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| Moderated by: chrisbet, | ||
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jk
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I want to confirm what cells are being used in the EN-EL15 series of batteries. These EN-EL15 series batteries are found in the Nikon D500, D600, D610, D800, D810, D850 DSLR cameras, and Nikon Z7, Z6 and V1 mirrorless cameras. If anyone has a dead EN-EL15 battery then I would really appreciate it if you could donate it to me for my testing. I will pay for P&P to me in UK. Please contact me via PM for my address. |
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Graham Whistler
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JK I thought I had a nearly dead EN-EL15 dated 2013 my oldest bettery (my only black one) but after full overnight charge it is reading in the D850 as a NEW!!! one and after a day light use 10 pixs stil reads new and 97%. I will keep an eye on it as it has had little use since D500 days as my other 4 are all the newer grey type EN-EL15a still same spec IE: 70V 1900 mAh 14W. I see now there is yet an even newer one EN-EL15B? I think it is nearly same spec but slightly higher mAh? JK Perhaps you can explain why these changes as they all seem to work in my two Nikons but I understand the the A and B ones will only work on the latest Nikons? As a matter of interest I only once tried a non Nikon battery at 1/2 the price and less that 1/2 the use it was soon kicked out. If my 2013 starts to show its age it is yours. |
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jk
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I will try to explain. The Nikon One V1, D600, D610 and D800 used the original EN-EL15 but can use all the later versions. The D810 was introduced with the EN-EL15a but I think (but dont know) can use the EN-EL15 or the EN-EL15b. The D850, Z6 and Z7 were introduced with the EN-EL15b, but can also use the EN-EL15a but NOT the original EN-EL15. |
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Graham Whistler
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The D500 and D850 can use the EN-EL15 black colour no problem, I have one in the D850 at present testing as it is the only one of the older type I still have and works well in both cameras. I mainly use the grey coloured EN-EL15a in both cameras. What I want to know what is the new EN-EL15b? |
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GeoffR
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The newer versions of Nikon batteries generally have a higher capacity than their predecessors but the EN-EL15b also has the capability to be charged in the camera when used with the Z6 and Z7. I am at a loss to understand why anyone would want to do that but the capability is there. |
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jk
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GeoffR wrote:The newer versions of Nikon batteries generally have a higher capacity than their predecessors but the EN-EL15b also has the capability to be charged in the camera when used with the Z6 and Z7. I am at a loss to understand why anyone would want to do that but the capability is there.  Glad you said it GeoffR.It is completely beyond me why you would charge via USB when the charger does it in 90ish minutes compared with overnight (approx. 8 hours). |
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Robert
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USB charging permits car based charging without an inverter, also using a power bank. The b type has very slightly increased capacity, BUT only if charged with a 'Z' type charger, which it seems can pack a few more mAh into the cells, perhaps with a very slightly increased voltage, or possibly pulse charging? |
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jk
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But charging in car is really slooooooow! |
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GeoffR
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How many people spend eight hours driving between locations? I would always prefer to use a spare battery rather than plug the camera into a charger. Can you actually use a Z series camera when it is charging from a USB-C port? |
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jk
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GeoffR wrote:How many people spend eight hours driving between locations?Dont know but you can tether it to an iPad Pro (1st gen with Camera Connection adapter or with 2nd gen directly) if you are shooting in studio. However I hate being tethered as the cables always get in the way. |
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Robert
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GeoffR wrote:How many people spend eight hours driving between locations?I generally get well more than eight hours overnight while away on expeditions, last year I followed the Scottish Six Day Trail for two days and took a lot of exposures with the D3 using four batteries. In car charging would have been a boon. I don't trust inverters, especially cheap ones when it comes to expensive camera and computer gear. So for me at least, the ability to charge a camera battery from the car would be welcome. Meanwhile one of my D3 batteries had died. I had planned to repeat the trip and get four days of the trial this year but covid19 got in the way, maybe next year? |
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GeoffR
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Robert wrote:I generally get well more than eight hours overnight while away on expeditions, last year I followed the Scottish Six Day Trail for two days and took a lot of exposures with the D3 using four batteries. In car charging would have been a boon. I don't trust inverters, especially cheap ones when it comes to expensive camera and computer gear. So for me at least, the ability to charge a camera battery from the car would be welcome. Meanwhile one of my D3 batteries had died.I suppose that is fair enough but that wouldn't be charging in your car would it? As soon as there is more than one battery involved I would prefer to use a separate charger. Charging a battery in the camera overnight would probably work with the Z6 or Z7 if the external charger has only one slot, one charging in the camera and one in the charger to start the day with two fully charged. The D3, and later, SLRs have two slot chargers allowing one to start the day with two fully charged batteries and no need to use the camera. It is possible these days to buy a third party charger for Nikon batteries (I have an MH26 equivalent) and some come with adaptor plates to allow both EN-EL18 and EN-EL4 batteries to be charged. I haven't tried one with an inverter but I have used an inverter with computers without problems. I have several ExPro EN-EL4a batteries and I can't fault them and they ate 1/3 the price of a Nikon original. |
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jk
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I am still looking for a dual battery charger that charges both/two EN-EL15 batteries simultaneously rather than sequentially. This is a design item not an electronics limitation. Nikon dont make a two EN-EL15 battery charger but there are chinese variants that offer this but they run on 5v USB charging which takes forever to charge two batteries. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2X-EN-EL15-Battery-LCD-Dual-Charger-For-Nikon-D7200-D7100-D7000-D810-D800-D750/224022607092?hash=item3428c9b4f4:g:Zt4AAOSwVzxey4sk |
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jk
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Sometimes things just fall in your lap! https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07DCHLL5X/?coliid=IHY9OVFA2TP1M&colid=1UPJ37YHBQDMC&psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it Wow. So exchange the plates for different batteries at approx £5 each! |
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chrisbet
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Lol - I have one that runs off a power pack / phone charger / USB port - takes 2 EN-15 Click here to comment on this image. |
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Robert
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jk wrote:Sometimes things just fall in your lap!Well spotted JK, nice one. What I need is an external power source for the D800, I ran a time lapse yesterday for 5 hours continuous, I used a battery base screwed to the bottom of the D800 with a second EN-EL 15. It just managed the 5 hours, I doubt it would have done 6 hours. What I would much prefer would be to be able to plug a large capacity battery into the DC input port. For time lapse and astro, compact and built in don't count highly. Long, uninterrupted running time is paramount. |
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GeoffR
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Robert wrote:Well spotted JK, nice one.Unless you want to operate remotely from mains power this is what Nikon offer EH-5c/EH-5b AC adapter; requires EP-5B power connector (available separately). However, I suspect the EP-5B is rather overpriced (£40 on Amazon). I have had the EH6, originally for the D2, for many years but the adaptor to use it with the D4 is more than I paid for the power supply, around £150 when I last looked. |
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Robert
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I have a mains PSU for the D3 and one for the D300, not sure that either of these will fit the D800, I will check. My plan was to find a (relatively) large capacity battery and cut an appropriate plug off of a mains PSU to provide the connection to the camera, I can use an appropriate plug and socket to allow the lead to be re-attached to the appropriate PSU. However that is a winter project... I would guess 90% of my time lapse or interval photography is remote from the mains. |
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chrishamer
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jk wrote:'Raises hand' ... so I pretty much exclusively charge my Z6 batteries via USB C. The answer? Convenience. I pretty much exclusively use the camera with the MB-N10 grip, so have 2 EN-EL15b batteries inside it. I do carry a couple of EN-EL15a spares if I expect to be doing a lot of filming, but mostly the two in the grip are just fine. I have a lot of tech so the main chargers I use are fast USB-C PD ones, and they are always plugged in, I don't keep chargers like the dedicated Nikon one plugged in. So at the end of the day, I plug the camera into a USB C charger, leave it overnight, and both batteries are good to go the next day. If moving between locations and expecting a long day of shooting, I'll plug in a USB C cable from my backpack that I have a powerbank in too, giving me a nice little boost if needed. |
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jk
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Well there you go...... Just proves the point that not all/some features are useless even if we dont use them as somebody else may have found it useful.  |
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GeoffR
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One reason I wouldn't charge a battery in a camera, even if I could, is that it is not unknown for Li-Ion batteries to swell as they age and/or during charging. I recently found a Bluetooth headset and decided to charge it, quite quickly the battery swelled and destroyed the casing. A battery doing this in a camera would be a serious problem, it isn't as if you can pull the battery to bits to get it out, if you try it is very likely to catch fire! I am not sure how tightly the battery fits in the Z6 but I don't suppose there is much clearance. I did have a battery become very "snug" in a Nikon compact camera so this isn't theory, it does happen. It is less likely with a new battery but new batteries have been known to catch fire (JAL at Boston). I'd rather lose a battery charger than a camera. Your camera, your choice. |
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chrishamer
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GeoffR wrote:One reason I wouldn't charge a battery in a camera, even if I could, is that it is not unknown for Li-Ion batteries to swell as they age and/or during charging. I recently found a Bluetooth headset and decided to charge it, quite quickly the battery swelled and destroyed the casing. A battery doing this in a camera would be a serious problem, it isn't as if you can pull the battery to bits to get it out, if you try it is very likely to catch fire!That's a fair concern, to be honest, if they do so in the battery grip I'm not too fussed, if it were inside the camera, that'd be crap. That being said, I've never had that happen outside of 'standard' AA/AAA batteries. |
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GeoffR
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Least said about the Z series grip the better! I have a, now expired, Bluetooth headset and a smart phone battery that have both swollen considerably, fortunately the latter isn't in the phone. It may not happen and I hope it doesn't but a Z6 is an expensive item to risk. |
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jk
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GeoffR wrote:Least said about the Z series grip the better!Geoff, Not sure if Nikon will release one but hopefully if you want one that Meike will eventually release one if you want one. |
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GeoffR
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I am currently unconvinced about mirrorless cameras, despite having a 1J5, but even if I were to buy one, the fact that neither the Z6 or Z7 is equipped to use a control grip would make me think twice. If there were to be a Z6/Z7s with suitable contacts and a control grip I might rethink. |
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jk
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You will need to wait for Z8 or Z9 that will probably have these features. I dont think that a battery grip is required for me in extended use as a stills camera. I cant comment on video. A second battery in my pocket is more than enough. But I agree that a vertical shutter is a big miss for vertical shooting. We are moving to a new paradigm in cameras. The old D3, D3S, D3X, D4, in the past were workhorses and are superceded by the new D5, and coming soon D6 but they are now are very much niche products for many users. The newer cameras D500, D800, D810, D850 are hugely popular and sell well. The Z6, Z7 are still new and first generation for FX sized sensors mirrorless cameras. They are very good cameras but are still not matured products like the D3 series, D4 and D5. |
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GeoffR
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jk wrote:You will need to wait for Z8 or Z9 that will probably have these features.I agree that the camera world is changing but there are sufficient models above mine to keep me going for a few years yet. My journey to the D4 probably makes me odd, my first camera was a Praktica LTL around 1973/4. In 1979 I bought an OM1 and over the next 11 years bought, another OM1, an OM2 and two OM4s I had motordrives on the OM4s and a wide range of lenses. I liked the small size of the OM system but Olympus let the whole thing down by discontinuing the battery packs for the motordrives. (Batteries already) Thus in 1990 I was in the market for a new camera system, it needed a 5fps motor drive, spot metering, and AF, there were but two options the Nikon F4s and the Canon EOS1, the Nikon used AA cells so I went Nikon. Subsequently buying another F4s, an F90 and an FM2n, then in 1996 the F5 arrived, I got one of the first ones in the country. I bought another one the next year trading in the F4s bodies and the FM2n. My set-up remained that way until 2003 when I bought a Fuji FinePix S2Pro (a misleading name if ever there was one) Swiftly replaced by a D2H. Having used cameras with a grip for over 20 years by this time the only upgrade path was to stick with the top of the range, D3 x 2 followed by D4 x 2 retaining a D3. I have never really considered the other models in the range. A rather long winded explanation as to why the current Z6/Z7 just won't do from my perspective. They may well be excellent tools but without either a control grip or a built-in grip I won't be buying one let alone replacing my SLRs. I was surprised that the D780 is also produced without contacts for a grip. |
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jk
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I understand your thought process and its evolution. I went from Praktica LLC to Pentax Spotmatic F but couldnt focus with it, moved to Nikkormat FT in 1973 never looked back. FTn, F, F2SB, FM, FE, F3, F301, F501, F601, F801, F801s, D1, D1X, D2X, D70, D80, D90, D3, D3S, D300, D300S, D600, D800, D850, D500, Z7. I still have my F3. Glorious machine. |
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GeoffR
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The F3, the camera which a photographic magazine's camera guide described as "Very, very, very, very expensive for what it is". I have never handled one so I can't say much about it. I think the F4 was designed by a security expert, almost every control had a lock and it had lots of controls! |
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jk
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GeoffR wrote:The F3, the camera which a photographic magazine's camera guide described as "Very, very, very, very expensive for what it is". I have never handled one so I can't say much about it. I think the F4 was designed by a security expert, almost every control had a lock and it had lots of controls!The F3 is the most solid camera I ever had. I guess the later cameras have AF which some will say are great improvement e.g. F4, F5, F6. I still rate the D3 series as the best Nikons ever. |
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| A small amount of member data is captured and held in an attempt to reduce spammers and to manage users. This site also uses cookies to ensure ease of use. In order to comply with new DPR regulations you are required to agree/disagree with this process. If you do not agree then please email the Admins using info@nikondsl.uk Thank you. |