EN-EL3e Battery Break In?? (No more D200 shortage???)

[todd1664878707]

I frequently check all the online sites that carry the D200 to see if

they are in stock. I recently put my name on the waiting list for a

D200 at Ritz, but they said it could take up to a month and a half to

come in. That was a week ago. Over the weekend, I checked the stock

at Best Buy online and they had them in stock. I have seen this

before, but I like to purchase things in person at a store so if I

have a problem with something, I can take it back easily. Anyway,

after noticing Best Buy had them in stock, I called my local Best Buy

store for the heck of it and it turns out they had a handful of

bodies and kits sitting on the shelf. I drove down and picked one

right up. What I'm getting at is give your local Circuit City and

Best Buy a call. You never know. Especially because I believe the

shortage is getting near the end. After I bought my D200 from Best

Buy, I cancelled my order with Ritz. They informed me they just

received a huge shipment and my wait was expected to be just another

week or so.

By the way, As soon as I got the camera, I did every banding test

imaginable and I found no evidence of banding. For those who haven't

held a D200, it's a nice machine. The part I don't like is, I did a

ton of chimping with it and after about 150 shots my battery was half

dead. I am aware of a break-in period with it, so I'm hoping battery

life will improve.

[bruce_rubenstein]

If you do a ton of chimping it will not get better. Not...Get...Better...

 

The battery does not "break in". People find the settings they like and stop going into the menus as much, and get more a better feel for the camera and stop chimping as much.

[ShunCheung]

I think people are quickly getting annoyed by more D200 citing, in stock type threads. Apparently pretty much everybody who wants one and can afford it has one now, so please don't start any more of those threads after this one. It is amazing how quickly the mood changes in photo.net.

 

Technically, as far as I know, there is no reason why a battery would "break in." I think Bruce has the right explanation.

[markwilkins]

The battery may not "break in," but many smart lithium ion batteries continually calibrate

their battery meter as they're used, which can cause the readings to get more accurate over

time.

 

However, if you use the LCD every time you shoot, most reports I've heard say that the

battery will last about 350 exposures, so your halfway at 150 sounds about right.

 

-- Mark

[Ed_Ingold]

NiMH and L-ion batteries tend to hold a better charge after several charge-discharge cycles. I've seen that referenced in several places, including Moose Peterson's site any my cell phone manual(s). It doesn't seem like a big difference, and I never pay much attention to it. I have more confidence in a spare battery or two than an "ought to be" claim. Both types get funky after a hundred or so cycles.

[rjacksonphoto]

Careful with Best Buy and Circuit City. Both have a 10% restocking fee specifically on returned digital cameras only. And my local Best Buy will not accept any camera return after 14 days-- you must send it to the company for warranty work.

 

Just FYI.

[joe_boyd]

I was talking to a guy yesterday who is using 4 D200s to photograph dance schools. He says that he has shot about 20000 images (total) on the bodies since he got them in December. He wants to keep his D2X's for wedding work because the D200s only get about 350 exposures/charge (compared to Nikon's 1800 exposure/charge estimate). I don't think they're doing a lot of chimping, as they're offloading cards to a laptop during the shoots.

 

You have to figure Nikon has got to create some separation of the Dn00 and Dn product lines by throttling some capabilities on the Dn00 line, to justify the almost 3x price markup of the Dn line. Aside from the banding issue under specific conditions, not many reports of inferior D200 image quality, compared to the D2X.

[Richard Williams]

'You have to figure Nikon has got to create some separation of the Dn00 and Dn product lines by throttling some capabilities on the Dn00 line, to justify the almost 3x price markup of the Dn line.'

 

OTOH, a D70 will give you many more exposures using the same battery as the D200. Obviously there's more data to write (and additional features), but it seems a pity that the D200 seems to have the least 'stamina' in the current lineup. If 350 shots per charge is accurate, a second battery will be mandatory for many photographers.

[ShunCheung]

For any serious photographer, a second battery, and perhaps a third, is mandatory anyway. And it is only like $40 or so?

 

I don't see why a battery only lasts 350 shots would make the camera unsuitable for wedding work. Unless you use 8G CF cards, you would be changing memory cards in fewer than 300 RAW images anyway. There has to be some down time in 300 shots to give you a chance to change memory cards and batteries, if you don't use the optional grip.

 

The D2's EN-EL4 is much larger and more than twice as expensive. So you pay one way or another.

[leicaglow]

While I use an MB-200 that holds 2 batteries, under fairly continuous shooting, and constant review of the images on the LCD, I get about 500-600 images out of one broken in battery, and about 400-500 out of the newer one. I'm suspecting that one is not as good as the other, but battery life is either getting longer for me, or I'm finding more ways to save energy. These numbers are without flash (that's a whole other ballgame), or focus assist.

 

If I shoot a couple hundred images and let the camera sit for a week or two, then there is a lot of drain, and I might only get 700-800 images total. Also, I tend to shoot the batteries down to near exhaustion before charging. By comparison, my D50 gets around 1500 shots on one battery.

[Richard Williams]

I've never actually had to change a D70 battery in the field, but carry a spare anyway. For the EN-EL3e (and the earlier EN-EL3 variants) Nikon dealers in the UK seem to use the 'change the dollar sign to a pound sign and add a bit for luck' conversion rate - the average price from mainstream dealers over here is around 50 GBP ($87.50 USD!). And of course the new battery technology has now locked out 3rd party manufacturers. Fortunately, I already have an EN-EL3e under the 'exploding EN-EL3' replacement program, so if I ever get a D200 I'll be all set!

 

I'm curious as to why the power drain seems so much higher on the D200 than on the lower end bodies. Is writing the extra data the culprit, or is it perhaps the more powerful AF motor?

[chris_leck]

It is my perception that the D200 depeletes the batteries faster, possibly twice as fast as the D100. I haven't done any kind of controlled comparison testing, though. I often left my D100 turned on continuously, the batteries went forever. The D200 seems to eat the batteries even at idle, and I've learned to turn it off when not in use.

 

Even with the D100's phenominal battery life, I almost always carried one or two fresh spares. I already have two spares for the D200 and may get more for certain jobs. It's cheap insurance. For all that the D200 does, and does so well, I am willing to feed it.