FYI - temporary fix for D4/D800 lock-up issue

[Dieter Schaefer]

<blockquote>

<p>"Nikon has received reports of a small number of D4/D800 users who are experiencing 'locking up' issues, where the camera becomes unresponsive until the battery is removed and reinserted," Nikon's statement reads. "Nikon is investigating a permanent solution to this issue and will update users accordingly. To immediately resolve this issue, users can turn off both the 'Highlights' and 'RGB Histogram' display options in the 'Playback Display Options' sub-menu found in the 'Playback' menu. Nikon apologizes for any inconvenience this may have caused users."</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Source: http://www.pdnonline.com/gear/Nikon-Investigating--5632.shtml</p>

[allan_jamieson2]

<p>I noticed this behaviour last night with my D800, it froze several times for no reason then just completely froze and then the battery failed too, after just over 100 images taken on a fresh charge, well the first charge for my spare to be exact, I took a few indoor shots with it through the week. The battery that came with the camera managed around 200 images before it gave up last week. I don't know if there is a connection with the lockups.<br>

Love the camera, hate the battery life that I'm getting. I'm using it on Aperture Priority, manually focusing my images with Live View. I would expect to get some reduction in battery life using Live View a lot, but not this. The images were great though, some macro shots of bluebells at dusk on my Sigma 105mm and a few wider shots of the River Clyde with an old Nikon 24mm f2.8 AIS. The 24mm was surprisingly good, bitingly sharp all the way through. My only complaint was that it was awkward to focus it manually with my Lee filters adapter ring etc on the front of the lens, hard to get a hold of the focusing ring as the lens is so compact.</p>

[robertbanks]

I spent 6 days a couple of weeks ago shooting circa 3000 images per day on my d4, did not get any lockups, and battery

indicator said 75% at the end of each day, so I was pleasantly surprised. It looks like this has something to do with the

playback function? I turn off immediate playback when I'm shooting, but check the occasional image, say every 20-30 or

so...And never use live view.

[allan_jamieson2]

<p>On my camera it doesn't show the image just taken unless you select the playback button to check focus or whatever. But, surely Live View can't be using that much power to flatten the battery so quickly?</p>

[davebryce]

<p>Allan you may also want to check you battery as they had a recall on them.</p>

[allan_jamieson2]

<p>Already checked both batteries, neither one is on the recall list, at least so far...</p>

[ShunCheung]

<p>I always have blinking highlights and RGB histogram on, and I have not run into this siutation after using a D800 for over a month. Not sure what percentage of the cameras are affected.</p>

<p>This is the thread on the EN-EL15 battery recall: <a href="00aJHo"><I>EN-EL15 Rechargeable Li-ion Battery Service Advisory </I></a></p>

[bill_campbell7]

Rob,

One of my D4's lock up when I am shooting on Continous High. The last images that were shot aren't recorded and the

only way to reset is to remove battery briefly. I have contacted NPS but have received no response. I have shot about 15k

images so far and it has locked up about 4-5 times. Not consistent when looks up.. I guess I will shot with the other one

and see if it does the same lock up.

[douglas_coon1]

<p>I have the same thing happen on my D700. It happens rarely and removing and reinserting the battery frees it up, I'm hoping that Nikon's fix will also work on a D700</p>

[allan_jamieson2]

<p>Managed a few hours out with the camera early this morning before work. Very hard frost down in the Clyde Valley, some nice shots with the spring foliage set against the river and white grass. But, once again the camera froze up, took the battery out which didn't immediately help and then it came to life again. Have ordered another spare battery to cover myself, I tried to call Nikon yesterday about the battery life issue, but got fed up waiting on hold and had to settle for sending them an e-mail instead.<br>

Did notice that when the camera was frozen that there was a small rectangular icon with bristles flashing on the lower part of the top LCD display. Hope that there will be a firmware update soon to sort all these issues out, whatever the issues actually are. Still enjoying the camera, amazing detail zooming on with Live View on dandelion seed heads covered with frost.</p>

[rodeo_joe1]

<p>Liveview on the D700 is a battery-killer as well. I notice that the area around the battery compartment gets noticeably warm with extended use of Liveview, and 1 or 2 hundred shots exclusively using LV seems quite reasonable to me. I carry 4 spare batteries for the D700, so it's not really a problem.</p>

<p>I've had a lockup with the D700 on one occasion, when I had a dying Enel-3e. The camera and battery were fine until Liveview was selected, then the camera would blank after about 30 seconds of use and not respond again until the battery was removed. The fault couldn't be duplicated with a different battery. This sounds similar to the D800 problem, and I supect it's a power or voltage issue.<br>

Hope it's resolved before too long, since<em> </em>I plan on getting a D800 in a month or so's time.</p>

[allan_jamieson2]

<p>I got an e-mail reply from Nikon on the battery life issue, not very helpful, just says that their tests give better results than I've managed and if not happy send camera back to them for servicing: <br>

"We are sorry to hear that you have been experiencing some issues with your Nikon equipment. <br /><br />The number of shots that can be taken with fully-charged batteries varies with the condition of the battery, temperature, and how the<br />camera is used. In the case of AA batteries, capacity also varies with make and storage conditions; some batteries can not be used.<br />Sample figures for the camera and optional MB-D12 multi-power battery pack are given below.<br /><br />• CIPA standard 1<br />One EN-EL15 battery (camera): Approximately 900 shots<br />One EN-EL15 battery (MB-D12): Approximately 900 shots<br />One EN-EL18 battery (MB-D12): Approximately 1,400 shots<br />Eight AA alkaline batteries (MB-D12): Approximately 1,000 shots<br /><br />• Nikon standard 2<br />One EN-EL15 battery (camera): Approximately 2,400 shots<br />One EN-EL15 battery (MB-D12): Approximately 2,400 shots<br />One EN-EL18 battery (MB-D12): Approximately 3,800 shots<br />Eight AA alkaline batteries (MB-D12): Approximately 2,400 shots<br /><br />1 Measured at 23 °C/73.4 °F (±2 °C/3.6 °F) with an AF-S NIKKOR 24-120mm f/4G ED VR lens under the following test conditions: lens cycled from infinity to minimum range and one photograph taken at default settings once every 30 s; flash fired once every other shot. Live view not used. <br /><br />2 Measured at 20 °C/68 °F with an AF-S NIKKOR 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II lens under the following test conditions: vibration reduction off, image quality set to JPEG normal, image size set to L (large), shutter speed 1/250 s, shutter-release button pressed halfway for three seconds and focus cycled from infinity to minimum range three times; six shots are then taken in succession and monitor turned on for five seconds and then turned off; cycle repeated once exposure meters have turned off.<br /><br />Above figures are very different from your results, you could try to test the camera with similar settings and check how many pictures you can take. If the number of shots still be around 100 -200 than I suggest you to send the camera to our service centre for testing. At this stage it's very difficult to say what could consume power so quickly and why camera freezes. <br /><br />The following can reduce battery life:<br />• Using the monitor<br />• Keeping the shutter-release button pressed halfway<br />• Repeated autofocus operations<br />• Taking NEF (RAW) or TIFF (RGB) photographs<br />• Slow shutter speeds<br />• Using an optional WT-4 wireless transmitter<br />• Using the optional GP-1 GPS unit<br />• Using VR (vibration reduction) mode with VR lenses<br />To ensure that you get the most from rechargeable Nikon EN-EL15<br />batteries:<br />• Keep the battery contacts clean. Soiled contacts can reduce<br />battery performance.<br />• Use batteries immediately after charging. Batteries will lose their<br />charge if left unused."<br>

I've hardly used the Autofocus at all, most of what I've done has been manually focused and although allegedly springtime here in Scotland, temperatures have been struggling to reach double figures on many days, so testing my camera in and around 20C could be a bit tricky unless I do it indoors. I'll try to use it for a few more weeks and see how it goes, I don't want to be without the camera for the 2 weeks they say it might take to check it out. And I don't think their tests are realistic measures of how people will actually use their cameras in real life.</p>

[ShunCheung]

<p>My estimate is that a fully charged EN-EL15 can probably last about 1000 images on the D800 for the way I use it: pretty much all AF and plenty of chimping. However, the other day I had the GP-1 GPS unit on, and it drained the battery quite quickly. After like 300 images, battery level was down to like 30% left. I usually have extra batteries around so that I tend to switch battery before it gets that low.</p>

<p>I use the same EN-EL15 batteries on the D7000, and it lasts much longer on the D7000.</p>

[allan_jamieson2]

<p>Well, if you look at the Nikon list of things not to do for best battery life, using Raw files, slow shutter speeds and using the screen a lot which you would do with Live View are exactly what I have been doing with it. I don't expect the best battery life doing things this way, just about 2 to 3 times longer than I have been getting, which is still well below their test results as above. I've got 3 batteries now, so am fairly well covered if this performance is typical of what I can expect.<br>

Still enjoying the incredible detail which this camera can give, I've played with the images a little bit in Aperture and Photoshop CS5, trying to work out how best to deal with them. One image turned itself into a 200MB Tiff file when exported from Aperture which my home computer can manage fine but my work computer would not even look at as it is low on RAM.</p>

[ShunCheung]

<blockquote>

<p>Well, if you look at the Nikon list of things not to do for best battery life, using Raw files, slow shutter speeds and using the screen a lot which you would do with Live View are exactly what I have been doing with it.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Allan, I am sure you understand this very well, but just to make it clear to everybody else, Nikon does not suggest that people should avoid shooting RAW or not use the back LCD for live view and video, etc. Using such features will certainly increase battery usage. Therefore, if you tend to use them, bring spare batteries.</p>

<p>Again, my experience with the D800 is that its battery usage is reasonable but definitely noticably higher than the D7000, which uses the same EN-EL15 battery. However, in one recent day I was using GPS and live view a lot, and the battery drained quite quickly. For me, it is rare that one battery cannot last the entire day, but it couldn't that day.</p>