Nikon Batter Life: I purchased my D7100 last September and have used it very little until a couple of weeks ago when I left for China where I still am. I purchased a second battery at...

sinderone

I purchased my D7100 last September and have used it very little until a couple of weeks ago when I left for China where I still am. I purchased a second battery at the same time as the camera and they have both been recharged no more than 15-20 times each. Now one of them reads 1 year of life while the other is still at 0. Is this normal? Is one faulty? Please explain

Erik_H Loc: Denham Springs, Louisiana

Are they both Nikon batteries?

amehta Loc: Boston

sinderone wrote:

I purchased my D7100 last September and have used it very little until a couple of weeks ago when I left for China where I still am. I purchased a second battery at the same time as the camera and they have both been recharged no more than 15-20 times each. Now one of them reads 1 year of life while the other is still at 0. Is this normal? Is one faulty? Please explain

It seems a little fast, but perhaps not excessively so. One situation which might cause this is a lot of temperature swings, either very hot to normal or very cold to normal temperatures.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

sinderone wrote:

I purchased my D7100 last September and have used it very little until a couple of weeks ago when I left for China where I still am. I purchased a second battery at the same time as the camera and they have both been recharged no more than 15-20 times each. Now one of them reads 1 year of life while the other is still at 0. Is this normal? Is one faulty? Please explain

The important measurement is how long they keep taking pictures going dead. You can expect some variation in batteries, Nikon or off-brand, but they should be similar. Batteries don't last forever, but I've never had any camera battery fail.

The link below will give you more info than you want about batteries.

MtnMan Loc: ID

sinderone wrote:

I purchased my D7100 last September and have used it very little until a couple of weeks ago when I left for China where I still am. I purchased a second battery at the same time as the camera and they have both been recharged no more than 15-20 times each. Now one of them reads 1 year of life while the other is still at 0. Is this normal? Is one faulty? Please explain

Where/how do you find the "year of life" on the Nikon? Wondering if my D800 has that.

Some have written that the firmware embedded in non-Nikon batteries might not communicate with the Nikon system. I have never had a problem with that and always buy non-Nikon spare batteries but this might be an instance. It wouldn't make me stop buying the much less expensive non-Nikon labeled batteries.

I'd ignore such a prediction anyway and use the battery till it's life seems to get unacceptably short, while always keeping a charged spare in the camera case.

amehta Loc: Boston

MtnMan wrote:

Where/how do you find the "year of life"... (show quote)

On the D800, go to "Setup Menu --> Battery Info".

It is helpful to balance the use of multiple batteries. I have a battery in the grip which is used first, so it gets used much more than the one in the camera. When the "life meter" went from zero to one for that battery, I switched batteries so the one still at zero was used more.

MtnMan Loc: ID

amehta wrote:

On the D800, go to "Setup Menu --> Battery Info".

It is helpful to balance the use of multiple batteries. I have a battery in the grip which is used first, so it gets used much more than the one in the camera. When the "life meter" went from zero to one for that battery, I switched batteries so the one still at zero was used more.

Thanks! I'll check it out.

speters Loc: Grangeville/Idaho

sinderone wrote:

I purchased my D7100 last September and have used it very little until a couple of weeks ago when I left for China where I still am. I purchased a second battery at the same time as the camera and they have both been recharged no more than 15-20 times each. Now one of them reads 1 year of life while the other is still at 0. Is this normal? Is one faulty? Please explain

I think that maybe you used one of the two most of the times, that one will show as being one year old, if the other one has been hardly used, it will still read as new, even it is actually of the same age.

rgrenaderphoto Loc: Hollywood, CA

I have 2. Each time I charge one, I but the other in camera. Balances load and use.

sinderone

Both batteries are Nikon oem. I do rotate their use. Perhaps I'll contact Nikon when I get back from my trip

Thanks for all your answers