Nikon F5 Battery consumption check.

Hello,

 

I have my F5 with rechargable battery. As far as I remember.....The F5 eats the battery like crazy. In

comparison to my Canon 1VHS. I thought that was design issue.

 

Recently I saw from the other thread "The very early F5's tend to have some battery indicator problem. The

camera would show that the batteries are exhausted after just a few rolls."

 

Now I start to wonder this is what I might be experiencing.

 

Can someone please tell me, what should be expect from F5 that is consider normal under normal temp

condition. So I will know if mine needs a service.

 

AA Battery= # Rolls

 

Rechargable MN-30= # Rolls

No, a normal F5 does not eat battery like crazy. I typically get 30 rolls with a set of 8 alkaline AA's. See also the following current thread: http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00Jles

I replace the lithiums annually, whether they need it or not. FWIW, I do not shoot in servo and rarely use AF. Battery life has been excellent on my unit.

I get between 20 and 30 rolls with the rechargable MN-30. It even survived "recharging" with the charger polarity reversed. (The output voltage went to zero, but took a full charge after the error was discovered.) I keep the regular battery pack filled with lithiums, just in case.

I experienced about 20 rolls using the MN-30 ( I recharged the battery before it completely

drained -- I probably had a few more rolls worth of charge left).

Some F5 bodies "like" 1.5 volt AA cells. Most NiMH cells are 1.25 volts. If the F5 body does not have eight 1.5 volt cells, like your F5 body, the camera will more or less cease to work properly after two or three rolls.

What! My F5 with MN-30 can't even last for 3 rolls. 5 rolls tops, definatly no more than 5 Rolls. I am not kidding about it. About 3 rolls, the battery LCD will start to blink. AF won't run, Shutter can't press, all button won't work unless give a fresh feed of battery.

 

Anyone experienced the same problem? I got it off at 2nd hand market. How do I know if it is battery problem or F5's problem?

Duh,... some regular AA's? (I'm kidding in a friendly way but come on, man, really...)

William, I wonder how old your rechargable battery is. It might have gone bad or you have an early F5 that has that well known battery problem. Short of buying another MN-30, I suggest testing your F5 with alkaline AA's.

 

Again, I bought my F5 from B&H in late December, 1997, a bit more than a year since it was introduced, and it never had any battery problem. Its serial number is 30822**. If your serial number is earlier, it may have that issue.

My F5 is 3014###, got it used in Oct 2006. I put 8 AA new batteries, and it last for 5 rolls of film till Jan 2007. However, I played with AF alot with AF80-200 f2.8, and AFD28-70 f3.5. If taking the standard test from Nikon, I think my F5 can shoot at least 10 rolls.

 

I tried 8 rechargeable batteries 1300mAh, it last for 1 roll. Today, I make a 9th cells, it now have 12V and hope to last longer. But recharge it doesn't cost me much.