[Leica] Shooting digitally and batteries

[len-1 at comcast.net (Leonard Taupier)]

Hi Frank,

The first thing you want to do is check the date code of the  
batteries. It's a 4 digit code and signifies YYMM. Be suspicious of  
anything 5 years or older. The code is located just below the screw  
that holds the battery cover to the battery. When I bought my D1H,  
used, it came with two batteries, 0209 and 9912. Even after a refresh  
the 0209 battery wouldn't hold a charge for more then 10 shots. It  
would show fully charged when you first put it in the camera. The  
older battery fared better and would last for maybe 100 shots and  
then suddenly die. It would recover after 5 minutes with the camera  
off and then maybe shoot 3 or 4 more shots.

I would charge all the batteries and then let them sit for a couple  
of weeks. Then shoot off maybe 50 shots with a few chimps thrown in  
and see if the battery still shows full charge immediately  
afterwards. I ended buying a new battery from B&H last year. But  
they're not cheap. But now I need a spare. I hope you have at least a  
couple good ones.

Regards,
Len



On Dec 30, 2007, at 10:21 AM, Frank Filippone wrote:

> OK.. I confess, I bought a used Nikon D1 kit.  It is fun to use in a
> Polaroid kind of way.
>
> Enough snickering.....
>
> I do not use the thing in the machine gun style a few friends do  
> ( He used
> 36K actuations in 6 months of amateur shooting.  No, I did NOT buy the
> camera from him!).  But I have a question about battery life.
>
> I got 5 batteries with the camera.  I charged them all up.  But I  
> shoot so
> little, I wonder how to figure out which batteries are holding a  
> charge and
> which ones should be thrown out as basically useless.
>
> Should I just leave the batteries sitting there and test their  
> charge is a
> few days/weeks/whatever?  Is there some other way to test the  
> batteries for
> charge holding ability?
>
> Batteries are NiMH, Nikon model En4.
>
> Thanks...... you can go back to snickering......
>
> Frank Filippone
> red735i@earthlink.net
>
>
>
>
>
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