running a go pro 2 camera with battery back pack but battery life is poor . when im not filming do I have to turn the camera off to save battery , or can I just stop filming and let the camera turn its self off

I was get about 90 mins of filming over a day if I leave it on all the time, it’s a bit less now. I just turn it off when I’m not using it keeps it going. Got a 2nd battery for it which is easy to swap and gets me most of the day.

Battery life is not much more on standby than it is when recording, it’s using power all the time as well as heating itself for cold conditions.

Auto off is an option that needs to be enabled from the menu. It does help but you need to remember or check if it’s off or on all the time. I tend to do it manually then you know what you’ve done.

Battery life is not much more on standby than it is when recording,

I find the opposite of this. Mine (GoPro Hero 3 Silver) will last for 3+ hours on standby but will only manage about 40 minutes of actual recording time, especially in the higher quality modes. The Wifi kills standby time, unfortunately so I usually have that off.