New to the forums, another member highly recommends all you chaps for impartial advice about photographs and associated gear for taking them 
I've got a Nikon D200 bought from eBay as my first proper DSLR, it was sold as 'Used' and has a bit of wear and tear, functionally works perfectly -- however usage with a 70-200mm f/2.8 VR lens seems to really sap the juice (went to Herstmonceux this past weekend) and I'll only get a couple of hundred shots from it, versus considerably more with something like a 28-70mm f/2.8 without VR -- is that par for the course? Worth noting I'm shooting in AF-C and doing a little bit of review between shooting 12-20 shot bursts, and it's shooting in RAW mostly, but I was still quite disappointed :-(
Now is that because it's a used battery? Because it's a third party unit which doesn't have the same quality as a branded battery? Is it normal, and I realize that's an almost impossible question to answer?! I did note with interest that flipping the whole rig into manual gave me quite a lot more shots which supports my theory the lens is just chewing battery!
To cut an otherwise long story short, I felt like a right lemon heading off for a weekend of photography and running out of juice I'm looking to "fix" that by acquiring a couple more batteries, a grip to cut down on swaps (and make the camera a bit better balanced and more manageable shooting in portrait) and a couple of chargers for my desk so I can charge in parallel. Would the oracles suggest spending the money on a Nikon MB-D200 or are some of the third party brands decent, and if so, which ones? How about branded batteries versus third party - any tips on what to avoid or acquire? Any chargers out there which rapid charge multiple batteries at once? Similarly is it worth spending ££££ on a Nikon MH-18a or are there decent alternatives for less money?
PS: Great weekend, out of 850-1000 exposures I've sorted through 30-40% and found 22 images so far which I'm very very happy with :-D Event staff were mildly annoying though, lots of harassment and "You do realize that professional photography is prohibited here, you may not sell the images?" in multiple places when walking over the show grounds.
I've got a Nikon D200 bought from eBay as my first proper DSLR, it was sold as 'Used' and has a bit of wear and tear, functionally works perfectly -- however usage with a 70-200mm f/2.8 VR lens seems to really sap the juice (went to Herstmonceux this past weekend) and I'll only get a couple of hundred shots from it, versus considerably more with something like a 28-70mm f/2.8 without VR -- is that par for the course? Worth noting I'm shooting in AF-C and doing a little bit of review between shooting 12-20 shot bursts, and it's shooting in RAW mostly, but I was still quite disappointed :-(
Now is that because it's a used battery? Because it's a third party unit which doesn't have the same quality as a branded battery? Is it normal, and I realize that's an almost impossible question to answer?! I did note with interest that flipping the whole rig into manual gave me quite a lot more shots which supports my theory the lens is just chewing battery!
To cut an otherwise long story short, I felt like a right lemon heading off for a weekend of photography and running out of juice
I'm looking to "fix" that by acquiring a couple more batteries, a grip to cut down on swaps (and make the camera a bit better balanced and more manageable shooting in portrait) and a couple of chargers for my desk so I can charge in parallel. Would the oracles suggest spending the money on a Nikon MB-D200 or are some of the third party brands decent, and if so, which ones? How about branded batteries versus third party - any tips on what to avoid or acquire? Any chargers out there which rapid charge multiple batteries at once? Similarly is it worth spending ££££ on a Nikon MH-18a or are there decent alternatives for less money?PS: Great weekend, out of 850-1000 exposures I've sorted through 30-40% and found 22 images so far which I'm very very happy with :-D Event staff were mildly annoying though, lots of harassment and "You do realize that professional photography is prohibited here, you may not sell the images?" in multiple places when walking over the show grounds.
- for me it makes saving for the glass bits easier!
