Stafford

I have a DA question (dumb ass) about the average battery life of the Nikon D850 using live view most of the time. Approximately how many shots should I get before the battery goes dead?
Thank you for any input.

rgrenaderphoto Loc: Hollywood, CA

I can shoot all day long with the D850, the LCD screen in constant use, and not have to charge the battery. The only time I ran out of juice was a 3 hour timelapse where I had the interval a bit too close.

You should be able to get over 1000 images.

justhercamera Loc: NW Michigan

The bit I used a lot of live view, it did go down much faster. Of course, how long you keep it on live view between shots is going to play into that equation as well. Without research, I would say it cuts the number of shots you can do easily in half. That is just my guess though, so maybe 500 ish.

Collhar Loc: New York City.

Hard to say. How long would you use the live view. Each picture would be different. How long it takes to compose your shot. You surely would not have it on going from one location to another.

Howard5252 Loc: New York / Florida (now)

I have never run out of power. If there is the slightest chance (like battery not fully charged when I start), I carry a second, fully charged battery with me.

quigsby

Check any setting that uses Bluetooth, wireless, airplane mode.

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

Personally, I would try it out, it varies so much, is the battery freshly charged, what are the weather conditions.
And, you can always call Nikon customer service technical support and I am sure someone there will know the answer.
It may also be in your instruction manual, look in the index under the battery section.

Dossile

In comparison to shooting through my viewfinder, Live View cuts my battery life by 1/3 to 1/2. What that amounts to in minutes and hours depends on how and what I am shooting.

RichieC Loc: Adirondacks

For what it is worth. I have an 800e, I turn the camera off when not shooting as a habit, becomes second nature, as well as turning it on, I no longer think about it. I also shoot a Zeiss manual focus prime 90% of the time , but even when i have any of my AF lenses on- battery seems to go forever. Once I left my camera on in the case by mistake, was still only one bar down when i opened it 2 days later. BUt i wasn't having it shoot, focus or meter- so it must go into a sleep mode or just having it on is not very taxing on the battery.

I always figured I'd get a second battery, but they aren't cheap, they have a life ( you can check your battery life expectancy and condition in camera) so until i have a specific reason to, i decided i won't bother, as the battery life is nothing short of stellar! And I figured I won't have two going bad at the same time , (if i bought them together).

There are legitimate conditions where a second battery is probably a must, accidentally having it do something etc. and forgetting its doing it would suck with no back-up. Shooting tethered is indeed taxing on a battery, etc. but hasn't been a impediment in my experience as i keep an eye on the level, I might rather consider a power supply for this particular issue anyways. When this one is closer its end of life- or on an extended trip away from power, long periods in cold weather- being able to hot swap two batteries between an inner pocket and camera is a good thing - as severe cold will screw up battery life. Or obviously shooting video.

Anyways, I just haven't personally happened upon a situation where i had to get a second battery in my workflow, I just had two solid days at an event, 14 hours total, one charge- and still only half gone. Plus i know I can pick one up if i ever need to about anywhere there is a Best Buy or similar. .

johnhjacobs

I recently took my D850 on a trip to Japan. I had a battery grip with an EN-EL18 battery (plus the EN-EL15b in the camera). I consistently got well over 3000 shots before the grip battery was low enough to change and the internal battery would be barely used. The EL15b gives almost 1000 shots by itself the way I shoot. I don't use Live View much but I do review images often. I find that the D850 will not use much power even if not turned off all the time. With this level of battery performance I often only take one or two spare charged EL18s along and skip bringing the charge on shorter trips. If I was a professional I would pack the charger every time. If you don't have a grip that supports EL18 then you should always carry at least one spare EL15(x); there are lots of little pouches that will fit onto a camera strap. My Z6 is another story. Sometimes I don't even get 300 shots on a single EL15(x) battery. Spares are mandatory with it.

Mike1017

I have a D850 also I have the battery grip that holds the new enel18 C that replaced the 18 B and never came close to loosing battery power I use only the enel18c primary and If needed the setting in the camera will switch use D18 first I was in Holland and Switzerland gone for 3 weeks no problems shooting all day only problem I had was memory card would fill up so I dropped the res down from 8256x5504 to 6192 x 4128 and was able to get many more picks on the XQD cards no loss of quality Hope that was some help Mike