D70 Battery Life per Charge

I have owned my D70 for about 4 weeks. I shot 87 pictures (about 8 flash)
and little use of the display.
When I prepared to do the firmware update two days ago, I checked the
battery indicator and it showed it was down only a single segment. I did
the firmware upgrade with no problem.
After taking only two more pictures, the battery indicator shows only one
segment left.
I know the firmware update instructions say that a fully charged battery
should be used before an update attempt is made. Does it use that much
power.
Someone reported (Roger H) that he had shot 500 to 600 pictures (1/2
flash) before his battery was exhausted.
Is my battery OK? Is there a shelf life of about a month for the Li-Ion
battery after a full charge?
TIA,
Don F

"Don F" wrote in message
news:Qv8Kc.1739$fB4.1460@lakeread01...
[]
I know the firmware update instructions say that a fully charged
battery should be used before an update attempt is made. Does it use that
much power.

Don, that's just to stop the update failing through low power, with the
firmware being in a half-old / half-new status - i.e. useless!! I tend to
do those updates either with completely fresh batteries or with the camera
powered from the mains.

Cheers,
David

Depending on your snapping behaviour ... if you do a lot of chimping .. the
battery will degrade.
Some D70 user in Singapore reported that they are able to max around 1000 to
1200 snaps before the battery runs out.

so if you took less than 100 pix directly and it already runs out ... there
is something wrong with your batt.
but if you took 10 one day .. and other 10 in other day ... the battery will
lose its charge.

=bob=

"Don F" wrote in message
news:Qv8Kc.1739$fB4.1460@lakeread01...
I have owned my D70 for about 4 weeks. I shot 87 pictures (about 8
flash)
and little use of the display.
When I prepared to do the firmware update two days ago, I checked the
battery indicator and it showed it was down only a single segment. I did
the firmware upgrade with no problem.
After taking only two more pictures, the battery indicator shows only
one
segment left.
I know the firmware update instructions say that a fully charged battery
should be used before an update attempt is made. Does it use that much
power.
Someone reported (Roger H) that he had shot 500 to 600 pictures (1/2
flash) before his battery was exhausted.
Is my battery OK? Is there a shelf life of about a month for the Li-Ion
battery after a full charge?
TIA,
Don F

"[BnH]" b18ATiinetDOTnetDOTaus wrote in message
...

snip
so if you took less than 100 pix directly and it already runs out ...
there
is something wrong with your batt.
but if you took 10 one day .. and other 10 in other day ... the battery
will
lose its charge.

=bob=
--------------
That's me (and I'll bet there are many others like me). The number of
pictures I take will increase as I get higher on the D70 learning curve.
I guess a good question that would benefit us casual users is "What is the
shelf life of a fully charged D70 Li-Ion battery?"
Anyone know?
Don F

"[BnH]" b18ATiinetDOTnetDOTaus wrote in message
...

snip
so if you took less than 100 pix directly and it already runs out ...
there
is something wrong with your batt.
but if you took 10 one day .. and other 10 in other day ... the battery
will
lose its charge.

=bob=
--------------
That's me (and I'll bet there are many others like me). The number of
pictures I take will increase as I get higher on the D70 learning curve.
I guess a good question that would benefit us casual users is "What is the
shelf life of a fully charged D70 Li-Ion battery?"
Anyone know?
Don F

On Sat, 17 Jul 2004 09:51:18 -0400, Don F wrote:

I think I found the answer to my battery drain. (I should have checked the
manual before posting.)
The D70 puts a "small ??" drain on the battery while it is plugged into
the camera. I don't know what the drain is (I would sure like to know) but
if the drain is 2 ma then that is 48 mAH per day and 1440 mAH per month.
The capacity of the D70 EN-EL3 battery is 1400 mAH. So a fully charged
battery will completely discharge itself in 30 days just sitting in the
camera with an *assumed* 2 ma drain.
Does anyone have the equipment (and time) to measure the D70 battery
drain in the camera while idle? Does 2 ma seem reasonable?
Don F
Don,
I think the drain is the USB interface. My experience is that when you
have your D70 connected to the PC the batterie will go dead superfast...

So I will go buy a card reader soon for my PC.

Paul

"paul" wrote in message
Don,
I think the drain is the USB interface. My experience is that when you
have your D70 connected to the PC the batterie will go dead superfast...

So I will go buy a card reader soon for my PC.

Paul
------------------
Paul,
The battery drain is not caused by the USB port in my case. I have never
used the USB port with the D70 ... I always use the CF card reader. The
card reader is fast, reliable, and uses no camera battery power.
Don

On Sat, 17 Jul 2004 16:34:53 +0200, paul wrote:


I think the drain is the USB interface. My experience is that when you
have your D70 connected to the PC the batterie will go dead superfast...


I completely drained my battery overnight because I left it plugged
into the USB cable with the power on. I didn't even think of the
possibility it would drain the battery quickly this way.

After a few seconds of panic that I somehow fried the camera I put in
the backup battery and everything worked great


"I'm the luckiest man in the world. I have a cigarette
lighter and a wife...and they both work!"

On Sat, 17 Jul 2004 16:34:53 +0200, paul wrote:


I think the drain is the USB interface. My experience is that when you
have your D70 connected to the PC the batterie will go dead superfast...


I completely drained my battery overnight because I left it plugged
into the USB cable with the power on. I didn't even think of the
possibility it would drain the battery quickly this way.

After a few seconds of panic that I somehow fried the camera I put in
the backup battery and everything worked great


"I'm the luckiest man in the world. I have a cigarette
lighter and a wife...and they both work!"

"Cadillac_Jones" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 17 Jul 2004 16:34:53 +0200, paul wrote:

I completely drained my battery overnight because I left it plugged
into the USB cable with the power on. I didn't even think of the
possibility it would drain the battery quickly this way.

After a few seconds of panic that I somehow fried the camera I put in
the backup battery and everything worked great

----------------
Thanks for the information. I wanted to know a quick way to completely
drain the battery before a new charge cycle. Now I know ... USB
Don F