D700: Only 14 shots on full charge!

PMC

Hi Everyone,

Yesterday, I got up and traveled to catch the sunrise and then spend the day shooting the autumn leaves but my battery died after only 14 shots! I was so disappointed. Can someone tell me if this is normal or whether the problem is with the charger, battery, or camera? Am I using Live View too much?

To be more specific, I set the camera on a tripod and took my first shot at 6:09 and the 14th shot at 6:20. I used live view four times for composition. I bracketed three times. I used a 10s self-timer because I don't have a cable release yet.

After the 14th shot my camera died completely so I turned it off and waited a few minutes before turning it back on. Battery info read 2% but then jumped up to 26%.

This morning I took the same set of shots again but the battery was okay. I decided to see how long Live Mode would last for so I turned and left it on. Within 3 minutes, my battery died. After turning off and back on, battery info read 26%.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Paul

ziggy53

There is no singular possibility to what might be wrong. The first thing to recommend is a second battery, which you can use to measure against the first battery. (I use multiple batteries for each of my cameras.) I recommend taking at least twice the battery capacity and twice the memory for any anticipated shoot, more of each when I am away from a charging source.

I also carry a mains circuit testing device. A couple of my chargers will light even on a dead outlet.

One time I hooked the charger up to a switched outlet (without thinking about it.) Of course when the circuit was switched off, to turn off the light, the battery was not being charged. Duh moment.

In your case it does sound like a charger related problem since the battery seems to recover when not in use. I suspect either outlet or charger issues.

It could also be a contact related issue since, I believe, separate contacts are used for charging and camera power.

kithylin

I don't know about DSLR / pro cameras because i don't own one yet, but when i first bought my Canon S3 several years ago, i made a bad mistake and left some cheap batteries in it for a few months, and went to use it again and one of the batteries had leaked out and gotten just a tiny bit of corrosion on the metal part of the battery door/cover, and because of that it would only run about 25-40 shots on the new rechargables i got for it later, and then i cleaned the contacts on the door and it then ran for the expected 400-600 shots on 2300mAh energizer rechargable AA's from then on.

Just thought I'd share my little mistake, perhaps the contacts somewhere might be dirty and it's not making a good electrical connection.

ThatCanonGuy

You say it climbed back up to 26%... I don't own a Nikon but I wouldn't trust any meter fully. Sounds like the battery is at the end of its life to me. You should carry at least 2 anyway... for a day of shooting I wouldn't trust just one battery. Just sounds like a case of an old battery to me. How old is it?

Go Pats!:D

fmrnykr

14 shots
The EN-ELe should give you about 800-1000 shots if it's fully charged. If you're using the Nikon charger, the battery's fully charged when only the green light at the top of the charger is on.

You should be getting more than 14 shots and the fact that the charge level fluctuates could mean dirty contacts on the battery or the camera.

BTW, how old is the battery and the camera?

Hope this helps.

PMC wrote: »

Hi Everyone,

Yesterday, I got up and traveled to catch the sunrise and then spend the day shooting the autumn leaves but my battery died after only 14 shots! I was so disappointed. Can someone tell me if this is normal or whether the problem is with the charger, battery, or camera? Am I using Live View too much?

To be more specific, I set the camera on a tripod and took my first shot at 6:09 and the 14th shot at 6:20. I used live view four times for composition. I bracketed three times. I used a 10s self-timer because I don't have a cable release yet.

After the 14th shot my camera died completely so I turned it off and waited a few minutes before turning it back on. Battery info read 2% but then jumped up to 26%.

This morning I took the same set of shots again but the battery was okay. I decided to see how long Live Mode would last for so I turned and left it on. Within 3 minutes, my battery died. After turning off and back on, battery info read 26%.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Paul

PMC

Thanks for replying guys I really appreciate it.

I bought the camera second-hand but it was in almost new condition, so I don't think the battery is too old.

I upgraded from a D50, and I noticed that the battery charged really quickly but put that down to it being a newer battery. I also noticed that when the charge light stopped blinking to tell me it was charged , if I took the battery out and put it straight back in, it would charge for maybe a minute and then stop again. The camera said it was at 100% charge, though.

So, I persuaded my girlfriend to go with me to the camera shop to help me translate (my Japanese is still crap). Of course, on demand, I couldn't reproduce the problem. The lady in the shop noticed that the three connectors on the battery were really scratched and cut up compared to the other second-hand batteries she had in the shop. The cuts look like they were caused by the connectors inside the camera. She swapped the battery for me to see if it was a battery problem, so we will have to wait and see. Is it even possible for connectors to connect too much?!

@fmrnykr My charger is a little different. It is the one with an orange light at the bottom that flashes when it is charging and stays constant when it is charged. I wonder if it is the wrong charger?

InsuredDisaster

PMC wrote: »

@fmrnykr My charger is a little different. It is the one with an orange light at the bottom that flashes when it is charging and stays constant when it is charged. I wonder if it is the wrong charger?

Thats mine too, but all of my chargers are non-USA models. Maybe its a USA thing?

Matthew Saville

The D700 will have a "lifespan" meter that will tell you, on a scale of 0-4, how close to "the end of it's lifecycle" the battery is. It sounds like your battery is either really old and pretty much dead, ...or simply a lemon. Check the battery status meter and see what the "Charging Life" meter says.

I've had my D200 / D300 batteries (same as the D700) for 3-4 years, and they are STILL at level zero, which is healthy. I get 700-1300 clicks per charge.

Either way, I'm going to guess that it is *not* dirty contacts, since you mentioned that the battery charges really fast. It should take an hour or three to charge, I forget how long but it's definitely a while. If you just bought the camera and this is the first time you've used it, then I'd contact the buyer and let them know they owe you a new battery, even though I'm sure they'll probably never actually send you one. I'd do it just so they know you're not as dumb as they thought you would be.

I'm betting that, unless the contacts inside your camera are messed up too, the new battery will work fine.

The D200 / D300 / D700 battery system DOES have a connection problem that tends to give a false reading and make the camera think it's empty when it's not. This issue can be remedied by putting a little square of that thick clear packing tape, maybe 4-6 layers, on the inside of the battery door so that they don't interfere with the rubber gasket but can push the battery just a fraction of an inch tighter onto the contacts. :-)

Good luck!

=Matt=