Nikon D70 battery life

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital (More info?)

What lens are you using? When my husband has his Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8D
G-AFS ED-IF lens on, his battery life goes down dramatically. I got the
D70s with the new EN-EL3a battery and Nikkor 70-300mm f/4.0-5.6D ED at
the beginning of June. Since then, aside from the initial charge I
think I've charged the battery once, and that was not because it was
drained but just in case it happened to be low. Like you we don't use
the menus or preview all that much and the flash even more rarely. In 2
months of having the setup I have shot over 3,000 images; in one year,
hubby has shot over 10,000. Hubby uses 1Gb Sandisk Extreme cards and I
use 1Gb Lexar cards -- we both shoot NEF exclusively. Another note,
using AF-C focusing mode with larger lenses tends to drain the battery
pretty quickly as well.

If I were you I'd send it in for service. Hubby just sent his D70, 2
lenses and a teleconvertor in for cleaning and service (he was losing
autofocus when using the big lens and teleconvertor). Even though the
camera warrenty was expired by several months, they cleaned everything,
repaired several things in the camera and lenses, charged us $0 and got
everything back to us in about 2 weeks. (And shipped each part back in
separate, very very well padded, boxes.) Can't beat that for service.

On another note, the new batteries (EN-EL3a) also work in the D70. And
they DO have a much longer life than the old type. The only downside in
buying them for your D70 is that you'll also have to get the new
charger.

---
Holly K,
www.tortpro.net

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital (More info?)

On 2005/7/16 12:48 PM, "John Stolz" <china-rider@wanadoo.fr> wrote:

> I keep reading about people who get a thousand or more pics from a single
> D70 charge. I'm considering sending either my camera or the battery back
> under warranty because I never get more than 100-150 pics from a charge.
> I shoot in NEF+JPG, use the menus rarely and preview for a few seconds
> maybe half of the pics. I never use the built-in flash. Is this
> reasonable or should I send it back?
>
> A fresh-from-the-packet set of 3 CR-2 lithiums lasted less than 50 frames.

I get from 750 to 1000 shots from a single recharge of the Nikon EN-EL3
battery so I can confirm the reports of much longer usage than you are
seeing.

What lens do you use? Some of the lenses take more power to zoom and focus,
even more for VR. The 18-70 kit lens gives pretty long battery life.

Do you have the camera set to continuous focus and leave it turned on while
you walk around? That could take more power.

It seems to me that the battery life you are seing is way too short. Contact
Nikon about it.

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital (More info?)

I stand corrected... Thank you for that bit of information!

---
Holly K.
www.tortpro.net

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital (More info?)

>
> On another note, the new batteries (EN-EL3a) also work in the D70. And
> they DO have a much longer life than the old type. The only downside in
> buying them for your D70 is that you'll also have to get the new
> charger.
>
> ---
> Holly K,
> www.tortpro.net
>

I have a D70 and use both EN-EL3 and EN-EL3a batteries. Both batteries can be
charged using the MH-18 charger. See:
http://support.nikontech.com/cgi-bin/nikonusa.cfg/php/e...*&p_li=&p_topview=1

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital (More info?)

"John Stolz" <china-rider@wanadoo.fr> wrote in message
news an.2005.07.16.16.48.43.971732@wanadoo.fr...
>I keep reading about people who get a thousand or more pics from a single
> D70 charge. I'm considering sending either my camera or the battery back
> under warranty because I never get more than 100-150 pics from a charge.
> I shoot in NEF+JPG, use the menus rarely and preview for a few seconds
> maybe half of the pics. I never use the built-in flash. Is this
> reasonable or should I send it back?
>
> A fresh-from-the-packet set of 3 CR-2 lithiums lasted less than 50 frames.
>
> I don't know whether it is related, but on 3 occasions in 8 months of
> ownership I have got the dreaded 'CHR' message whilsts shooting with the
> inevitable loss of all data on the card. Each occasion was with a
> different card (a Kingston 1Gb, Sandisk 1Gb and Sandisk 128Mb).
>
> Any ideas befoire I send it back (they can swap it with the 18-70 bought
> at the same time and being repaired for failure of the autofocus :-(

There are a ton of factors that effect battery life that have nothing to do
with a defect.
's ability to shoot high frame numbers, and it varies greatly from user to
user.
They all revolve around each shooter's style, habits, subject types and
lens/accessories/attachment use or non-use.

Lens size
AF motor type
AF contantly used or not
built-in flash or external unit
Image stabilizer or not
Upload from camera or card reader
etc.

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital (More info?)

John Stolz <china-rider@wanadoo.fr> wrote:
>I keep reading about people who get a thousand or more pics from a single
>D70 charge. I'm considering sending either my camera or the battery back
>under warranty because I never get more than 100-150 pics from a charge.

I gather you're not leaving it attached to a computer via USB
for any appreciable time? That's the only case where I find the
battery runs down quickly on mine.

--
Ken Tough

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital (More info?)

On Sat, 16 Jul 2005 10:47:04 -0700, Hollis wrote:

> What lens are you using? When my husband has his Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8D
> G-AFS ED-IF lens on, his battery life goes down dramatically.
My wife says the same thing about my batteries, must be age I
guess...Ah, I see...;-)

Good point, I use mostly an 80-200 F2.8, but never the AF-C focusing mode


> If I were you I'd send it in for service.
I'd considered this, but I sent an 18-70 lens to Nikon for repair almost
3 weeks ago and I just got a fax back to say it will be another 2 weeks
due to the availability of spare parts (for this exceedingly rare
lens ;-)

> On another note, the new batteries (EN-EL3a) also work in the D70. And
> they DO have a much longer life than the old type.
Worth thinking about.

Thanks for responding - nice website btw

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital (More info?)

On Sat, 16 Jul 2005 14:08:07 -0400, Bob Haar wrote:

> What lens do you use? Some of the lenses take more power to zoom and focus,
> even more for VR. The 18-70 kit lens gives pretty long battery life.
About 50% with an 80-200 F2.8, 25% with an 18-70 kit and the rest between
a sigma 100-300 F4 and a Nik 70-300

>
> Do you have the camera set to continuous focus and leave it turned on while
> you walk around? That could take more power.
Never.
>
> It seems to me that the battery life you are seing is way too short. Contact
> Nikon about it.
I was hoping you wouldn't say that ;-(

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital (More info?)

On Sun, 17 Jul 2005 12:19:40 +0200, Ken Tough wrote:

> I gather you're not leaving it attached to a computer via USB
> for any appreciable time? That's the only case where I find the
> battery runs down quickly on mine.
I never use the usb cable.