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|| SportsShooter.com: Member Message Board
D800 + MB D12 real world power usage?
Martin McNeil, Photographer
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London | London | United Kingdom | Posted: 6:01 AM on 02.09.13 |
->> I picked up and MB D12 for the D800 two days ago and am currently running it using two EN-EL15 batteries; I was just wondering what sort of real-world capacity existing users are seeing with the grip.
For example: does the grip fare better with AA's and/or is it worth shelling out for an EN-EL18?
Thanks in advance. |
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Delane B. Rouse, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Washington | DC | US | Posted: 9:11 AM on 02.09.13 |
->> Do you already have a D4?
If not...then I think the EN-EL18 also requires the MH-26 quick charger and the end cap. I could be wrong. I use multiple EN-EL15 batteries since they are relatively cheap.
The battery life is nowhere near the D700 but I also chimp every single shot so that is the biggest drain on the battery.
dbr |
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John Stoops, Photographer, Student/Intern
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Seoul | ROK | South Korea | Posted: 9:40 PM on 02.09.13 |
| ->> It has been my experience that the EN-EL18 work much better than AA. |
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Matt Cashore, Photographer
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South Bend | IN | USA | Posted: 12:56 PM on 02.10.13 |
->> Just so happens I had a good stress test last night with a 5OT hoops game. Had a variety of cameras: D3s, D300s, D800, with the full gamut of battery options.
My remotes are in places I have to set up at least 2 hours prior and can't get to during the game. They are set with the pre-release on.
So by the end of the game I had a pretty good worst-case-scenario on which batteries last how long.
So in ascending order of worst-to-first:
EN-EL15 (brand-new yet first to die)
EN-EL3e (mid-life, didn't last the full game)
EN-EL4a (older, lasted the entire game but barely)
...and the winner by miles and miles:
Lithium AAs in the MB-D12.
Lesson learned the hard way--I'm going to buy an AC adapter for my D800 and use it if I can mount my camera anywhere near power. |
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Michael Prengler, Photographer
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Dallas / Ft. Worth | TX | USA | Posted: 1:36 PM on 02.10.13 |
| ->> Hey Matt, I think you can tell the camera in which order to use the power ie use the grip batteries then use the body batteries and vice versa. |
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Matt Cashore, Photographer
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South Bend | IN | USA | Posted: 1:57 PM on 02.10.13 |
->> Yes, that is correct. That's a nice feature. The transition from grip battery to body battery (or however you set it up) is seamless near as I can tell. But, I only have one MB-D12. For remote use I generally prefer the smaller lighter body. One EN-EL15 can make it through a regulation game.
The results of my impromptu experiment aren't surprising by any means...Of *course* 8 lithium AAs last longer than a tiny rechargeable battery pack. Nor is it that surprising that larger EN-EL4as can go longer, but I found the most interesting thing to be that virtually brand-new EN-EL15s died before much older EN-EL3es, which would be a more apples-to-apples comparison in my mind. |
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Derek Leung, Photographer
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Vancouver | BC | Canada | Posted: 2:55 AM on 02.11.13 |
->> Matt,
Have u considered the possibility of using plus 3 or multimax receivers with an acc port?
With the newer pocketwizards you can turn on and off prerelease from your trigger so that the camera is in a low power state until you turn prefelease on. That way you could turn on prerelease only when u need it. |
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Martin McNeil, Photographer
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London | London | United Kingdom | Posted: 12:00 PM on 02.11.13 |
| ->> Thanks for the input, everyone - I'll be giving the 800+MB-D12 it's first run-through this week with the UFC event in London... and I'll post back my findings to this thread. Cheers! |
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Doug Holleman, Photographer
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Temple | TX | USA | Posted: 3:42 PM on 02.11.13 |
->> I have a third-party Meike grip that cost me about $59 online. I was really impressed by its performance with AA batteries, which was something that was really lacking with previous grips. You get the extra FPS in DX mode, but unfortunately, I hardy ever use DX mode, so it's kinda moot.
I don't notice any other real difference in performance, other than the Nikon battery is a bit lighter than 8 AA batteries, which is why I usually opt that way. |
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