How many shots can i expect from a full battery.

lexman59

Senior Member
Hi everybody

I know its a bit like how long is a piece of string but i'm off to an air show tomorrow and have only one battery so I've decided to shoot in jpeg as opposed to raw, also turned of all unnecessary features like image review and lcd display illumination. So its jpeg large and fine image quality, any ideas as to how many shots i could expect to get? I would hate to have my battery die before i see the mighty Avro Vulcan and it might be easier to limit my shooting if i got an idea of the battery life. Any tips greatly appreciated.

Chris :confused:
 

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
I don't know about 950 shots on a single charge, but I've done numerous day-long shoots taking hundreds of RAW photos (with backup copies being written to the second card) and not had to worry about changing batteries. Ever. Using the rear LCD a lot (Live View, Video) and/or shooting long exposure shots will kill a battery pretty quick in my experience.
....
 

MartinCornwall

Senior Member
I've just recharged my D7100 battery and the stats were 33% left 953 shots taken. The most I have got was 3500. Try not to chimp to much as the lcd use is the biggest drain on the battery.
 

lexman59

Senior Member
I don't know about 950 shots on a single charge, but I've done numerous day-long shoots taking hundreds of RAW photos (with backup copies being written to the second card) and not had to worry about changing batteries. Ever. Using the rear LCD a lot (Live View, Video) and/or shooting long exposure shots will kill a battery pretty quick in my experience.
....
I would normally shoot raw but i thought this would be a heavy drain on the battery compared to jpeg.

MartinCornwall says try not to chimp to much, sorry but you lost me on that one lol.
 
Last edited:

WayneF

Senior Member
I would normally shoot raw but i thought this would be a heavy drain on the battery compared to jpeg.

I don't know.. Raw is a larger file to write, but my first thought was that raw does not have to do the camera processing (white balance and vivid and such), and it does not have to compute gamma or JPG compression. That would seem to save a lot of work, on every one of millions of pixels. Except that raw embeds a large JPG too. :)


MartinCornwall says try not to chimp to much, sorry but you lost me on that one lol.

Imagine monkeys watching the image on the LCD. :) It means don't use the LCD much.
 
Last edited:

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
I would normally shoot raw but i thought this would be a heavy drain on the battery compared to jpeg.
Well, do as you please but as Wayne points out RAW files, though larger in size, are actually less work for the camera than JPG's because RAW is the camera's native format and they require no in-camera processing. JPG's, on the other hand, require a great deal of in-camera processing. Writing files to the card is a simple transfer of data and draws very little power.

So again, taking shots is not going to be the biggest drain on your battery, regardless of format; the rear LCD is your big battery killer.
....
 

lexman59

Senior Member
Thank you all for your input, raw it shall be then, and apart from checking my histogram now and then for exposure I'll try leaving lcd screen off.
 

lexman59

Senior Member
Well i done the air show taking 836 shots in raw and the battery is still on 78%, so glad i didn't go out and spend £60 on a spare battery. Unfortunately the Vulcan didn't arrive as she developed a fuel leak and had to return home, i had driven for three hours and sat in that airfield from 10.30 till 16.30 just for the Vulcan and to say i was gutted doesn't come anywhere near how i felt. Never mind got lots of great shots of Spifires, Mustang and B17 among lots of others so can't be too disappointed.:D
 

Steve Bell

Senior Member
Good to hear your battery lasted. I lasted the day earlier this year at the RIAT at RAF Fairford on one battery, and it still had life in it at the end of the day. I shot a lot within the cockpits of static aircraft, often using live view, chimped culling obvious failures, and also the flying aircraft. My only regret was not having a longer lens than the 70-300. Night shooting, as the shutter is continuously held open, eats up battery life. Soon after buying my D7100 I also bought 3 non Nikon batteries from 7 Day Shop, they have been very good. It's always wise to carry a spare battery, and populate both card slots 'just in case'.
 
Hi everybody

I know its a bit like how long is a piece of string but i'm off to an air show tomorrow and have only one battery so I've decided to shoot in jpeg as opposed to raw, also turned of all unnecessary features like image review and lcd display illumination. So its jpeg large and fine image quality, any ideas as to how many shots i could expect to get? I would hate to have my battery die before i see the mighty Avro Vulcan and it might be easier to limit my shooting if i got an idea of the battery life. Any tips greatly appreciated.

Chris :confused:

You can shoot both raw and jpeg and have the lcd preview screen on for a couple seconds on each shot, and shoot all day long no problem. Just charge it up before you go to the airshow. You'll be fine. :)

You'll probably have a ton of battery left when you get home!
 

skater

New member
I've never run out of battery on a single day of shooting with my D7000. I wouldn't even worry about only having one battery with me, unless that battery was already showing signs of trouble (one of mine will only charge to 70%, after 4 years of usage, so that's getting replaced soon).

You should get a second battery though - batteries can fail, grow feet, get forgotten, etc.
 

BackdoorArts

Senior Member
As has been said, "It all depends". I had my D7100 on a tripod for 2 days shooting continuous shots of a bird box on a remote as babies fledged and I go about 1400 shots on a full charge and still had over 25% of the battery left. RAW images to a single card, no LCD preview afterwards and only occasional chimping to check light and focus every couple hours. This was likely a minimal power drag as there was no autofocus, no VR, no incamera processing other than to create the image and stick it on the card (I did have Auto ISO enabled in Manual mode, so it had to meter and think a little). I suspect I could have easily gotten close to 2000 images that way and still had juice to spare.

With all that said, never go out without an extra battery, never come in without checking it and sticking it on the charger if you wouldn't go out with it in that condition next time.

Sure beats my Sony a6000 which I've finally learned how to deal with so I get more than 200-300 shots. Did you know that if you have it set so the viewfinder activates when your eye gets close that function continues to be active when you turn the camera off?! No wonder I would set it down next to something at 80% and pick it up the next day at 40%.
 

DonnieZ

Senior Member
Has anyone used aftermarket batteries with the D7100?

I don't like the idea of having only one. I don't think I ever ran out of battery on my D40, but the kit I bought came with 2 Nikon batteries so I always felt "safe" venturing out. However, the EN-EL 15 is like $55-70. Amazon has some aftermarket batteries in the $20 range with hit or miss reviews. Any experience here with the aftermarket batteries?
 
Has anyone used aftermarket batteries with the D7100?

I don't like the idea of having only one. I don't think I ever ran out of battery on my D40, but the kit I bought came with 2 Nikon batteries so I always felt "safe" venturing out. However, the EN-EL 15 is like $55-70. Amazon has some aftermarket batteries in the $20 range with hit or miss reviews. Any experience here with the aftermarket batteries?

I've used the Wasabi's. They seem to be just as good as the manufacturer brands. I use them for my camcorder. Haven't tried them for my D7100, but when the time comes to buy a new battery, I will be getting a Wasabi for it. They have a great warranty. I think mine has Panasonic cells inside.
 

WayneF

Senior Member
Amazon has some aftermarket batteries in the $20 range with hit or miss reviews. Any experience here with the aftermarket batteries?

Yes, some of them have very few reviews with questionable results.

But others have hundreds of very favorable reviews. Go that way. :)

I like Wasabi too.
 

aroy

Senior Member
My experience is that RAW files consume the least battery, followed by jpeg. VR consumes a lot. I get twice as many shots with my 35mm F1.8DX which has no VR compared to the kit 18-55 which is VR-II. Even the onboard flash consumes less power than the VR.
 

bigal1000

Senior Member
Watson batteries seem to get good reviews, if i were to use a 3rd party battery I would only use it as a backup. Try explaining to Nikon how a 3rd party battery ruined your in warranty camera body ??
 
Top