing the 4-7-8 breathing ten or fifteen times each day. My blood pressure readings began dropping immediately. After just four days my blood pressure is nearly back to normal: the last reading was 140 over 82. Amazing.

BTW, yesterday was my Mom’s 92nd birthday. Happy Bird-day Mom.

With all due respect to the many Western Medicine folks out their, there is a lot to be said for alternative medicine.

While Doctor Oliver recommended the 4-7-8 breathing to lower my blood pressure–he swears that it works every time, here is what Dr. Andrew Weil has to say about it:

Once you develop this breathing technique by practicing it every day, twice a day, it will be a very useful tool that you will always have with you. Use it whenever anything upsetting happens – before you react. Use it whenever you are aware of internal tension. Use it to help you fall asleep. Use it to deal with food cravings. Great for mild to moderate anxiety, this exercise cannot be recommended too highly. Everyone can benefit from it. The relationship between feeling at peace and lowered blood pressure seems pretty direct.

I should have mentioned that one round of 4-7-8 breathing takes less than two minutes. And you can learn to do it in just a few minutes at most. To learn how, and for a better explanation of the many benefits, click here and then click on the big white triangle.

The guy on the stool is Dr. Andrew Weil. Twice on the cover of TIME magazine and author of 10 books, Dr. Weil.M.D., is a world-renowned leader and pioneer in the field of integrative medicine, a healing oriented approach to health care which encompasses body, mind, and spirit. Though many in traditional Western medicine would point to him as a quack, he is an American medical doctor, naturopath, and a teacher and writer on holistic health. He is founder, professor, and director of the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona. He received his medical degree, and an undergraduate degree in biology, from Harvard University. Weil is widely known for establishing the field of integrative medicine which aims to combine alternative and conventional medicine. Weil suggests that patients take the Western medicine prescribed to them by doctors and then incorporate a variety of alternative therapies including and especially nutritional therapies. .

To be sure, a quick internet search will reveal hosts of harsh criticism of Dr. Weil. I am not at all qualified to judge either him or the articles that trash him, but I can say that 4-7-8 breathing can help you reduce stress and help you lower your blood pressure.

Shedding Some Light on 7D II Battery Misconceptions

After reading that the 7D II battery life would be approximately 800 images at 73°F while the 7D battery life would be approximately 1000 images at 73°F, I assumed that the 7D II’s new battery was not as powerful as the old battery in the 7D. So I wrote Rudy Winston as follows:

Hey Again Rudy, Do you have any clues as to why the new 7D II battery is less powerful than the older battery in the 7D? thanks, artie

Rudy kindly replied via e-mail:

Hi Artie,

Actually, the new and very slightly modified LP-E6N battery that launches with the EOS 7D Mark II is marginally more powerful than the LP-E6 battery that we’ve known up to now. It’s rated at 3.5% higher mAh rating — 1865 mAh vs. 1800 for the current LP-E6. The charger (the LC-E6), is the same for both batteries; use it with either the new or the current battery.

LP-E6N and LP-E6 are absolutely, unconditionally backward- and forward-compatible… users who have a number of the older batteries can use them freely in the new EOS 7D Mark II, and likewise the new LP-E6N can be freely used in an EOS 5D Mark II/Mark III, 70D, the original 7D, or any other LP-E6-compatible EOS body. There has, however, been a lot of unfounded speculation and misinformation on-line about this with people freaking-out that they’ll have to get all-new batteries, etc. That is just not the case.

Here are the battery life ratings, according to Canon Inc. —

Original EOS 7D — 800 shots (with 50% using built-in flash; at 73 degrees F)

New EOS 7D Mark II — 670 shots (same conditions)

Though there is no official word or explanation, it is clear that the higher resolution, higher-capacity processors and system overhead contribute to fewer potential shots on a single battery charge. FYI, the built-in flash has the same maximum power as the previous unit, although they’ve changed the official method of calculating Guide Number, so the GN appears to be slightly lower on the 7D Mark II than on the original 7D.

So to summarize, it’s not a less powerful battery at all, even though the rated number of possible shots has decreased a bit vs. the original EOS 7D.

Hope that this is helpful to you and to those who follow your blog. Rudy Winston, Canon USA

IPT Updates

Several IPTs including the Fall Fort DeSoto and San Diego are filling nicely. We had a cancellation on the Bosque 4-DAY but that was filled immediately from the Waiting List. We may have another cancellation; if you are interested please shoot me an e-mail. There is room on the Bosque Creative IPT. Click here and scroll down for the IPT schedule and dates, rates, and info.

Coming soon:

The Hooptie Deux Breeding Plumage Roseate Spoonbill IPT. 4 1/2 DAYs/9 pontoon boat trips. SUN FEB 22 thru lunch on THUR FEB 26, 2015/Strict Limit: 6 photographers. Meet and greet on the evening of SAT 21 FEB. Two great leaders: Captain James Shadle (Nikon) and Canon Explorer of Light Emeritus Arthur Morris.

Please e-mail if you would like to receive early notice.

Festival of the Cranes in-the field instruction, programs, and events

For information on the great (cheap) in-the field instruction, programs, and events that I and Denise Ippolito are doing in conjunction with this year’s Festival of the Cranes, please click here.

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