D200 Battery

Hi,

I would like to know from the D200 owners, how many shots can you take

shooting raw before your Battery drians? I just got teh d200 2 weeks ago and i

am able to get about 110 shot at the most in a single charge, verses 700-1000

with the d70s battery, I bought the MBd200 grip since i could not find a

battery in stock anywhere, this is crazy so i used 6AA batteris on the grip

holderand that was good for 50 shots. I serached here and all what i found is

the post below that make think. is there something wrong with battery,camera

or this beast is alway hungry for power? Thanks for you reply.

 

 

the comment i found when i serached:

 

here is some valuable info about the ENEL3e battery in case you may run into

similar problem.

A while ago I had troubles with my new ENEL3e battery new with D200. The

battery had only been used for 10 or so full charges. Then suddenly the

battery was reading fully charged on the charger but fully drained when in the

D200. After researching online I discovered there may be a problem with the

communication sensor/chip which lets the camera know how much charge is still

left in the battery. So I ordered a spare "new" battery to test this theory.

The new battery works, charger works fine and camera works fine so I sent the

defunct battery back for warranty.

hi there....with my first couple of charges, I only got about 100 or so shots on a fully charged

battery. After multiple charges, I am not getting 250-300 per battery. With the grip, I get

about 600 shots on two fully charged batteries. My local Samys got a bunch of batteries in

recently......i bought six :O.

 

I have heard this same experience with many of my collegues with the same setup.

The number of shots is variable, the rear display is a big power drain. The more you chimp or play with settings, the lower the battery life. Focusing and VR also take their tolls. Today, I got about 480 raw + JPEG shots from one battery with constant focusing and VR on (70-200 zoom). Later, I got over 800 large fine JPEGs off of another battery without VR (no typos -- I shot about 1650 images today).

 

So far, three batteries have been enough to get me through any single day. It's close though, I plan to get a fourth.

About 800-900 shots with one charge and no VR. With VR, about 500 shots. Very infrequent chimping.

As far as AA batteries, are you using standard batteries? If so, DONT. Use NiMH or Lithium. Lithiums last longer, but are not rechargable. Many people claim to get more out of 6 NiMH batteries then 2 En-el3e's.

 

Being you have the grip, I would suggest buying 12 or 18 AA NiMH batteries and a charger or two.

<a href="http://sterlingtek.com/nikendigcamb.html">Here</a> are your batteries for $18 each. I have a ton of batteries from here, and they work great. I get 800-1000 shots with my grip, all though I am a Caonon shooter, not Nikon....Mike

Mike, the batteries in that link are not compatible with the D200. The D200 uses a slightly different battery than the D70s and D100. It needs to be an EN-EL3e battery to work in the D200.

I have been getting about 500 on my packs. With a low to mediocre amount of chimping and mixed VR use.

 

The packs take at least 5-6 charges to gain their full capacity and charge the internal backup battery on the D200.

 

Also, if you are using AA's you must tell the camera what type of batteries you are using! Lithium, Ni-MH, Alkaline or whatever. That is because the voltages are different. If you are using Ni-MH and you didn't set it properly the camera will think the batteries are dead because the voltage is low.

 

As stated by the previous poster - the battery if SterlingTek is NOT compatible with the D200.

 

Aaron Lee

Hi Khalil,

 

I got at least 300+ shooting RAw'

For my D70 I can shoot a full day wedding in RAW with no battery change! I am planning on buying the D200 at some point, I was hoping for similiar battery performance and am dissapointed if my expectations are too high...?

 

Also, it sounds lile I cannot use the same charger for both the D70 & D200 batteries... darn ?!

 

-Lisa

I'm pretty sure you can use the same charger as the D70.. and you can use the D200 batteries in your D70, but you can NOT use the D70 battery in the D200.

"I am planning on buying the D200 at some point, I was hoping for similiar battery performance and am dissapointed if my expectations are too high...?"

 

Maybe a little too high. Just buy an extra battery or two. It's not a big thing -- especially since you get way more camera in the deal.

 

"Also, it sounds lile I cannot use the same charger for both the D70 & D200 batteries... darn ?!"

 

Yes, you can use the MH-18 and MH-18a chargers for both the EN-EL3 and EN-EL3e batteries. When you get your D200, you'll have two chargers, which should be sufficient to keep multiple batteries going. The EN-EL3 batteries will work in the D70.

Thank so very much every one,

 

Bruce, I guess after few charges i will see some improvement,

 

(Use NiMH or Lithium. Lithiums last longer, but are not rechargable. Many people claim to get more out of 6 NiMH batteries then 2 En-el3e's.)

 

JC, I bought the grip for the sole reason i could not find the ENLE3E BATTERIRS IN STOCK any where. I used the NiMH batteries i have 18 of them rated at 2300Mh not the 1600 and they did not last more than 50 shots, I do not chimp every picture either. so I do not know what say.

 

Mike, I wish i could use these batteries but as you heard they do not work i have 7 batteris for D70s and rarely before the i bought the d200 i did a whole wedding wioth a single charge of one battery. that is not the case with the D200.

 

if you are using AA's you must tell the camera what type of batteries you are using! Lithium, Ni-MH, Alkaline or whatever. That is because the voltages are different. If you are using Ni-MH and you didn't set it properly the camera will think the batteries are dead because the voltage is low.

 

Aaron, I have done the upove. Thanks it is an important and could be missed when you are using the grip.

 

and for the rest thanks so much, oh Chris I am junky for backup i have 3 of everything and i could find these darn batteries anywhere I will buy 8 of them, who needs the stress. 3 times i was notified they had in the stock and i go to order an dthey we are out... i will keep hunting.. thanks

With heavy chimping I typically get through an 8 hour wedding with two batteries on my D200. Sometimes I break out the third battery. However, I rarely drain them before swapping.

 

I forgot to charge them and only had one at 3/4 charge the other night shooting baseball and it lasted most of the game shooting JPEGS.

 

Don't have the grip so I can't testify to that option. With the D70, that little bugger keeps going and going and going!

Thanks Robbie i agree i rarleu used my extra batteries with the D70s

Thank all again i finally found 3 extra batteries to buy.