hpucker99 Loc: Anchorage, Alaska

I use a Nikon D750 and D7500 to shoot time lapses. Because I typically shoot over 2000 images, I use an external battery (Lanparte and TetherTools D-Tap) with a battery coupler to power the camera. I have been having problems lately, the cameras have been stopping before the batteries are exhausted or the SD card is full. The camera may show an "ERR" message on the top LCD but it is not explicit so as to identify the problem. The batteries have sufficient charge in them, but the camera stops for some reason. I have been shooting in Aperture mode with ISO set to automatic between 100 to 1600. I have been using the internal intervalometer. I don't seem to have this problem if I use the internal batteries with or without the grip. Any ideas?

Grahame Loc: Fiji

Temperature?

tcthome Loc: NJ

That was my thought. Especially in Alaska. Your battery voltage will drop out in the cold. Can you check the external batteries voltage out in the cold when the problem occurs? Did it happen in the summer? If you determine its the external battery out in the cold, maybe you can put it in a soft case with a hand warmer. Good luck.

Retired CPO Loc: Travel full time in an RV

Yeah, I was taking photos of the Northern Lights at Potters Marsh a few miles south of Anchorage in November a few years ago. The batteries kept dyeing prematurely. I wrapped the camera body in chemical hand warmers which gave me enough time to get the job done before I started dyeing.

hpucker99 Loc: Anchorage, Alaska

I should update my location, I am in exile in Colorado for the time being. The temperatures are just below freezing but the problem was occurring in the fall in 40 degree weather. I am running some tests and I think the internal intervalometers are malfunctioning. I tried an external intervalometer last night (20 F) and it worked until the external battery died. I made some insulated foam boxes that has room for hand warmers, will dig them out for tonight. The problem may be some sort of combination of batteries below freezing and flaky internal intervalometers.

GLSmith Loc: Tampa, Fl

Had the same issue with my D500...In aperture mode/time lapse, it would either not fire, or would only fire for part of the time. I replaced batteries, swapped out lenses, cleaned electronic contact points, reset camera menu to factory default (which seemed to clear the issue. But every time I manually made adjustments..i.e. CopyRight or back button focus, I would return to the same error.
Sent it to my local Nikon repair center & received a call that the Aperture electronics needed to be replaced. Had it back in 2 1/2 weeks, no issues since then

hpucker99 Loc: Anchorage, Alaska

There was a thread a few years ago on cold proofing cameras and one responder said the camera will do fine, its the photographer who is going to freeze up first.

hpucker99 Loc: Anchorage, Alaska

Thank you for this! I was beginning to have some suspicions about the electronics, especially since I started getting the "ERR" message. I tried to do a time lapse last night. Set it up around 5 pm and had the internal intervalometer set to start at 11pm. Picked it up this morning, the intervalometer didn't start. I'm going to do another test tonight or tomorrow with an external intervalometer and see what happens. If that fails, I will send it into Nikon.

BassmanBruce Loc: Middle of the Mitten

Good luck and pls post the resolution of this when it happens.

TonyBot

I sorta remember a previous OP having a similar problem. This may or may not be your issue.

What had been happening is that the OP set the intervalometer for (say) five seconds and X exposures, but the exposure for ten seconds, thinking that there would be a 10-sec exposure and a 5-sec interval in between. At five seconds, the computer overrode the ten-second exposure setting, closed the shutter, and then initiated a new exposure and repeated the sequence: begin 10-sec exposure, computer overrides at 5-seconds, and began again... He got the number of exposures programmed, but the whole procedure completed before he expected it to. (And, the battery had a lot of charge still in it!)

Don't recall if he got ERR message, but since it was basically two computers dueling each other, he may have.

The solution was to make sure the intervalometer was *always* set for a number greater than the exposure time (in seconds) i.e. intervalometer 10 sec, shutter *less* than 10 sec.

Dunno if this is the issue. Not a Nikonian and don't do such sequences but, hey, maybe.