D200 battery life

I have been using the D200 rather sporadically topside whilst awaiting the housing financing and weather to improve. Which luckily, both have! I don't seem to be getting very good battery life out of either of my two batteries, and the batteries drain whilst in the camera. Is this normal? 80 RAW photos, AF-S, no flash, a bit of reviewing, VR lens (which I hear sucks energy). What can I expect underwater in terms of performace without VR lenses? I am wondering if I can possibly have two dud batteries, which seems unlikely. The batteries have each been charged a few times only.

I'm going to be pretty frustrated if I can only get 80 -100 shots per battery charge, and probably less in cold water conditions.

Any feedback would be appreciated.

Cheers,

Marli

That doesn't sound right to me. I haven't used a VR lens but I usually shoot 150 to 200 RAW images with lots of reviewing underwater between charges. And I only recharge then to make sure I'll have enough battery life for whatever pops up. I would imagine I could get another 50 shots easily if i ran it until the battery died.

My D200 also loses battery power over time, but I think it has more to do with the nature of rechargable batteries than the camera using power from them. I let a fully charged battery sit for a month or two and only lost one bar on the battery meter.

Maybe not bad batteries but a camera problem?

Rick

That doesn't sound right to me either Marli. I change all of my batteries (camera & strobes) after every 2 dives. I know that I have shot over 200 RAW in 2 dives and my battery meter shows ~80% (non - VR lenses).

Dave

You should be getting at least 300 shots minimum. I shoot with a 4GB card that gives me roughly 240 compressed RAW images and my batteries have never failed during a day of shooting. I don't know exactly how many shots I get because I change batteries when I change my 4 GB card.

It sounds like you have a camera problem since both your batteries experience the same issue.

I don´t own a D200, but my buddy does and we did 3 dives on saturday, aprox. 200 RAWS with 105 VR and battery power last to review on land for a while.....

Thanks, everyone. It's good to know a baseline so that can approach Nikon.

Cheers,

Marli

Marli,

I just did a six week trip with two batteries for my D200 and was able to only change out the battery daily....up to 4 dives a day with an 8GB card....I typically download the card every second dive but only change the camera battery once a day.

Thanks, everyone. It's good to know a baseline so that can approach Nikon.

Cheers,

Marli

there is a way to "check" the battery in the d200 menu. it will give you a scale of 0-4, 0=replace i believe. its just one way to see if its a battery or a body problem.

Hi Marli,

Just adding to the chorus... I did a landscape shoot a couple of nights ago, in 25 degrees F ambient. I was able to get 120 exposures, many of them long exposure times, before it got too dark. In the process my d200 battery went from full to 3/4 full. While the battery doesn't last as long as in the D70, you definitely should be getting more exposures than you describe.

there is a way to "check" the battery in the d200 menu. it will give you a scale of 0-4, 0=replace i believe. its just one way to see if its a battery or a body problem.

I already checked this feature, and it rates the batteries as "new". I'm going to wait a few cycles of recharging before going to Nikon, as of course they'll have my camera for weeks, as apparently the batteries supposedly do improve with age (like we ladies )

Thanks, everyone!

Marli

I don't find VR drains that much power. I've shot entire days of whales topside with an 80-400VR, filling a 2GB card with about 250 fine jpegs. Lots of reviewing & deleting whenever the whales were diving. The battery would get low by the end of the day. I do find the battery power to be a little weak, but nothing like you describe. Hope you figure it out. Cheers,

Chris

I have had my D200 for 11 months now. On the D200 its important to realise that with the proprietary info lithium ion battery the cameras battery indicator is actually reading the actual amount remaining in the battery. In other words if you have 120 raw images and the battery indicator is one half then you have another 120 images worth of power. I was surprised to realise that even though that is one of the advertised features of the D200. When shooting AA nickle metal hydrides or alkalines using the vertical grip on the D200 or shooting with my Fugi S2 camera once the battery indicator starts to show anything less than a full charge the batteries are nearly dead and its time to change them. I don't belive the D2X battery has that feature though the D2X battery has a very high charge density and last longer with its CMOS sensor. The only other bit of advise is to buy the Nikon brand batteries rather than after market. After the D200 came out I was glad I stayed with Nikon. Good luck.

Marli;

I get around 350 or more RAW shots and lots of reviewing on my D80 which I think uses a similar battery and system.

I think I would try to cycle the battery; discharge completely and recharge a couple of times and see if the life improves.

Jack

i just bought a second battery for my d200 and the first charge did not last too long. While it is not a scientific test, it does seem more like I am used to now that I have used it and charged it a few times. I would also suggest it is more about the amount of time the camera is operating rather than the number of shots; every function will drain some power, and VR adds to the drain, by how much I don't know. Shooting and writing RAWS will take longer than just jpegs, so make sure when comparing others experiences you compare apples with apples.

another thing about the d200, there is a setting in the menu that you can adjust WHAT is the power source (battery/grip/alkalines)..this might be one problem.