I've noticed occasional discussion on D70 battery life. It seems to be the belief that battery life is less when the camera is used with VR lenses. I was at an airshow on Saturday evening and took 1135 shots in a 2 and a quarter hour period. I was using a 70-200 VR with TC-17e and VR on throughout the event. Not only did one battery last the whole evening, but I haven't recharged it since and there is still life in it. I am impressed.
The battery life with the D70 is fantastic. Using any lens that requires additional power will add to drain on the battery. The battery usage in the D70 is so good that the additional drain from my VR lenses is certainly not an issue for me.
D70 might perform well when you shoot jpgs, but I'm not very impressed with battery life for NEF work. Typically I get around 200 shots per charge, sometimes less. The bad thing about D70 is that the battery meter is way inferior to those of of D2H and D2X, so when you get a "half" reading the camera can die any moment. That cost me several lost assignments before I made it a habit alway to carry a number of spare batteries for my D70 cameras, and most important of all, ensure they are charged before I commence shooting. With my D2X and D2H, 50 to 100% more shots than with D70 are the norm despite the much bigger file of the D2X, and even more intense use of the display and menus with these cameras. So, D70 is good, but certainly not outstanding, when it comes to battery life. Hence, for my studio work with D70 (UV photography) the camera run on mains all the time since battery life otherwise would be less than 3 hours.
I shoot RAW+BASIC so each shot is even more than just RAW only, and I get so many shots, over so long a period that I can't keep track! From what you say, there must be something wrong with either your battery, charger or camera. When my meter shows a reduced state, it still takes "forever" before the battery finally has to be recharged. If I use my batteries, camera and meter as an example, I am sure that you have a problem somewhere.
I was shooting NEFs as I always do. I have a second battery and I always charge it and take it when I think I'm going to take a lot of shots. But I've never had to use it.
Nothing is "wrong" except the assumption there is a certain amount of shots available to a D70 battery, and that amount is common to all users. Since the camera is used differently by people, so would battery life be different too. I've shot more than 20.000 exposures with these cameras and have 2 chargers and 4 battery packs for them, and I keep a log of battery life to assist in tracking down and replacing any unit which may turn defective. So far, all of them are giving approx. equal battery life, so obviously all are working as they should. I have similar experiences with battery life with D2H and D2X, where I get approx. half the number of what other people report. Still these cameras have nearly double the battery life of D70. The only acceptable way to compare battery life of various cameras is to compare different cameras used by a single person, not a specific camera used by different persons. In that respect I can say that D70 is about 4 times better than D1X, but only half as good as D2X.
When I lose a shooting assignment because of battery failure, that's "severe" in my book. Temperatures are Norwegian, acceptable by me but maybe not for other people.
Paul, you may have hit on the issue. It's cold in Norway, isn't it? Li+ batteries are cold sensitive. They're also hot sensitive. I know if I leave my camera in the car (50-60C) the battery dies in a day, pix or no pix. I don't have a D70, but rather a D100, which is said to be not quite as good as the D70. If I got 200 frames per charge, I'd be sending my camera in to find the short.
I once got 700 shots from my D2X in -5 C, while D70 only yielded 160. There is a class difference between these models and that is not only in the price.
I have several D70 cameras. All are behaving similar. 200 shots/charge is OK with me, it is the uncertainty with the battery indicator that annoys me.
I totally agree with you on the battery indicator - if it goes just one bar down from maximum, the battery is nearly depleted on my D70. And that's annoying! Otherwise I'm quite surprised about your 200 shots/charge rating, for several D70. It could be the cold temperatures, but you must have some summer. As for hot weather, it does reduce battery life, but I got nowhere near what Chris mentioned. I take my camera where ever I go, and it spends a lot of time in the trunk of the car. Now we got around 40 degree Celcius (should be above 100F), 85% daytime humidity and 100% nighttime humidity. I've been several times at the Red Sea with the D70, where outside temperatures were around 45C. Even when I take the camera out of the car trunk (parking in the sun at noon), the camera will give several 100 shots. I usually charge after around 500 shots, not because the battery has gone dead, but just to be on the save side (don't have a second battery). On short trips abroad I usually don't even bother to carry the charger with me, unless I know I'm going to take a lot of pictures. There must be something you do that is entirely different from what I do (and some others here too, I guess). Perhaps I'm more the point-and-shoot type (most pictures are of my kids, so there isn't much time to fiddle with the camery settings). I guess your shooting style is perhaps like "getting it right in the first shot" or so, where the camera and metering system is employed for a much longer time per shot. This would perhaps explain the short battery life. In short, I wish I knew your secrets to the pictures you take, and I would be gladly willing to pay with battery life. Regards,
"secrets" ?? There are none. Just envision the final image, and shoot until you are absolutely certain you have got that captured. Take a few more shots as backups. Then, reconsider your approach in view of what you have obtained so far, and begin all over again. All this while you keep your vision(s) focused. It really is a simple, iterative process, and can be easily mastered. Just try it out. It has nothing to do with equipment and technicalities as such, only with the communicative abilities of the photographer's mind. The camera and lens just don't take the picture. You do. The following example, entitled Acid Rain, can be given, this needed three iterative rounds before I felt I had got what I needed, {} As you can see from the above, there is absolutely nothing secretive about it. Plain and simple.
I think a lot of it will also depend on how you have the camera configured. One thing that really bugs me about the D70 is that the choice for meter time out goes from 16 seconds to 30 minutes; that's just idiotic IMHO that there aren't some more settings in between there. I used to use the 30min setting and I don't think I ever got anywhere near 500 shots/charge, usually more like 300 or so. I've recently changed to using the 16 second timeout and this makes a BIG difference in battery life though I can't say I've measured to see how many shots I'm getting. I don't think it's 1000 though, and really I'm not entirely happy with this setting change because the meter goes to sleep too fast now and it can be pretty annoying. I'd also agree on the battery level indicator. It has 3 levels and when the first one drops you can keep shooting for a bit but once that second level drops you better have a spare handy because you don't have much juice left at that point.
I know that I, out of old habit, turn off my camera, if not after every shot, certainly when I have stopped shooting for more than a "moment". Some of the difference in "perceived" battery life could be from that difference. In any event I'm happy that I get the amount of battery usage I think I do.
