Battery life D800E

Just to let you know: I did 2342 shots with only one battery on the D800E with attached GPS. I shot them within 2 hrs 45 min. That explains.

Two years ago I did 4350 shot with the Canon 1D mkIII (bigger batgery, smaller files).
See also: http://defotograaf.eu/blog/zuunig/
(Sorry is in Dutch, but you can see the screenshot of the D800E.

Scary! I typically got 2000 images from the 1D III and 1Ds III batteries. I'm getting 800-1000 from the D800E, but that's with some image review on the LCD - I'd probably get more with image review turned off, but I like checking the shot. Nikon claims 800 with some flash udage.

Use Live View extensively and you will get even fewer images.
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Robin Casady
http://www.robincasady.com/Photo/index.html

JoopIII said:

Just to let you know: I did 2342 shots with only one battery on the D800E with attached GPS. I shot them within 2 hrs 45 min. That explains.

Two years ago I did 4350 shot with the Canon 1D mkIII (bigger batgery, smaller files).
See also: http://defotograaf.eu/blog/zuunig/
(Sorry is in Dutch, but you can see the screenshot of the D800E.

Click to expand...

That seems like an awful lot of shots, I do not think I am getting near this at all? Did you have image review on as well? Plus a GPS, I'm amazed at the amount of shots. I have a D800 and the worst thing about it without a doubt is the battery drops like a stone it's pretty worthless (even without using video) it's so bad compared to the D700 I can hardly believe it! My battery isn't a recall one either - I checked.

I have the opposite experience. Based on comments on battery life I got a spare batery. But I haven't really made use of it. The battery lasts half a day (including with 70-200 f2.8 with VR on) . Yes it's less than a D300 but it is enough for me. With the spare handy I consider the battery shorter capacity as a non-issue. YMMV in which case get more than one spare. They're not expensive.
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Thierry

TOF guy said:

I have the opposite experience. Based on comments on battery life I got a spare batery. But I haven't really made use of it. The battery lasts half a day (including with 70-200 f2.8 with VR on) . Yes it's less than a D300 but it is enough for me. With the spare handy I consider the battery shorter capacity as a non-issue. YMMV in which case get more than one spare. They're not expensive.
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Thierry

Click to expand...

No one really seems to be complaining about the battery, and considering how bad mines is I am really starting to wonder if I have got a faulty one or something, as I cannot believe more people wouldn't be starting threads about it. I mean it's really bad. I've not counted shots but all I have on is image review, and simple shots I'd bet I struggle to get 400 shots? This really is just of the top of my head it could be more.

The battery is more likely to be the source of issues than the camera.

I've read that the electronics on these new batteries can play a trick. They are tuned to prevent the battery to be charged completely (overcharge is bad for Li-ion batteries). But the electronics can have a wrong reading on the battery charge kicking the protection against overcharge early.

This may be the problem. If so and my memory serves me well the solution is to use the battery to full discharge for 1 or 2 cycles (use the camera self-timer to take pictures continuously and exhaust battery). There is no need to repeat using a battery to full discharge once the problem is gone

So maybe you're experiencing something along these lines.
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Thierry

It is amazing yes, but possible in aerial photography.

A lot of shots in a realtively short time, hardly any image review, but with the GPS on top. And forget it with older batteries .