Comments on: D300 False Low-Battery Warnings=Worthless DSLR…Thanks a lot Nikon http://www.notebooks.com/2008/01/22/d300-false-low-battery-warningsworthless-dslrthanks-a-lot-nikon/ Notebooks and Laptops News, Deals and Reviews Fri, 12 Mar 2010 01:26:22 -0800 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 hourly 1 By: AshleyM http://www.notebooks.com/2008/01/22/d300-false-low-battery-warningsworthless-dslrthanks-a-lot-nikon/#comment-140495 AshleyM Wed, 10 Feb 2010 02:49:56 +0000 http://www.notebooks.com/2008/01/22/d300-false-low-battery-warningsworthless-dslrthanks-a-lot-nikon/#comment-140495 Seriously I am having this issue and this blog describes it PERFECTLY. Nobody else understands this dead battery sign when you have 4 fully charges Nikon brand batteries, and each one tells me they are dead- I turn the camera on and off and it works again for a minute but then it dies again. Its so frustrating, I sent my Nikon off to be repaired and they are telling me there is nothing wrong with my camera. Seriously!? Why would I take time off from photography to ship it out if there was nothing wrong with it? And pay for shipping? Seriously I am having this issue and this blog describes it PERFECTLY. Nobody else understands this dead battery sign when you have 4 fully charges Nikon brand batteries, and each one tells me they are dead- I turn the camera on and off and it works again for a minute but then it dies again. Its so frustrating, I sent my Nikon off to be repaired and they are telling me there is nothing wrong with my camera. Seriously!? Why would I take time off from photography to ship it out if there was nothing wrong with it? And pay for shipping?

]]> By: Kim http://www.notebooks.com/2008/01/22/d300-false-low-battery-warningsworthless-dslrthanks-a-lot-nikon/#comment-139933 Kim Sun, 31 Jan 2010 21:12:17 +0000 http://www.notebooks.com/2008/01/22/d300-false-low-battery-warningsworthless-dslrthanks-a-lot-nikon/#comment-139933 I have the D3, and have the same problem. With a $5,000 camera body, when I press the shutter, I want to know it's going to take the picture. Nikon needs to speak up-- I know someone else who has the same issue. I have the D3, and have the same problem. With a $5,000 camera body, when I press the shutter, I want to know it's going to take the picture. Nikon needs to speak up– I know someone else who has the same issue.

]]> By: Jay http://www.notebooks.com/2008/01/22/d300-false-low-battery-warningsworthless-dslrthanks-a-lot-nikon/#comment-137945 Jay Tue, 05 Jan 2010 14:10:00 +0000 http://www.notebooks.com/2008/01/22/d300-false-low-battery-warningsworthless-dslrthanks-a-lot-nikon/#comment-137945 I know many people with D300's who have not had this or indeed any other problems. With such a popular camera it is ever likely some people will get faulty ones with similar faults! Best camera on the market for the money. I know many people with D300's who have not had this or indeed any other problems. With such a popular camera it is ever likely some people will get faulty ones with similar faults! Best camera on the market for the money.

]]> By: Donald http://www.notebooks.com/2008/01/22/d300-false-low-battery-warningsworthless-dslrthanks-a-lot-nikon/#comment-135404 Donald Fri, 27 Nov 2009 23:46:07 +0000 http://www.notebooks.com/2008/01/22/d300-false-low-battery-warningsworthless-dslrthanks-a-lot-nikon/#comment-135404 I have now tested the theory of "Nikon Brand Batteries Only", and that didn't solve the problem. REEEEALLY irritated, to say the least, but hey, that's what the warranty is for. It's just a real downer to have something that is so great up, meeting and exceeding all expectations until you change the battery. Okay, "downer" was too nice - I'm a Nikon loyalist, but this is pretty stupid. I have now tested the theory of “Nikon Brand Batteries Only”, and that didn't solve the problem. REEEEALLY irritated, to say the least, but hey, that's what the warranty is for. It's just a real downer to have something that is so great up, meeting and exceeding all expectations until you change the battery. Okay, “downer” was too nice – I'm a Nikon loyalist, but this is pretty stupid.

]]> By: Nicole http://www.notebooks.com/2008/01/22/d300-false-low-battery-warningsworthless-dslrthanks-a-lot-nikon/#comment-135041 Nicole Tue, 24 Nov 2009 02:07:19 +0000 http://www.notebooks.com/2008/01/22/d300-false-low-battery-warningsworthless-dslrthanks-a-lot-nikon/#comment-135041 Thanks a million for your helpful post!<br><br>My D300 started acting up for the first time last Friday. It did it again yesterday. Turning it off after every shot saved me for that day, but I need it a lot for "action" and I usually have it turned on to be ready when needed.<br><br>Unfortunately I am living for the next few months in Sharm el Sheikh and have to figure out some way out of this mess, sigh.<br>I will def. go for the tips mentioned here and contact Nikon as well.<br><br>It's good to know I'm not alone with this problem though, even though it sucks for the Rest of the Nikon D300. Thanks a million for your helpful post!

My D300 started acting up for the first time last Friday. It did it again yesterday. Turning it off after every shot saved me for that day, but I need it a lot for “action” and I usually have it turned on to be ready when needed.

Unfortunately I am living for the next few months in Sharm el Sheikh and have to figure out some way out of this mess, sigh.
I will def. go for the tips mentioned here and contact Nikon as well.

It's good to know I'm not alone with this problem though, even though it sucks for the Rest of the Nikon D300.

]]> By: Bella http://www.notebooks.com/2008/01/22/d300-false-low-battery-warningsworthless-dslrthanks-a-lot-nikon/#comment-124217 Bella Sun, 01 Nov 2009 22:46:33 +0000 http://www.notebooks.com/2008/01/22/d300-false-low-battery-warningsworthless-dslrthanks-a-lot-nikon/#comment-124217 I am so glad I found this site. My experience is all to similar as above statements. I went out to shoot a 5 hour wedding, had 3 batteries fully charged and my Nikon D300. During the ceremony my battery flashed dead, grabbed another one without hestitating and took 3 shots and dead, now I was trembling, grabbed the other one and within 2 shots dead. I could not even use my backup D200 camera because I now ran into 3 dead batteries. I ended up calling my partner who rushed me her D300 and was saved. Today my partner had a photoshoot and guess what her camera is now showing dead battery on a fully charged battery. Upset, you can say that. I trusted Nikon and spend a shizoo on lenses of all sizes. If Nikon does not fix this problem I will switch and am sorry to say that I trusted such a great product to have something like this happen to a wedding photographer on the spot. Nikon get your act together or Cannon will just be my next investment and my partners too. I am so glad I found this site.
My experience is all to similar as above statements. I went out to shoot a 5 hour wedding, had 3 batteries fully charged and my Nikon D300. During the ceremony my battery flashed dead, grabbed another one without hestitating and took 3 shots and dead, now I was trembling, grabbed the other one and within 2 shots dead. I could not even use my backup D200 camera because I now ran into 3 dead batteries. I ended up calling my partner who rushed me her D300 and was saved.
Today my partner had a photoshoot and guess what her camera is now showing dead battery on a fully charged battery.
Upset, you can say that. I trusted Nikon and spend a shizoo on lenses of all sizes. If Nikon does not fix this problem I will switch and am sorry to say that I trusted such a great product to have something like this happen to a wedding photographer on the spot.
Nikon get your act together or Cannon will just be my next investment and my partners too.

]]> By: NOOR http://www.notebooks.com/2008/01/22/d300-false-low-battery-warningsworthless-dslrthanks-a-lot-nikon/#comment-111002 NOOR Fri, 16 Oct 2009 10:43:13 +0000 http://www.notebooks.com/2008/01/22/d300-false-low-battery-warningsworthless-dslrthanks-a-lot-nikon/#comment-111002 Hi every body i bought a D300 after i was dreiming for like three years when i start working with i found out that battery get downed after 12:00 with out takeing any pictuers where i live, there are no servce center for fixing or reparing the DSLR cameras i realy need any bodys' help.. THanks Hi every body i bought a D300 after i was dreiming for like three years when i start working with i found out that battery get downed after 12:00 with out takeing any pictuers where i live, there are no servce center for fixing or reparing the DSLR cameras i realy need any bodys’ help.. THanks

]]> By: Donald http://www.notebooks.com/2008/01/22/d300-false-low-battery-warningsworthless-dslrthanks-a-lot-nikon/#comment-108425 Donald Tue, 13 Oct 2009 04:13:13 +0000 http://www.notebooks.com/2008/01/22/d300-false-low-battery-warningsworthless-dslrthanks-a-lot-nikon/#comment-108425 this isn't the follow-up yet, just an added note - your title really is good, Xavier, because it perfectly described my emotions at the moment of the search, allowed me to find some possible solutions and get a slight idea of the depth of the issue. When you've just chunked down almost 2 grand on a camera, it doesn't matter if it's professional or pro-sumer, when the sucker starts screwing up on you at an important moment and you've had it for just a few days, "worthless" is the kindest thing you can say about the camera. AND IF this turns out to be a battery brand issue (for the D300S), they really should say that outright so there is no confusion. I'd much rather know that information ahead of time than start hyper-ventilating in the middle of a wedding. Also sorry for misspelling "shots" in my previous above (fat-fingered "shotes"). this isn’t the follow-up yet, just an added note – your title really is good, Xavier, because it perfectly described my emotions at the moment of the search, allowed me to find some possible solutions and get a slight idea of the depth of the issue. When you’ve just chunked down almost 2 grand on a camera, it doesn’t matter if it’s professional or pro-sumer, when the sucker starts screwing up on you at an important moment and you’ve had it for just a few days, “worthless” is the kindest thing you can say about the camera. AND IF this turns out to be a battery brand issue (for the D300S), they really should say that outright so there is no confusion. I’d much rather know that information ahead of time than start hyper-ventilating in the middle of a wedding.

Also sorry for misspelling “shots” in my previous above (fat-fingered “shotes”).

]]> By: Donald http://www.notebooks.com/2008/01/22/d300-false-low-battery-warningsworthless-dslrthanks-a-lot-nikon/#comment-108420 Donald Tue, 13 Oct 2009 03:52:46 +0000 http://www.notebooks.com/2008/01/22/d300-false-low-battery-warningsworthless-dslrthanks-a-lot-nikon/#comment-108420 Well...Xavier, thank you for starting this thread, and I hate that I had to put out a search for a battery issue with my camera - it is one week old and actually is a D300S. This has the latest and greatest firmware on it (there are no updates, according to the Nikon site) So yes, I may be sending it back, maybe to Amazon (might get it back quick enough for my shoot in a week and a half), maybe to Nikon. I had to send my D200 to Nikon once - had something to do with the grip, they couldn't duplicate it, but the guy I talked to (who was VERY nice and told me to call him whenever - don't totally trash their customer support, they do have some good guys there) said he had heard of that issue with the grip, and that if I continued to have it they might be able to adjust the pins. I still use the grip, but just put one battery in it since the problem occured when one of the batteries wore out. But here's my point: Xavier, don't change your title quite yet. I've had a Coolpix 990, 8700, D70S, D80, D200 and they have all been flawless (save the grip issue) from start to finish. And none of them are "finished", they all still work great. I have never had a camera that upon my first serious workout (my ONLY workout so far), a wedding this past weekend, gave me issues when I changed out the battery. I had several batteries on hand, and the first 2 came up dead when I tried to quickly exchange. I started sweating since I was sure I had 4 fully-charged batteries on-hand but suddenly seemed to have done something wrong. I will admit to having some generic batteries that worked flawlessly with my other cameras (D200 and D80), actually better since they carried more juice, and i THINK the battery #3 that finally worked was a Nikon one. It just went dead since I left it on Live View too long between doing some video (you have to use the screen for video). That's what started up the issue (and my finding this thread). I suddenly confirmed that the fake dead battery thing was real, not just a freak-out moment in the middle of a wedding. I think the Nikon-brand battery solution has some validity. I have the one from my D200 in there right now (though even it seemed to have an issue at first), and the original one from my D300S seemed to be the most reliable. It's probably also the cleanest. I am pretty sure the camera knows the difference - I don't think I have gotten an aftermarket battery to work at all. The D200 battery probably could use some terminal cleaning. BUT I am not 100% convinced that it just a Nikon-brand battery thing since I did experience some flakiness with even the original battery for a bit. Could be because I was swapping them out and the camera was trying to make sure I wasn't trying to trick it. I will stick to the Nikon batteries (not much choice apparently) and report back after cleaning them and giving this a run. The D300S is lovely, the videos are cool (I'm not a video freak, but Nikon is smart to put it on this camera - the industry is changing, folks), the screen is amazing (coming from the D200), definitely beats the D200 at high ISO's (like an IDIOT I left the ISO at 1250 for some family shotes after shooting a dark wedding, but the pictures are actually redeemable), and I hope BEYOND HOPE that this is all really just a battery brand thing that will go away once I stick to Nikon. I would hate to see the D300S have a real issue out of the box. Thanks to ALL for your valuable input, I'll do my best to update once I stick to the Nikon batteries and make sure the terminals are clean. Well…Xavier, thank you for starting this thread, and I hate that I had to put out a search for a battery issue with my camera – it is one week old and actually is a D300S. This has the latest and greatest firmware on it (there are no updates, according to the Nikon site)

So yes, I may be sending it back, maybe to Amazon (might get it back quick enough for my shoot in a week and a half), maybe to Nikon. I had to send my D200 to Nikon once – had something to do with the grip, they couldn’t duplicate it, but the guy I talked to (who was VERY nice and told me to call him whenever – don’t totally trash their customer support, they do have some good guys there) said he had heard of that issue with the grip, and that if I continued to have it they might be able to adjust the pins. I still use the grip, but just put one battery in it since the problem occured when one of the batteries wore out.

But here’s my point: Xavier, don’t change your title quite yet. I’ve had a Coolpix 990, 8700, D70S, D80, D200 and they have all been flawless (save the grip issue) from start to finish. And none of them are “finished”, they all still work great. I have never had a camera that upon my first serious workout (my ONLY workout so far), a wedding this past weekend, gave me issues when I changed out the battery. I had several batteries on hand, and the first 2 came up dead when I tried to quickly exchange. I started sweating since I was sure I had 4 fully-charged batteries on-hand but suddenly seemed to have done something wrong. I will admit to having some generic batteries that worked flawlessly with my other cameras (D200 and D80), actually better since they carried more juice, and i THINK the battery #3 that finally worked was a Nikon one. It just went dead since I left it on Live View too long between doing some video (you have to use the screen for video). That’s what started up the issue (and my finding this thread). I suddenly confirmed that the fake dead battery thing was real, not just a freak-out moment in the middle of a wedding.

I think the Nikon-brand battery solution has some validity. I have the one from my D200 in there right now (though even it seemed to have an issue at first), and the original one from my D300S seemed to be the most reliable. It’s probably also the cleanest. I am pretty sure the camera knows the difference – I don’t think I have gotten an aftermarket battery to work at all. The D200 battery probably could use some terminal cleaning.

BUT I am not 100% convinced that it just a Nikon-brand battery thing since I did experience some flakiness with even the original battery for a bit. Could be because I was swapping them out and the camera was trying to make sure I wasn’t trying to trick it. I will stick to the Nikon batteries (not much choice apparently) and report back after cleaning them and giving this a run.

The D300S is lovely, the videos are cool (I’m not a video freak, but Nikon is smart to put it on this camera – the industry is changing, folks), the screen is amazing (coming from the D200), definitely beats the D200 at high ISO’s (like an IDIOT I left the ISO at 1250 for some family shotes after shooting a dark wedding, but the pictures are actually redeemable), and I hope BEYOND HOPE that this is all really just a battery brand thing that will go away once I stick to Nikon. I would hate to see the D300S have a real issue out of the box.

Thanks to ALL for your valuable input, I’ll do my best to update once I stick to the Nikon batteries and make sure the terminals are clean.

]]> By: Dale McCleery http://www.notebooks.com/2008/01/22/d300-false-low-battery-warningsworthless-dslrthanks-a-lot-nikon/#comment-98282 Dale McCleery Mon, 05 Oct 2009 20:13:01 +0000 http://www.notebooks.com/2008/01/22/d300-false-low-battery-warningsworthless-dslrthanks-a-lot-nikon/#comment-98282 Had the same issues with my D300 and did a firmware update from Nikon and it seemed to fix the problem. Had the same issues with my D300 and did a firmware update from Nikon and it seemed to fix the problem.

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