| Joined: | Wed Apr 11th, 2012 |
| Location: | Denham, United Kingdom |
| Posts: | 293 |
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Never understood the need for such precise specification power packs....when 6 Duracell's will apparently do the same job?
The reasons are simple; the EN-EL3e is a "smart" battery and can report its state of charge accurately to the camera/grip. Earlier EN-EL3 series batteries are not "smart' in the same way.
The grip needs to accurate state of charge information to determine when to switch to the battery with the higher charge. It is likely that the third party EN-EL3 battery speaks Nikon with an accent and the grip is discriminating against it. Two identical batteries should solve the problem.
The reason for the range of power options with the Digital grips is equally straight forward. A professional using, say, D3 and D300 bodies has the option to use a common battery in both, the EN-EL4; alternatively AA batteries are readily available in quantity making their use attractive. The option to have an EN-EL3e in the grip works for the person who does not have/want EN-EL4 batteries but does want the additional capacity of a second EN-EL3e. The same is true for the D4 and D800 user with the option to use the EN-EL18 with the D800 grip. In both cases the AA battery holder comes with the grip but the battery lid is an option (not clever because third party lids are 1/3 of the price of a Nikon one).
Nikon appears to have lost the plot with the D4 because anyone using both D3 and D4 has to either buy an adaptor for the MH26, to charge the EN-EL4, or carry two chargers. That the EN-EL4 and the EN-EL18 are functionally similar makes the situation even more frustrating. The only obvious difference is the positioning of the connector.