Brand new Nikon D610 battery life much MUCH lower than expected....

[hark]

*IF* by chance you have to make a return to B&H, my suggestion is to return the ENTIRE package. When I had oil spot problems with my D600, I opted to only exchange the camera body and held onto the freebies. When I received the replacement camera body, my receipt now listed the cost of the camera for over $100 less than I paid even though the other items were supposedly FREE. Then when Nikon decided to issue me a refund for the camera, they only reimbursed me for the cost shown on the receipt. Just keep it in mind!

First things first...let's hope you get your problem figured out quickly!

 

[Mister Bumbles]

Starting to think the problem may be with my charger. I knew that James' new camera was arriving today, so I charged up my spare battery so that upon opening his D7000 he'd be able to turn it on and tinker with it instead of waiting the 2 to 3 hours for the battery to charge. I used the brand new Watson EN-EL15 battery that was part of the promotion by B&H Photo. Gave it a full charge, then waited for James to open his camera and put the battery in.

The battery only shows about a 78 percent charge... after he turned it off and left it for a few minutes and switched it back on, the battery now shows a 100 percent charge. It's kind of like how my D610 was hopping around from 98 to 97 to 99. Except.. more-so. Unsure what to think at this point. He's got his new Nikon battery in his charger and then we'll see how that goes. But I'm definitely starting to wonder about my charger.

Side-note... I love my D610.

Wacky self portrait....


A random church that I drove by that was hi-lighted ever so nicely by the sun and some dark clouds.

 

[hark]

Did you have time to charge your original battery in James' charger? Just wondering if that will make a difference in its performance.

 

[Mister Bumbles]

Did you have time to charge your original battery in James' charger? Just wondering if that will make a difference in its performance.

Good morning @hark.. we charged James' new Nikon battery with his new Nikon charger. Gave it the night on the charger. Popped it in his camera this morning, it says 98 percent, just like mine. Why is it that the Watson is the only one that says 100 (albeit, after showing 78 percent the first time it was switched on)?

Also, just noticed that you asked if we charged *MY* battery in his charger. No, that we did not. His was still in it when we went to sleep. I'm letting my Nikon battery sit on my desk for a bit to see if it discharges randomly. My battery managed to lose 3 percent of it's charge in the last 8 hours in a camera that was turned off. Not sure if that's the camera's fault, or the battery's fault. Kind of a frustrating experience after shelling out $2400.

My next experiment... I'm placing the fully charged Watson battery into the D610 body and will let it sit for a while and see if it loses any life. At time of insertion, it still shows a 100 percent charged. If it does lose charge, something is up with my camera. If it doesn't, it indicates that the Nikon battery is bad.

 

[Mister Bumbles]

Currently running a battery 'test' on my camera. Got my camera set up with interval shots, one photo every 30 seconds, 1/100th, Nikor 50mm w/1.8 (no VR), no image preview, RAW. So far it's taken 203 photos with 50 percent of battery life left. (this is on the Watson battery that was at 100 percent charge before I started. I had only taken 27 photos this morning and the camera had already lost 10 percent battery life before I decided to run this test. That's not really 'great' battery performance. Still unsure if this is a camera, battery, or charger issue.

We will see how far it gets before the battery decides that it's had enough. And, I'm going to call B&H Photo to chat with them too. I was going to buy the extended Drop & Spill warranty for the camera, but if I have to send the camera back, not sure buying the warranty right now is a great idea. I still have another 2 weeks to buy the warranty.

 

[Marcel]

I think you are over rating the accuracy of the battery readings. I'm not sure these numbers are absolutely real. I think they are just approximation of how much power is left. The only way to really check how many shots your battery will take is to take pictures and run it down.

I wonder why this seems so important to you... I never ran out of a battery while shooting in a day. If you want to be on the safe side, carry an extra battery with you. Otherwise, I think you're just trying to be a little to fussy about it. If you spend your time looking at how much power is left in the battery, you might miss a great shot...

 

[Mister Bumbles]

I think you are over rating the accuracy of the battery readings. I'm not sure these numbers are absolutely real. I think they are just approximation of how much power is left. The only way to really check how many shots your battery will take is to take pictures and run it down.

I wonder why this seems so important to you... I never ran out of a battery while shooting in a day. If you want to be on the safe side, carry an extra battery with you. Otherwise, I think you're just trying to be a little to fussy about it. If you spend your time looking at how much power is left in the battery, you might miss a great shot...

I do realize that the 900-shot battery life claimed by Nikon could be over estimating it. BUT, most people that I know that use a D610 get 800-900+ shots from each battery charge.

My problem was that my camera lost battery life just sitting in the bag while TURNED OFF, overnight. 3 percent of my battery went *PFFT* into the ether while nothing was running. That shouldn't happen. I had used my camera for a few days after I got it, and only managed to get 225 shots on a complete charge. 225 shots is nowhere near a good number. *THAT* is why I'm concerned and running the tests suggested by Nikon and B&H.

I have spare batteries that I can carry, sure. But if I'm only going to get 225(ish) shots from these batteries that should get WAY more, then I'd have to carry a pocket load of batteries every where I went, and that doesn't work for me. It's obvious that something is wrong in either the charger, the batteries, or the camera. But, because I'm using 1 Nikon battery, and one Watson battery and BOTH are discharging rapidly, it's looking like the camera itself is discharging the batteries for no reason.

I just spent $2400 on new gear, so I'm *going* to be a LITTLE picky at first, but only because I KNOW that the equipment *should* be getting better battery longevity than that, and it should not discharge my battery so quickly if everything is turned off.

 

[Marcel]

Ah, now I have to agree with you that 225 shots on a battery is not normal. I wasn't aware that these test were recommended by Nikon and B&H.

Sorry. I hope they fix it for you.

 

[Mister Bumbles]

Ah, now I have to agree with you that 225 shots on a battery is not normal. I wasn't aware that these test were recommended by Nikon and B&H.

Sorry. I hope they fix it for you.

I ended up going out tonight and running a BUNCH of photos. I had hit 1200 shots and the Watson battery still had 13 percent life left. Sooo.. going to give that Nikon battery another charge and see what happens after it's 3rd charge.

 

[Rick M]

Most battery meters are not accurate, more of a rough "indication". Usage/temperature/rate of discharge all play a huge role in battery life. You can sometimes stress a battery quickly, get a low reading and after it rests, get a higher reading. I'll bet Manufactures have a nice slow paced discharge rate to determine battery life. I'd say I got at least 700 shots per charge from my D600/D610. I'd go a month or two between charges.

 

[sonicbuffalo_RIP]

[MENTION=34301]Mister Bumbles[/MENTION] -I think the Watson battery that you got 1200 shots with and still had 10% remaining is a "keeper". It will be interesting to see how the Nikon does on it's next turn.

 

[hark]

I'm still waiting to see how you fare when charging your Nikon battery in James' charger.

 

[Horoscope Fish]

I ended up going out tonight and running a BUNCH of photos. I had hit 1200 shots and the Watson battery still had 13 percent life left.

Sounds about right.

 

[Mister Bumbles]

@Mister Bumbles -I think the Watson battery that you got 1200 shots with and still had 10% remaining is a "keeper". It will be interesting to see how the Nikon does on it's next turn.

I'm still waiting to see how you fare when charging your Nikon battery in James' charger.

The Nikon battery got a charge with James' charger last night, still only showed a 98 percent charge, just like his new battery. So far the Watson batteries show 100 when fully charged and the Nikon ones top at 98. Both the Nikon batteries and camera bodies came from different vendors so I am assuming that's normal for them.

Currently snapping photos with the battery on its new charge. Let's see what happens!

 

[Mister Bumbles]

*siiiigh* After 7 years of using my Not-so-sharp Canon equipment, it just blows my mind how nice this D610 + 24-85 / 50mm 1.8G are. I've been roaming around taking pictures with the 50mm the past couple of days and am REALLY loving it. The Nikon battery is doing better, we'll see how long it lasts over the weekend.

 

[hark]

FWIW I decided to charge my battery and look at its percent. I have 2 Nikon batteries so I'm not completely sure whether this is the original battery that came with my D610 (which I've owned now for about one year) or if this battery is the extra one I bought new about 21 months ago. I've kept both batteries charged, but I tend to keep the original in the camera.

I also checked my latest shutter count: 4022 total shutter actuations on my D610. So after draining my battery using Live View quite a bit today, I fully charged it and popped it into my D610. Drum roll please.........................

I found the menu option for the battery quality, and it is listed as a '1' and 'new' (1 out of 4), and the percent was 100%.