battery is poor is putting it lightly

Wow the battery in this cam is really poor I see I can't even buy 3rd party replacements because of the chip it seems

I have the D3100 and am constantly amazed at how many shots I am able to get per charge. You may have a bad battery or their may be a problem with your camera

What do you find so poor about the battery? Is it the number of shots that it allows or just the fact that the third party batteries are not supported?
Are you using liveview most of the time to shoot? This probably would affect the battery life quite a bit in my humble opinion.

I have not been able to exhaust a battery during use. I have shot as many as 65 photos at a time with the camera "on" all the while (about 3 hours). I do have two batteries, and rotate them in service. I leave the display off, and do not use live view, and do not use the flash as all the photos are in the outdoors.

LiveView sucks batteries like crazy. Learn to use the viewfinder. Also...have you updated your firmware? This may help with your battery depleting too early on you. It's been known to happen.

fimware is 1.01 looks like the latest to me.

will see how it goes after a few more charges.

will buy another battery with the Nikon cashback card when it arrives as well.

does shooting in RAW effect battery life?

I have a D3100, I don't use on camera flash, shoot in RAW and only use the screen to chimp (check my shots after capture) and have never had a battery run out in a days shooting (100 or so images).
I'm guessing you're either a heavy user of Live View or have a defective battery, as previously mentioned.

Also it's worth bearing in mind that batteries require "Conditioning" for the first few cycles - If you camera is new (Or you have bought a new battery for an exisiting camera) it will take half a dozen charge / discharge cycles for the bettery to get up to speed.
I've had my camera for a month, and it lasts fine - On a weekend out and about I may take maybe 150 shots, and during the week I fiddle about and try out different settings in the front room, and I have only charged the camera twice in that month.... Overall I'd say easily 350-400 shots.
I don't use Live View for shots, but have taken maybe 5-6 minutes of video (Which seem to eat battery & memory card!)

Steve

yeah it seems to have doubled in how long it holds a charge now


much better now...must have just needed a few charges.

I have read the same posts from many people and was thinking they were nutty. I use the view finder so thought that was the difference since I have taken over 2000 photos over the course of an 8 hour outting and still not needed to change the battery.....WELL, about 2 weeks ago I was out and got 60 photos before the battery died, so I inserted my other freshly charged battery and got about 50 shots! Ok, so this was not right, so I recharged the batteries and tried again, same thing....I was mad and everyone was telling me...thats how it is. I finally went to the local camera place to get a new battery and a guy was in there who over heard me talking about what was going on. He told me to replace my charger. WHAT? it was working...blinked red then finished charging and went steady. He told me to trust him, he had seen the issue many times. SO I bought a charger that not only charges the batteries for the D3100 but charges ANY DSLR camera battery (just in case) I came home, charged both batteries, and went out shooting. I shot for 8 hours and had over 2000 shots and still not completely dead. So, he was right.....He said a lot of people had these issues right from the start and just take it that you only get a couple hours and a few hundred shots. Might try charging on a different charger and see if that works. (If I use live view it will eat the battery at about 450 shots and a couple hours- But I never use live view)

might do just that.

what charger did you get?

anyone got any recommendations for a better than original charger?

Its a Promaster XtraPower Traveler + ( http://www.promaster.com/products.asp?product=3007 ) It charges fast, and completely and works on my DSLR and my Sony point and shoot. It also has a USB port so I can charge my phone at the same time if I need to.

lee786 said:

might do just that.

what charger did you get?

anyone got any recommendations for a better than original charger?

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I shoot in the mode that gives me RAW and Fine jpeg can shoot 300+ images (600+ total image saves) and my battery indicator in the camera is VERY strong. I do not use live mode. This is on a D5100.

On board flash and live view are absolute battery killers, as well as picture reviews after each shot.
I'd lose live view and review on the LCD if you can, on board flash, well if you have no alternative then you're stuck, but certainly remember to close it when outdoors or not using it, as keeping the flash ready will drain our battery quicker than a drunk in a whiskey factory!