ricardo00

As far as I can tell, these two batteries appear very similar if not identical (at least their specs given by Nikon appear to be identical). As one of many who has struggled with relatively low number of shots per fully charged EN-EL15 Li-ion20 (about 500 shots per fully charged battery), I have wondered if the 15a version would give me more shots per fully charged battery. I have also observed occasionally that a battery which was at least two fifth charged when I shut the camera off is completely drained when I try to turn the camera back on (this was observed with two different Nikon D500 bodies). Now the recently released Nikon D850 which is essentially a full frame D500 has been reported to get 1840 shots per charge of the 15a battery whereas the D500 only gets a reported 1240 shots per fully charged EL15 battery. I would have thought that the D850 if anything would use more power since it is a full frame sensor than the D500. So does this mean that the 15a battery really is different than the EL15 battery?

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Apparently, that's the reason for the introduction of the 15a.

cameraf4 Loc: Delaware

I have heard that the 15a may be better in the cold, as well.

Al Beatty Loc: Boise, Idaho

I'm not an electrical engineer so my question may show my lack of knowledge but can I use a EN EL 15a battery in place of a regular "15" battery in any of the 15-battery type cameras? Take care & ...

bthomas42 Loc: North Ridgeville Ohio

From what I have read the EN-EL15A had a higher AH rating than the EL15 thus can take more shots

rjaywallace Loc: Wisconsin

Best to use whatever is recommended in the User Guide or perhaps updated on the NikonUSA website. /Ralph

larryepage Loc: North Texas area

I've studied batteries quite a bit, starting 40 years ago when a group of us was working to figure out how to maximize the life if the Nicad batteries in our new scientific calculators, and even more importantly how to know a little bit ahead of time when they were going to be depleted. My main recent conclusions are that current battery technology is really pretty close to magic. Unlike the old nicads, which we just pumped current into to charge and sucked current out of to deplete, current power systems are very tightly controlled, and a lot of that control goes on behind the scenes. The batteries, charging systems, and powered systems are all equipped with sophisticated control systems. These are necessary because of the extremely large amounts of energy in the batteries and the need to protect the batteries, the powered systems, and us from damage by all this energy.

The result of all this is that the indication of charge remaining in a battery really can have little to do with how much energy is actually in that battery. It's just an indication of how much energy the control systems think is there. If you think I might be making this up, let me share what happened last night.

My wife and I are planning a visit to a nearby National Wildlife Refuge. That seemed like a reasonable trigger to make sure that the firmware in her D40x is up to date. (Yes. She still likes it. It is small and light and takes photographs that make her very happy. And the battery is still good.) I discovered that yes, there is an update that we haven't installed. So I made preparations to install it. Here is the description from Nikon's support site:

With firmware Ver. 1.00 the number of images that could be captured (battery performance) when an EN-EL9a was used was less than when an EN-EL9 was used. By upgrading A firmware to Ver. 1.01, EN-EL9a performance is maximized so that more images can be captured (battery performance) when an EN-EL9a is used than when an EN-EL9 is used.

Number of shots possible (battery performance) with EN-EL9a (1,080 mAh)

- Single-frame shooting mode: Approximately 510 shots (with testing according to CIPA standards*)

- Continuous shooting mode: Approximately 2,400 shots (with testing according to Nikon standards*)

So...firmware is installed and we are now ready when a new battery is needed.
Just thought this might be interesting in this topic...

Tet68survivor Loc: Pomfret Center CT

From what I was told by Nikon, the real difference is in cold weather battery life! That's a good thing!

cameraf4 Loc: Delaware

Al Beatty, looks like it. Comparing the lists at Nikon USA, the signs look good.

ricardo00

Not sure where you saw this, but they are both rated at 1900 mAh.

neillaubenthal

So…does the original EN-EL15 work in a D7500? I'm upgrading soon from my 7100…and have a couple of extra 15s. While I'll obviously get a 15A with the new camera it would be better not to have to upgrade my spare batteries. I can handle fewer shots with the 15 since they're only backups anyway.