Battery hog?

dachshund

Senior Member
I recently purchased a Z50, which I think is great, with one caveat. It seems to be a battery hog; compared to my D5600, it runs a battery down in a hurry. I’ve been spending a lot of time in menus and set-up, doing a lot of testing and experimentation. I’m guessing that this activity is the cause of this situation. I’m aware that mirrorless cameras use more power than DSLRs and hope that when I’m done fiddling around, that battery life will stabilize?
 

Dangerspouse

Senior Member
I don't think your activity is the cause. While kicking around the idea of possibly getting a mirrorless in the future, rather than the D500 I've been lusting after, I keep coming across reviews that almost always note how DSLRs have longer battery life per charge. A lot of them cite the mirrorless cameras' EVF, which requires constant power, as a major drain.

In their review of the Z50, Photographylife.com posted a comparison table between it, the D3500, the D5600, and the D7500. In the battery life entry, the Z50 is rated at 320 clicks (CIPA) and the D5600 lasts for 970 - three times longer per charge.

But at least you can charge it with a USB....
 

hark

Administrator
Staff member
Super Mod
Contributor
I don't know anything about the mirrorless bodies, but it should have a setting for Airplane Mode. Is that setting turned on or off? I changed the setting on my D500 to reduce battery drain. Unless you need its WiFi to access the body from your phone (via the Snapbridge app), it might help to preserve power.

Reading the article, I was surprised to see that Nikon is allowing registered users 20GB storage for free.

Nikon’s even got an image sharing site, Nikon Image Space, that gives you 20 Gigs of storage free when you sign up for a Nikon ID and register your Nikon camera.

Here is the article:

https://www.nikonusa.com/en/learn-a...=Sharing your photos and,50 is quick and easy.
 

Danno

Senior Member
I recently purchased a Z50, which I think is great, with one caveat. It seems to be a battery hog; compared to my D5600, it runs a battery down in a hurry. I’ve been spending a lot of time in menus and set-up, doing a lot of testing and experimentation. I’m guessing that this activity is the cause of this situation. I’m aware that mirrorless cameras use more power than DSLRs and hope that when I’m done fiddling around, that battery life will stabilize?


The Mirrorless do sometimes have shorter battery life IF you are doing things like running SnapBridge to share your photos on the fly with your phone. I do that a lot and I still get anywhere from 700 to 1200 shots on a battery. One thing that does happen with new batteries and a new camera is they need several charging cycles to get to their true life. There is also building a charge for internals to the camera.

When I got my Z6 I was running through batteries like the Coyote chasing the Road Runner, but once I finally settled on my settings I ended up in the 750-1200 range and all the batteries I bought mostly wait and I try to rotate through them... I bought the HYPE about battery life and bought too many batteries, if you can have to many.

The Z50 could be different, but I do doubt it is that different.
 

dachshund

Senior Member
I’ve got “airplane” mode activated on the Z50 as well as the D5600. Nikon service says it makes a difference. I’m pretty well done with setup/experimentation, so now we’ll see how it goes with normal use, thanx for the input.
 
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