D300 battery life question

[joe_rych]

I am a wedding photographer and am upgrading to a D300 with a grip. Can you please answer the following battery

life questions for me?

 

1) camera battery life with just included battery (rough shots in raw +jpeg)

 

2)Camera battery life with MB-D10 grip in place no battery in camera grip only EN-EL4a in the grip

 

3)Camera battery life with EN-EL3 in the camera and En-EL4a in the grip

 

4)Camera battery life with Dual EN-EL3's (one in camera one in grip)

 

I am trying to figure out if I need to go the enel4 route for the batteries. If you shoot weddings or events could you

kindly reply with whay you generally see as to battery life with the setup you run? With whatever setup you run do

you need to keep spares in your pockets or is the life in the camera already overkill?

 

Thanks,

 

Joe

[elliot1]

Camera battery usage varies greatly depending on the lens you use and monitor usage.

 

I have shot at several events where I got well over 4,000 pictures with the En-El4a and still had plenty of

battery power left. Again, a lot depends on monitor usage. I only have EL3's for backup so I can't help you out

there.

 

In general, I would guess that the EL4a battery will outlast you for a wedding. But you should always have

backups just in case.

[ShunCheung]

Elliot, is there a typo? 4000 pictures at an event seems to be quite excessive. Were those multi-day affairs?

 

Once I shot about 1000 images within a day at a tennis tournament where I was using 9 frames/sec a lot on a D3. I

switched batteries once but I am sure one EN-EL4e can easily give me well over 1000 images.

 

If you shoot weddings with a D300, two EN-EL3e batteries should last you the whole day for the typical several

hundred images. EN-EL3e's are quite inexpensive. You probably want to bring a 3rd or even a 4th one with you.

There are plenty of opportunities during a wedding day to change batteries. For example, I would put in a new battery

and perhaps change memory cards right before the main ceremony begins.

 

EN-EL4e's and the charger are expensive. It is also heavy. One advantage it has over the EN-EL3e on the D300 is

that you can get 8 frame/sec, which is largely unnecessary for weddings. Unless you already have EN-EL4e's from

either a D2 or D3, I'd say stick with EN-EL3e's. The MB-D10 grip is also unnecessary unless you prefer to have a

veritcal grip and veritcal shutter release, which can be very handy.

[elliot1]

No Shun, it is not a typo. They were single day sporting events. I shot with the monitor review off and didn't use it much (no time). At 8fps (shot a lot of sequences), it doesn't take long to rack up a lot of pictures.

 

The El4a battery packs a lot of power but I agree that it is not necessary for wedding photography (but nice to have).

[ShunCheung]

If it is sports, it makes more sense, but it is completely news to me that Elliot shoots a 8 fps sequences for sports.

 

In any case, for weddings and company events, I typically bring the frame rate down to Cl (continuous low) to prevent unintentional multiple exposures. I also view the extra weight from the EN-EL4 as a disadvantage if you need to hold the camera all day long at a wedding. If you camera happens to be a D3, you have no choice. On a D300, I'd go with EN-EL3e's.

[elliot1]

I got luck on this shot below as I was shooting 8fps.

 

I have shot a couple of 2500-3000 shot weddings.<div></div>

[tom_luongo1]

I just tested a D300 for an entire wedding with 8 NiMH AA batteries in the MB-D10 and shot 750 shots for the

entire event without the NiMH cells blinking.

 

I used a name brand NiMHs (Duracell 2650 mAH nominal) that I later tested to be about 2500 mAH which should give

me 66% more shots than the 1500 mAH EN-EL3e.

 

After this one trial, I'm completely happy with the idea of using the NiMH holder and good AA cells. D300 is

designed to use MB-D10 grip first and switches to EN-EL3e in the camera so you're not in danger of suddenly

running out of juice.

 

For weddings, I wouldn't bother at all with the EN-EL4a. But I would want at least one, preferably more,

EN-EL3e's. (In practice, I carry more and still carry the MH-18a charger, just in case)

[tom_luongo1]

Elliot, think how much luckier you'd be at 12fps. Or shooting 30fps with the D90. :-)

[dan_beauvais]

I can also report battery life similar to Elliot. Using a D300 and this combo "3)Camera battery life with EN-EL3 in the camera and En-EL4a in the grip", I shot 2500+ images in a day at a combined airshow and rock concert, and the battery meter only dropped down one bar. During the airshow, monitor review off, but I did chimp several times a day to review exposures and delete clunkers. Probably looked at about 10% of the shots in the field. Some 8 fps bursts. During the concert, I also had monitor review off, but did use Live View for over-the-head shots above the crowd. I chimped about 75% of those.

 

So, spares were unnecessary for the purpose of battery life. However, you still need spares to cover other failures.

[chrisalmerini]

One thing to consider- shoot RAW only. What are you going to do with the JPEG??? My battery goes and goes and still goes. Get rid of the JPEG that is your overkill! Free up some memory.

[daverhaas]

I've used a D300 w/MB 10 En-EL3 in both camera and grip for up to 2000 images in a day... just barely began to drain the BP power, still had a full charged camera battery left.

 

Dave

[studor13]

"One thing to consider- shoot RAW only. What are you going to do with the JPEG??? My battery goes and goes and

still goes. Get rid of the JPEG that is your overkill! Free up some memory."

 

Chris, off topic, but I can tell you that shooting RAW + JPEG (normal small) is not a bad thing. You don't free

up that much space. However, there are a number of advantages:

 

1. Much quicker for previewing in say Bridge

 

2. The JPEGs are so good that you can use many of them, especially for the web

 

3. It gives you a good starting point to aim from with the NEFs

 

4. For testing purposes JPEGs save you a lot of time; eg. If I want to stitch 6 NEF files for a panorama, CS3 on

my PC (1GB RAM)

grinds to a halt. With JPEGs, if the shot is going to work it will look good regardless, and save a heck of a lot

of time.

 

As for answering the OP (1), I have Image Preview ON, and this seem to drain the battery a lot.

[ctirpak]

for the OP

 

1) camera battery life with just included battery (rough shots in raw +jpeg)

 

I shot a wedding (as a guest and friend) in India using my D300 and the standard battery. I used primarily my very very old 35-70 f2.8 and a combo of my SB-400 and SB-800. I started with a fully charged battery and a spare in my pocket, at the end of the night I had over 800 NEF and first battery said that it had 40% remaining. I never even took the spare out of my pocket.

 

I saw similar results at a Tae Kwon Do tournament shooting mostily NEF with frequent bursts of 6 FPS - I think I managed nerly 700 shots before I stopped for the day - and the battery had plenty of life left.

 

My observation is that if you skip looking at the display, you can go for darn near ever with a D300 and 1 battery. That being said, I always leave the house for important and lengthy shoots with a spare b/c you just never know when a battery is going to roll over and head for the grave. I sure wouldn't worry about needing a battery grip and the more expensive batteries though.