Nikon d500 battery drain

bowser2 · Dec 9, 2017

Hello everyone

i know that last time I posted about this deep sighs were heard from some members, but this problem isn't going away.

I have had my d500 since August. The most shots I have got out of a battery is 250. It is in Airplane Mode, Touch controls off. Single rather than continuous release. Now with a 15a battery, did the same with the original 15 battery.

So, charged to 'full' but camera reads 94%. Checking each morning, and with only 5 shots taken battery has dropped to 81%. So something is draining it even when it is turned off, no wifi...., in airplane mode etc etc.

Can anyone suggest what is going on? Have I missed something that I need to turn off to conserve battery power? I realise that the moment it takes to turn it on and check the battery level wil take power but really not that much.

I am really concerned about this. Broke the bank to buy it - used Nikons for years and have never had a problem before.

So please don't sigh but give me some help? It will have to go to Nikon in the New Year if this can't be solved.

Thanks so much in advance.

Richard B99 · Dec 9, 2017

bowser2 said:
Hello everyone

i know that last time I posted about this deep sighs were heard from some members, but this problem isn't going away.

I have had my d500 since August. The most shots I have got out of a battery is 250. It is in Airplane Mode, Touch controls off. Single rather than continuous release. Now with a 15a battery, did the same with the original 15 battery.

So, charged to 'full' but camera reads 94%. Checking each morning, and with only 5 shots taken battery has dropped to 81%. So something is draining it even when it is turned off, no wifi...., in airplane mode etc etc.

Can anyone suggest what is going on? Have I missed something that I need to turn off to conserve battery power? I realise that the moment it takes to turn it on and check the battery level wil take power but really not that much.

I am really concerned about this. Broke the bank to buy it - used Nikons for years and have never had a problem before.

So please don't sigh but give me some help? It will have to go to Nikon in the New Year if this can't be solved.

Thanks so much in advance.

I suggest you have a search through this forum. I recall one maybe two cases where there has seemed to be a genuine issue with the camera that had to be fixed by Nikon. Worth seeing if you can track that one down through the general mass of battery discussions. Good luck!

With airplane mode on, you really should not need to turn off to conserve the battery.

Most of us, as I’m sure you know, get far more shots than 250; I’ll typically get 1500 even to 2000 (CH, shooting bursts and not chimping).

Robert Cohen · Dec 9, 2017

I doubt that there's anything a mere user can do. You know that there shouldn't be much drain when the camera is off. When you can spare it for a couple of weeks, send it to Nikon for repair. That's what warranties are for.

Jimusny · Dec 9, 2017

You have tried a new battery? or a different charger?

what lens do you have attached? did you try it without lens attached over night just to see if it isn't the lens somway?

I just got my second D500, it is like my first one so far, battery draining a bit fast, even with different batteries, one thing I notice is when I put a fresh charged one in that reads 100 percent on my first body, moving the same one to new body it only reads 98 or 97 .

still leaving over night it only goes to like 94 percent at most, so something does seem wrong with yours.. . My second D500 is acting much like my first did when I got that one and I assume after some use it will be in sync with it

atalwar · Dec 9, 2017

bowser2 said:
Hello everyone

i know that last time I posted about this deep sighs were heard from some members, but this problem isn't going away.

I have had my d500 since August. The most shots I have got out of a battery is 250. It is in Airplane Mode, Touch controls off. Single rather than continuous release. Now with a 15a battery, did the same with the original 15 battery.

So, charged to 'full' but camera reads 94%. Checking each morning, and with only 5 shots taken battery has dropped to 81%. So something is draining it even when it is turned off, no wifi...., in airplane mode etc etc.

Can anyone suggest what is going on? Have I missed something that I need to turn off to conserve battery power? I realise that the moment it takes to turn it on and check the battery level wil take power but really not that much.

I am really concerned about this. Broke the bank to buy it - used Nikons for years and have never had a problem before.

So please don't sigh but give me some help? It will have to go to Nikon in the New Year if this can't be solved.

Thanks so much in advance.

It is quite low numbe you getting, given I am not getting very high shots as well, depending on conditions. since I mostly use singe shot mode mostly , i can average between 350- 450 shots with a little display use to check for histogram at times. However I have had as low as 50-90 shots too, with lots of live view use. I have 3 different batteries, including the new 15A.

Have taken it to Nikon and talked to their service engineer and according to him it's normal. What keeps me wondering how others manage even 1000 shots off this.

Robert Cohen · Dec 9, 2017

>> Have taken it to Nikon and talked to their service engineer and according to him it's normal. What keeps me wondering how others manage even 1000 shots off this. <<

I don't know what to say except that I don't get noticeable battery drainage overnight and I routinely get more than 1000 shots on a battery charge.

Jimusny · Dec 9, 2017

atalwar said:
It is quite low number you getting, given I am not getting very high shots as well, depending on conditions. since I mostly use singe shot mode mostly , i can average between 350- 450 shots with a little display use to check for histogram at times. However I have had as low as 50-90 shots too, with lots of live view use. I have 3 different batteries, including the new 15A.

Have taken it to Nikon and talked to their service engineer and according to him it's normal. What keeps me wondering how others manage even 1000 shots off this.

I definitely get over 1000 shots on a charge, most times i dont even bother taking a second battery unless I am there for a whole day..

I charge my batteries after every outing and put in a fresh off the charger one before going out, so far its worked out well.. most times I dont expect to shoot more than 4 or 500 shots, but once in a while its up to 1000 or more and still show 20-25 percent charge left.. at least on my original D500, haven't had the chance to see on new one as its been pretty much clouds on every day I am off since I got it..

who knows maybe the issue is lens specific or something.. I would be interested in seeing how much drain you see over night without a lens on. or put your in CAF and 10 FPS and rip off 200 shots see what it says

Maybe everyone getting 1000 or more is shooting CAF and burst mode.. maybe single focus uses up more power with each focus than locking in and tracking in CAF etc.

is everyone charging battery before going out or using it up till it needs a charge over several days/weeks of sitting?

I am sure live view uses it up I know that AF FT eats it up faster also

I know there have been a ton of posts about this issue, just seems there should be an answer by now

just glad mine is doing fine and I understand why someone would be upset at only getting a couple hundred shots on a charge

is there a way to recycle the batteries? I never looked to see if that switch on the charger was to recycle the battery down and up again..

atalwar · Dec 9, 2017

Jimusny said:
atalwar said:

It is quite low number you getting, given I am not getting very high shots as well, depending on conditions. since I mostly use singe shot mode mostly , i can average between 350- 450 shots with a little display use to check for histogram at times. However I have had as low as 50-90 shots too, with lots of live view use. I have 3 different batteries, including the new 15A.

Have taken it to Nikon and talked to their service engineer and according to him it's normal. What keeps me wondering how others manage even 1000 shots off this.

Click to expand...

I definitely get over 1000 shots on a charge, most times i dont even bother taking a second battery unless I am there for a whole day..

I charge my batteries after every outing and put in a fresh off the charger one before going out, so far its worked out well.. most times I dont expect to shoot more than 4 or 500 shots, but once in a while its up to 1000 or more and still show 20-25 percent charge left.. at least on my original D500, haven't had the chance to see on new one as its been pretty much clouds on every day I am off since I got it..

who knows maybe the issue is lens specific or something.. I would be interested in seeing how much drain you see over night without a lens on. or put your in CAF and 10 FPS and rip off 200 shots see what it says

Maybe everyone getting 1000 or more is shooting CAF and burst mode.. maybe single focus uses up more power with each focus than locking in and tracking in CAF etc.

is everyone charging battery before going out or using it up till it needs a charge over several days/weeks of sitting?

I am sure live view uses it up I know that AF FT eats it up faster also

I know there have been a ton of posts about this issue, just seems there should be an answer by now just glad mine is doing fine and I understand why someone would be upset at only getting a couple hundred shots on a charge

is there a way to recycle the batteries? I never looked to see if that switch on the charger was to recycle the battery down and up again..

bowser2 · Dec 9, 2017

Hi and thanks to everyone so far. I will leave off the lens overnight and see what happens and then tomorrrow put it in CAF and fire off some bursts.

please what is SF - FT?

Jimusny · Dec 9, 2017

bowser2 said:
Hi and thanks to everyone so far. I will leave off the lens overnight and see what happens and then tomorrrow put it in CAF and fire off some bursts.

please what is SF - FT?

AF FT, auto fine tuning lens seems to take up about 10 percent when I do it for only one lens a few times.

by the way when I say bursts, its not like I rip off 100 at a time every time, its maybe a burst of 5 to 10 at a time on BIF a few on a perched bird, and once in a while one might be nice enough to fly around close enough for up to 100 in a row.. but generally speaking I may take only a couple frames of one, and a few minutes later a burst of 10 or so over the spread of 4 or 5 hours maybe getting a total of 600 700 shots for a good BIF day.. and normally have at least 40 percent charge afterwards.. I do leave my lens attached when off, after I download my images and format card I swap to a newly charged battery for the next day, by AM its showing like 97 percent charged, and even then sometimes swap to another fully charged battery.. just a habit I have, charging every time doesn't seem to affect any life or anything..

I know on the older rechargeable they didn't want you topping them off, but I do it all the time and even my original is till going strong thats about 4 years old now

Ricardo00 · Dec 9, 2017

bowser2 said:
Hello everyone

i know that last time I posted about this deep sighs were heard from some members, but this problem isn't going away.

I have had my d500 since August. The most shots I have got out of a battery is 250. It is in Airplane Mode, Touch controls off. Single rather than continuous release. Now with a 15a battery, did the same with the original 15 battery.

So, charged to 'full' but camera reads 94%. Checking each morning, and with only 5 shots taken battery has dropped to 81%. So something is draining it even when it is turned off, no wifi...., in airplane mode etc etc.

Can anyone suggest what is going on? Have I missed something that I need to turn off to conserve battery power? I realise that the moment it takes to turn it on and check the battery level wil take power but really not that much.

I am really concerned about this. Broke the bank to buy it - used Nikons for years and have never had a problem before.

So please don't sigh but give me some help? It will have to go to Nikon in the New Year if this can't be solved.

Thanks so much in advance.

Definitely would suggest you send it into Nikon for a check-up. I too never got the number of shots that some people claimed (I typically average 500 or so) and the Nikon rep I talked to said that was normal and discouraged me from sending it in. Now that my warranty is over, I greatly regret not sending it in! Partly I didn't want to give it up and partly was skeptical they would fix anything! I subsequently bought a second copy and it is almost identical to the first in terms of battery "usage", very high compared to the D7xxx I have had. Most surprising to me, the Nikon D850 with a full frame sensor and all the other things as the D500, is rated with higher number of shots per fully charged battery, though they used the 15a. So it is very interesting to me that you see no difference with the 15a battery. So I still don't know if it is me, the camera or some setting. However I have adjusted to just always carrying spare batteries.

Leonard Shepherd · Dec 9, 2017

You can check if the battery is discharging quickly.

Straight after charging it should show 100% in the set up menu - battery information.

It is a few days since I used my D500 (one of the "penalties" of buying a D800) ;- currently it shows 91% still in the battery.

The D7200 charged up at about the same time shows 92%.

I somehow managed to leave the D810 switched on :-( it shows 18%.

If you loose 10% overnight with the camera switched off something is wrong with either the battery or the camera.

Digressing slightly the power needed to drive AF and, if a lens has it, VR varies with each type of lens. My original 80-400 had a big appetite for battery power.

--
Leonard Shepherd
In lots of ways good photography is much more about how equipment is used rather than the equipment being used.

topcat5 · Dec 10, 2017

Regarding my D500 which I purchased as a back up to my D5 I have noticed the same thing regarding the number of shots per full battery charge. I am getting on average between 750 to 800 and I feel that this is totally unacceptable. If this persists then after Christmas I am sending it of to Nikon to get it check out but really I am not going to hold my breath with the answer that I expect.

bowser2 · Dec 10, 2017

At the moment I can only dream of getting that many shots per charge! I will be reporting back when I have done a few more tests as suggested by others here. Thanks so far for all the kind and helpful replies.

Robert Cohen · Dec 10, 2017

Just as a data point, I last used my D500 about three weeks ago when I shot about 2000 photos at a dog event. I put in a freshly recharged battery when I put it away. It snowed here overnight, so I picked up the camera and I'll take it outside in a while. I looked at the battery indicator. It's down one indication, so there's plenty of juice left to shoot some photos today after three weeks of nonuse. BTW, the camera was put aside turned off, with lens cap on the 16-80 lens. (In case that makes a difference.)

Andrew Ellis · Dec 10, 2017

Mine was getting the similar 350-400 shots per charge (with everything switched off - wireless, airplane mode on, touchscreen off) etc.

i finally decided to bite the bullet and return it to Nikon UK about 10 days ago. I’ve had an interesting update in that amazingly they have said their technician has actually managed to replicate the issue and they agree something is very wrong. However before they fully decide on a course of action, they also wanted me to return my MB-D17 grip, any further EN-EL15 batteries (another 3 off over the one I returned with the camera), and my charger - basically everything to do with powering my D500.

These all went off to them last Monday (acknowledged as received by them on Tuesday) and I now wait with baited breath to hear what the final diagnosis is ?

--
Lets make pictures, not war........

Jimusny · Dec 10, 2017

Robert Cohen said:
. BTW, the camera was put aside turned off, with lens cap on the 16-80 lens. (In case that makes a difference.)

Robert Cohen · Dec 10, 2017

I've got three batteries and don't have any formal rotation system. Before a planned shoot I recharge all of them. When just picking up the camera I'll usually check the battery indicator and if by chance it's down more than a notch I'll likely swap for another battery and put that one in the charger. And if I'm doing anything significant like shooting at an event, I'll take at least one spare battery. This is pretty much what I've done with my D300 and D700, so it's a "system" that works for me.

Ricardo00 · Dec 10, 2017

Jimusny said:
Since they wanted the grip back, maybe it has something to do with it, I never used one and have no issues.. So do those with issues mainly have grip attached?

perhaps the issue isn't with any drain itself but the voltage reading systems in the camera, giving you different readings than battery actual is, I know one thing about my new D500, I put a battery in my old one fresh charged and it reads 100 percent, I top it off in same charger put same battery in my new one and it says 97 percent, and without topping it off It still reads 99 percent putting back in my 1st body, this holds true with all 3 batteries I own regardless of age

In my case, it definitely has nothing to do with the grip. I didn't have a grip for a year with my first D500 and, although I got a grip with the second, have yet to use it. If I go on a photographic trip where charging is harder to do, will try it out.

I definitely think it could be the camera "sensing system which tells it how much charge is left" since for me, it has happened with multiple batteries and literally has gone from a couple of bars to shutting off. And it is possible they have fixed this in the D850 since we haven't heard about this problem in this camera?

bowser2 · Dec 10, 2017

How interesting - would you let me know what the outcome is? I plan to send my camera in the New Year if thing s haven't improved.

Do hope they fix it for yiu.

Nikon d500 battery drain

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