D200 Malfunction

I bought a D200 several days before Christmas. A beautiful

instrument, certainly. Four days and some thirty pictures afterward

(I've been too busy) it wouldn't recognize the battery as anything but

depleted thereby not powering the camera with the exception of a brief

control panel display. The staff at Mike's Camera in Denver were

perplexed and suggested it might be the battery (not forward

compatible) which I then tested to good result. Returning to Mike's

the same battery powered up a D70s, so we know it's the D200. It if

was static electricity that overloaded the D200's circuits, there is

apparently no reset button on the camera.

 

Unfortunately, because it's so new, there aren't any replacements out

there for the foreseeable future and the Nikon rep assigned to this

area wasn't available until after the Holidays. This is what I get

for being on the bleeding edge. Mike's was great in lending me a D70s

for a month, but I'm curious whether anyone else may have had this

experience and/or whether I'm missing something really fundamental

about the camera?

Have you tried a different battery in the camera?

Just a thought, but...The batteries that originally came with the D70(s) are not commmpatible with the D200. Make sure that the battery you are trying to use in the D200 is an "EN-EL3e" with three contacts. The original EN-EL3's aren't even supposed to fit in the D200, so I'm not sure if that's the problem, but definitely something worth checking out.

Thanks, Ellis and Ben. Yes, I realize that earlier versions of this battery won't fit the D200. However, the D200 battery will fit the D70s and it is, in fact, working fine in that camera. So, we've ruled out a battery malfunction. The problem seems to be in the D200 body itself. Does that prompt any ideas? Appreciate the quick response.

Try another battery if you can find one.

 

 

On my part, the battery on the D200 doesn't seem to last as long as my the one with my D100.

I have seen this in another D200 recently. I would get your dealer to swap the D200 for you.

Hello, I believe the new (wonderful) D200 will have growing pains just like many cameras before it. I always wait a good six months until Nikon gets their collective act together and then purchase a vetted (hopefully) working instrument. Happy Happy New Year!

I don't understand why people act so timidly. I bought a D200 the day they were announced

and I haven't had even a hint of a problem with the camera so far. Nikon has a track record.

They'll support any problems with their cameras, if they're at the beginning of the product

cycle or at the end. I don't see any reason not to buy a D200 or any other Nikon DSLR in the

first batch if it's the tool you need to get the job done.

Chris, generally speaking, there is a tendency for the first batch of any new product to have problems, and unfortunately, Nikon is no exception. One of the well known cases is the F5 body. During the first several months of manufacturing, a lot of F5's had this battery indicator problem and required warranty repair. A friend of mine bought two early F5's and both had that problem. She had to send them both back to Nikon for repair multiple times. Eventually Nikon could not fix one of them and gave her a new F5.

 

Obviously that is a more extreme case, but many of us would rather not go through that kind of hassle. I waited a full year before I bought my F5 and it has been trouble free for just over 8 years now.

It sounds like the 3rd contact on the battery could be bad (like a broken wire inside),

telling the camera there is no power. Definitely try another D200 battery before you

assume it's the camera. Your dealer can certainly get his hands on another battery?

Dan, the word is that the EN-EL3E batteries are being used to address the recall of the EN-

EL3/3A batteries.

"Chris, generally speaking, there is a tendency for the first batch of any new product to

have problems, and unfortunately, Nikon is no exception."

 

Well, I think your evidence is mainly anecdotal. I've been a Nikon customer for over 20

years and though there have been some minor problems here and there the actual number

of cameras impacted compared to the manufacturing run in toto has been essentially

insignificant IMO. And I'd point out that - as I originally said - Nikon made good on those

products. Any camera line is susceptible to problems, be it at the beginning or the end of

its product cycle. I don't see any legitimate reason to shy away from buying new Nikon

products, outside of rationalizing your personal decision not to plunk the money down in

the first wave.

It could be the battery, or rather the smart chip in it that the D200 reads to assess charge. It's

suggested that this chip may not be picking up the state of charge correctly, or reporting it

to the D200, or something. The D70 doesn't read this but goes straight to the current, so to

speak, which could be why that combo worked.

 

One suggestion is: exhaust the batter completely (I've read a suggestion about putting it in a

freezer overnight), then completely recharge it, then see what happens. The other thing to try

is a different -3E battery in the D200.

Chris, the F5 battery problem was quite wide spread back in early 1997. There are also a lot of cases of BGLOD on early D70's, which Nikon fixed around November 2004, but that may be related to the fact that the D70 was Nikon's best selling DSLR.

 

There is no point to keep talking about those issues now. It won't help Rick a bit, unfortunately.

It's also been suggested here and elsewhere that the D200 has a separate internal battery

that needs to charge from the external when you first get the camera. This could be part

of the problem, if such reports are to be considered accurate.

 

Sounds like the advice given so far is good. You should exhaust the battery and then

recharge it fully over night. The internal battery meter figures out charge based on

previous charge/discharge cycles so there may be issues on that first cycle.

 

Personally, the first couple of cycles only got me about 150 shutter activations but I was

chimping the menus a lot at that point. After I turned off the auto top LCD illumination

and auto image review on the main LCD I started getting much better results. On my most

recent charge I got close to 350 activations before the battery was dead. That's about

where it should be based on Nikon's own estimates.

NOTE: I used the wrong words in the first sentence of my last post. Obviously both batterys

are internal. Only one of them is removable though.

You guys are fantastic. Thanks a bundle of batteries for the good suggestions. Freezer here we come.

 

On another note, but am wondering why Nikon's roll out of the D200 didn't have a few more continginces. A few spare bodies and batteries on hand with their regional Nikon reps in the event they needed to swap for malfunctions. I was told that the regional rep a) had no spare bodies or batteries and b) was taking the Holidays off. I never begrudge anyone taking time off, BTW, but it is another contingency.

 

Again, thanks so much for the helpful hint. Wish I would have thought of this resource earlier.

 

Rick

According to Nikon, only the Nikon EN-EL3e grey colored battery will function in the D200. The EN-EL3a and the EN-EL3 are not compatible. Perhaps your dealer swapped batteries from the factory sealed box and didn't tell you?

You should not be able to insert the older EN-EL3 or EN-EL3a batteries into the D200.

Hi!

I have the same exact problem !

Just bought my D200 two weeks ago at Calumet in San Francisco and then

bought one extra battery from Ritz online. I got one charge out of the battery

and now despite the Nikon charger indicating that battery is fully charged I get

the flashing battery icon.

I checked the battery grip and the charger. Both appear to be operating

correctly.

This inconvenience will end up wasting my time. Not quite what I expected

that's for sure.

According to Nikon the D200 should be able to get 1500 shots out of a fully charged battery. Due to the bad weather recently I haven't been out much and when I checked the frame counter on my D200 I found that I've only taken about 200 pictures since I bought the camera.

 

In that time I've recharged the battery THREE TIMES. Every year around July I spend about three weeks away from mains power. At this rate I'll have to load the Land Rover with spare batteries, as I don't travel far enough each day to charge one battery. I've seen similar complaints on other sites, no wonder people are switching to Canon!

 

Before someone mentions AA batteries, forget it because they're a waste of time. When the battery died this afternoon I put in a new set of Duracells and they died about five minutes ago without even taking a single picture. All I had used them for was to download the pictures I had taken lunchtime check the settings in the menu for about ten minutes.

 

When I go to Focus On Imaging next weekend I shall make a point of finding the nearest Nikon rep and telling him what I think of their batteries, preferably within earshot of anyone who is thinking of buying a D200.

 

I'm not vindictive, I just want a camera which is billed as being professional to do what it says on the box.

Cheers, John

get the flashing battery icon quick fix

go to: custom setting menu------ctimers/AE&AFlock--bauto metter-off and set to: no limit

 

 

God bless you all

Armando Mendes