D500 Battery Drain with 3rd Party Lenses

I have another thread out there regarding an issue I'm having with my D500 when using the Sigma 150-600mm Sport lens where the image review screen will not turn off and all active camera functions stay on. It's not a problem I can reproduce at will, but it will happen at some point every time I shoot. Until yesterday it never happened with another lens, but when I put a Kenko 2x TC on my Nikon 70-200mm f4 it happened the first shot out, but like the Sigma was an intermittent issue.

I bring that up because after shooting about 150 frames I put the camera down as is (with the TC connected) and went about my business for the night. The camera was in the ON position, but nothing was displaying.

This morning the battery is dead.

I'd mentioned in the 150-600 thread that I'd noticed undue battery drain overnight with the lens attached, but that would be, maybe, a 20-30% drop. I stuck a fresh battery in before shooting yesterday, fired 150 frames in 2 hours, set it down, and now it's unusable.

I'm going to play with this some more, but I'm desperate to find out if anyone else has seen this with any 3rd party lenses/optical attachments? I'm using the current Li-ion20 battery, so it's not that. I expect no help from Nikon since they seem to refuse to acknowledge the idea that their bodies should function properly with 3rd party lenses, but I will be contacting them anyway.

Have you tried the same scenario using only a Nikon lens while shooting then leaving the camera turned on overnight? Doing a quick online search, this article says some people are experiencing battery drainage more than others and that it doesn't affect all D500's. It doesn't mention anything about 3rd party lenses but suggests the battery drainage is an internal problem with the camera.

With a fully charged Nikon EN-EL15 battery in my D500 after 5 shots it showed having a 64% charge level remaining. The problem may be in the reading of the charge level being inaccurate or there may be something internal to the camera that is draining the battery. With a similar problem with the D300 a firmware update fixed it.

I have had my D500 for two days, and have not shot a lot of images, yet, because I have been studying the menus and manual, and learning the differences and enhancements over my D300, but even so, I have been surprised at how quickly the battery meter showed less than 50% remaining.

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I must assure you again that the problem is limited to few cameras and not all Nikon D500 is affected by the issue. Several photographers are also saying that everything s working fine after the purchase of the camera and they haven’t noticed any issue.

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Nikon D500 and Battery Problem « NEW CAMERA

One more thought...I remember you mentioned Nikon is swapping out older EN-EL15 batteries for newer ones that are more compatible with the D500. I wonder if there is something inside the new batteries that can detect non-Nikon firmware in the 3rd party lenses. Too bad you don't have one of the older EN-EL15 batteries to replicate the same scenario to see if the drainage occurrs at the same rate. I know the older EN-EL15 batteries already have their own problems with drainage when paired with the D500 so it wouldn't be an accurate test overall, but it does make me wonder if Nikon is forcing its customers to use that specific new battery because of something different they've put inside them.

The reason I know it's an issue is that I've experienced completely normal behavior otherwise. With a Nikon lens, or any other Sigma lens for that matter, it behaves normally and does not drain the battery any more than expected (which is more than any other body, which is confusing people on other sites as I attempt to document if others are experiencing this). I'm well aware of the known issues with the D500 and batteries and this is not that.

Stated plainly, there is something about my D500 and how it acts that will prevent any power off timers from being reset. In other words, things that should power down do not. When that happens, the battery drains quickly. The battery drain is not a symptom, it is the result of the disease.

This has presented itself in 3 ways.

1. Most frequently it presents itself as an Image Review that will never time out. Until another button is pressed the reviewed image stays on the screen. It doesn't freeze - I can zoom in and out, move around and chimp all I want - but if I just put the camera down instead of hitting the shutter button or something else to turn the image off it will stay on until the battery goes dead.

2. The Menu will not time out. If I go into the menu to check or change something and do not press the Menu button (or any other button) to turn it off the menu will stay on until the battery goes dead. I actually have a 10 minute video of this I shot this morning of the Battery screen as we watch it tick from 95% down to 88% as I verbally explain my problem to Nikon (I'll be uploading this for them later today).

3. No visible symptom at all, but the battery just drains. This happened last night. It may have simply been the meter remaining active all night long (when this happens all functions that operate when you'd be actively using the camera will also be on), but when I was done using the camera last night it had more than 3/4 of battery life left.

My assumption is it's limited to 3rd party lenses/attachments, with some relationship to OS/VR since it is only when a lens with that function turned on is attached that this happens. What I need to get to the bottom of is why am I the only person this is happening to? I've got threads like this going on 4 forums including this one and no one has had this happen even once. It happens to me every time I use the camera under these circumstances - just not all the time I'm using it. My biggest problem is being unable predictively show it happen. It's random. Frequent, but random. And never when I try to make it happen.

I'm going to shoot video of me shooting birds in hope that I can document it in real time.

BackdoorHippie said:

My assumption is it's limited to 3rd party lenses/attachments, with some relationship to OS/VR since it is only when a lens with that function turned on is attached that this happens.

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Will keep in mind the OS/VR comment in case I come across any info.

hark said:

Will keep in mind the OS/VR comment in case I come across any info.

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The reason I believe it's related to that is more conjecture than anything else, but it falls in line with other timeout issues as outlined in this blog on Thom Hogan's site. Unlike that one, this is not something that always happens.

Dang man i hope you get it sorted out, and I hope Nikon takes care of you!

hark said:

One more thought...I remember you mentioned Nikon is swapping out older EN-EL15 batteries for newer ones that are more compatible with the D500. I wonder if there is something inside the new batteries that can detect non-Nikon firmware in the 3rd party lenses. Too bad you don't have one of the older EN-EL15 batteries to replicate the same scenario to see if the drainage occurrs at the same rate. I know the older EN-EL15 batteries already have their own problems with drainage when paired with the D500 so it wouldn't be an accurate test overall, but it does make me wonder if Nikon is forcing its customers to use that specific new battery because of something different they've put inside them.

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Airplane mode is your friend.

salukfan111 said:

Airplane mode is your friend.

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If you think it's taken me this long to figure that out you don't know me. I don't post problems or ask questions like this until I research the hell out of them. Airplane mode was on day 2.

Nikon isn't the only company where using the original brand tends to be more compatible. This reminds me of a problem I had with my iPhone. For some reason, the Voice Over feature would turn itself on, and it is a real pain to shut off. It involves necessitating fast double clicks before being able to turn it off. This happened numerous times...sometimes just pressing the Home button for a split second longer than usual would turn it on. One day while trying to turn it off, my password changed. Every time I tried to input my password, it would tell me the password was wrong even though I knew it was correct. The phone is then programmed to time out for 10 minutes every time a wrong password is used during the Voice Over feature.

Apple had me connect it to iTunes in my computer using a cable. No matter how many times the guy talked me though resetting the phone, it failed. He finally asked me if I had a different cord. Up to that point, I was using an Amazon Basics cord. Once I switched to the original cord, the phone was able to reset.

Anyway...since you found the battery drains faster when the OS/VR is left on, then my biggest concern would be to wonder if the battery is keeping the OS engaged so very slightly possibly wearing out the OS/VR in the lens over time? It's definitely an annoying problem and one I hope can be resolved by Sigma as I highly doubt Nikon will give you any helpful information. If anyone can find out the reason, it will be you, Jake.

I have experienced battery draining with VR lenses. Though I have a D3300, the battery lasts 350 shots instead of 700 with the kit lens, with non VR 35mm F1.8 DX, I get upwards of 850 shots. With larger lens the drain is more - Tamron 70-300 drains the battery faster - more power to focus and VR circuits. I think that when the camera is on, the VR of third party lenses remains on and that consumes power.

Just to check if that is so, switch the VR off when done for the day, and see if the battery drains as fast overnight.

hark said:

Nikon isn't the only company where using the original brand tends to be more compatible. This reminds me of a problem I had with my iPhone. For some reason, the Voice Over feature would turn itself on, and it is a real pain to shut off. It involves necessitating fast double clicks before being able to turn it off. This happened numerous times...sometimes just pressing the Home button for a split second longer than usual would turn it on. One day while trying to turn it off, my password changed. Every time I tried to input my password, it would tell me the password was wrong even though I knew it was correct. The phone is then programmed to time out for 10 minutes every time a wrong password is used during the Voice Over feature.

Apple had me connect it to iTunes in my computer using a cable. No matter how many times the guy talked me though resetting the phone, it failed. He finally asked me if I had a different cord. Up to that point, I was using an Amazon Basics cord. Once I switched to the original cord, the phone was able to reset.

Anyway...since you found the battery drains faster when the OS/VR is left on, then my biggest concern would be to wonder if the battery is keeping the OS engaged so very slightly possibly wearing out the OS/VR in the lens over time? It's definitely an annoying problem and one I hope can be resolved by Sigma as I highly doubt Nikon will give you any helpful information. If anyone can find out the reason, it will be you, Jake.

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+1 Leave the VR off and eliminate that issue. I'm sure the 3rd parties to go great lengths to prevent Canon and Nikon from learning their tech and that is probably the root of your problem. It is not really Nikon's responsibility to spend a fortune "reverse engineering" third party lens to learn how to make them work best on newer cameras. Now that the D500 is out, it is the 3rd party's responsibility to backfit.

Folks, you're not reading this with comprehension. This is not about VR draining the battery - it's about third party lenses that happen to have VR drain the D500 battery when it's not in use.

Anything that pulls on the battery will drain it.

This is about an abnormality when using 3rd party lenses where without symptom or warning the battery will drain as if the camera is in use when it is simply sitting idle.

My question is not how to fix it or mitigate battery drain, it is "Has anyone else experienced this type of anomaly?!", because so far in my querying of D500 owners I have been unable to find anyone who has experienced the issues I am having with my personal copy.

There's a significant difference between a community of users experiencing an issue with a third party product (or products) and one and only one individual experiencing it. I fully expect that any of the well documented cases of times going an extra minute or Live View focusing not working will be met with utter contempt from Nikon, and thankfully Sigma is addressing these as much as they can, and I suspect other manufacturers will as well. But if it's a one and only one condition then it points to a defect in my copy, in which case I would look for Nikon to resolve or replace it.

My apology if anything I wrote was taken the wrong way as I understood what you said. Since Nikon changed their EN-EL15 battery, I'm wondering if the cause is the battery. Have you mounted the lens on your D750 while using the new battery to see if the same thing happens? That would narrow down whether it is the body or the battery.

If you want to track this down systematically, then turn off the VR on your third party lens to see if that makes a difference. If it does make a difference, then find another copy of that same lens and try that out. I recall threads on massive issues with lower tier third party lens not working well with D500 so it's best to work thru that on your own. If you come to a conclusion then use your gear on another person's d500 to see if the problem is linked to your camera. If you have a unique issue you might have a leg to stand on. Remember Nikon does not have the design of all these third party lens at their disposal. It is the third party's responsibility since they sold it to you.

salukfan111 said:

If you want to track this down systematically, then turn off the VR on your third party lens to see if that makes a difference. If it does make a difference, then find another copy of that same lens and try that out. I recall threads on massive issues with lower tier third party lens not working well with D500 so it's best to work thru that on your own. If you come to a conclusion then use your gear on another person's d500 to see if the problem is linked to your camera. If you have a unique issue you might have a leg to stand on. Remember Nikon does not have the design of all these third party lens at their disposal. It is the third party's responsibility since they sold it to you.

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Did it ever occur to you that tracking down "another copy" of either of these (a $2000 body, a $2000 lens) might not be the easiest of things to do, and that maybe, just maybe, that's what this thread is about - tracking down other copies in other hands? This is not about fixing a problem, it's researching it. I thought I was pretty clear about that - both times.

If I stumble across anyone else with the same issue I will pass it on to you via this thead. Sorry to hear you are having an issue. Especially when you are going to get the "this is the first call we had on that issue" from Nikon. Got that T-Shirt from other tech support groups.

I know most know of this already
Second Week D500 Problem Assessment | DSLRBodies | Thom Hogan
da
man thats a big ass list
Batteries that Don’t Work | DSLRBodies | Thom Hogan

im certain it wasnt done by mistake by nikon. they made a new battery with newer chip and left the others in the dust, even their own older ones.

rocketman122 said:

I know most know of this already
Second Week D500 Problem Assessment | DSLRBodies | Thom Hogan
da
man thats a big ass list
Batteries that Don’t Work | DSLRBodies | Thom Hogan

im certain it wasnt done by mistake by nikon. they made a new battery with newer chip and left the others in the dust, even their own older ones.

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Your first link mentions leaving bluetooth on. I wonder if bluetooth is on by default? Although if that was the problem, it would be happening with all lenses not just 3rd party. (just thinking out loud)

Going to sort of put a cap on this for now (this post also serves to close out the issue raised in this thread), at least from an investigative standpoint.

While out shooting with my D500 and Nikkor 70-200mm f4 yesterday afternoon (no 3rd party anything) I experienced 3 separate instances of the image review failing to time out. VR on the lens was turned off, so it cannot be linked to the activation of the VR. Thankfully I did not have the time to call and argue with Nikon yesterday, so now I can call and explain that it has happened with both 3rd party and Nikon equipment and that I would like something done since it seems to be an anomaly with my copy. Hopefully I have time to do it today. I'll report back.