Travel Photography - FT camera clinic : Nikon D50 battery draining

My Nikon D50 seems to be draining batteries like I can guzzle a gin and tonic.

I have one original battery that is four years old, one that is three years old and one that is less than a year old. I have the original charger.

I will charge up a dead battery, shoot twenty pictures sans flash, then put the away for a day in the off position and the battery will be dead. I have tried all three batteries, with the exact same problem.

These are all Nikon batteries.

I can leave the camera out between uses and it appears to be fine, but I haven't really done any conclusive testing for this.


I am wondering if there is something wrong with the contacts within the camera that is causing all the juice to be drained, my charger is a dud, I need a new battery (I just ordered one) or my camera needs a good service.

The camera is four years old. I believe somewhere I may have an extended waranty through Nikon,so sending the camera in for testing is an option.

No, I am not really in the market for a new DSLR, so I'm not going that route.

I just want my camera working.

lala

My Nikon D50 seems to be draining batteries like I can guzzle a gin and tonic.

I have one original battery that is four years old, one that is three years old and one that is less than a year old. I have the original charger.

I will charge up a dead battery, shoot twenty pictures sans flash, then put the away for a day in the off position and the battery will be dead. I have tried all three batteries, with the exact same problem.

These are all Nikon batteries.

I can leave the camera out between uses and it appears to be fine, but I haven't really done any conclusive testing for this.

I am wondering if there is something wrong with the contacts within the camera that is causing all the juice to be drained, my charger is a dud, I need a new battery (I just ordered one) or my camera needs a good service.

The camera is four years old. I believe somewhere I may have an extended waranty through Nikon,so sending the camera in for testing is an option.

lithium ion batteries degrade whether you use them or not and it's not too surprising that 3-4 year old batteries can no longer hold a charge. however, it is a bit surprising that a 1 year old battery would have problems, but it does happen.

i would guess that the new battery will work as you expect.

if not, take your old batteries to a used camera store that has a d50 or d70/d70s (newer nikon slrs use a slightly different battery) to see if the problem still occurs with their cameras.

also, turning the camera off is really nothing more than a shutter lock. most of the camera still has power, namely the top lcd and even the lens contact pins, so there will be a slight drain but it should last far longer than a day or two.

Original Nikon batteries come with a 2 year warranty, so said a salesman to me when I bought mine.
So if you still have the receipt (proof of purchase), you should return it for a replacement.
This of course does not solve the problem (if exists) that drains the battery.

I would get your camera checked. I've had a D50 for about three years, alternating between two batteries, and I've noticed no battery drain on either. (I've snapped about 10k photos so far.) I can easily take hundreds of pictures over a month or more without having to change the battery. The fact that your battery keeps a charge when it's not in the camera but drains in a day when it's in suggests to me that there's something wrong with the camera, not the batteries. I'd have a hard time believing that you have three bad batteries, especially since they were all purchased at different times. (Either that, or you're really unlucky!)