Better Battery Life for D200

Hi Folks,

I like most everything about the D200 but the battery life. Does any know of any third party NiMh batteries out there for D200 that can last longer than these little Nikon excuses for a battery?

Best,

TR

Hi,

I too have little love for the battery life and Nikon's claims about longevity. I have used some off brand batterties along with two of Nikon's manufacture. I haven't noticed any real difference. I have been told that it's the display that poses the problem -- something that does little to affect the D2x. Using minimal settings for playback can improve things but not by much . . .

Thanks lol! Let me know if you find something.

So odd when everything else about the camera is so functional.

Best,

TR

I'm not sure why the housing manufacturers didn't make the rigs for use with the accessory battery pack, that would have helped.

Don't forget the cmos sensor in the d2x uses less power than ccd in the d200.

In my experience the biggest drain is playback. turn down the brightness of the screen and only play back when you need to, definitely turn off "image review" in the menu so you are only turning the screen on if you really need to review something.

darren

How much time are you geting here Tim ?

With my D200 I easy manage a 3 dive day with an hour in the water on each dive on one charged pack.

Paul C

I'm surprised they didn't use the same battery as the D2X, I get nearly 2 weeks before I charge it and that's using it everyday!

I have dived with lots of people with the D200 - it is probably the most popular DSLR - and the battery life issues are to do with the battery meter - which starts to go down quite early and worries photographers who think it is nearly out.

Alex

p.s. 2 reasons for not using thre D2X battery. 1, it does not fit. 2, there has to be some justification as to why the D2X costs twice the price of a D200!

i have a second battery in my kit just in case...but i haven't found battery life with this camera to be a problem. Mind you I don't have any VR lenses in my Nikon kit and I'm not obsessed with playback.

Hi Tim,

How old is your battery pack, i believe they have to go through a certain amount of charge/discharge cycles before they are broken in. I cant remember where i read that, on here or some other forum!

Mine do seem to be working better with age though. I have the MB-200 battery pack for on land, it's really useful, and it impresses the ladies too!!

Hi Guys,

Well, it is a brand new D200. But I first noticed this in Grand Cayman in December when I was able to test Aqautica's new housing and big, bright viewfinder (both highly recommended, btw).

The test camera may have been new and I had but 1 battery so I was quit vigilant about its status. I wasn't at first, being used to a 20D which does last days. After some practice, I was able to eek 2 dives out of a battery and I do burn through a lot digis when I dive, so that usually meant filling at least 1 4 gig card in a morning.

I'll implement the suggested austerity measures and pray for more life with extended use of my new and fully charged batteries.

I have made the change back to Nikon again (Judas returns) and I'll keep you posted on my thoughts about that move soon.

Thanks for the replies and suggestions!

Best,

Tim of the Deep

I was always a bit slow, so I've only just bought a D200...

The MB-D200 battery pack is enormous and, I think, the combination is heavier than a D2X: so I'm grateful not to be tempted by a housing that would include it!

I'm waiting for the courage to tell my wife that I need a new housing. Meantime I've discovered that even on compressed RAW + Basic jpeg a 2 Gb card fills up before the battery is drained. I guess the answer is to change the battery when I change the card: I suspect every 2 dives (but I'd change the card every dive shooting uncompressed RAW) when I get the camera into the water.

I'm going to keep 2500mAh AAs in the MB-D200 for surface use (and they can go in my Inons if I get strobe-happy).

Tim

B)