D200 trouble ??

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chris draper
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Hi All

I bought a pre owned D200 from a local shop 2 weeks ago

There are two maybe three problems that Ive noticed. before I go back to the shop can anyone shed any light on these....

1. the battery only lasts for a maximum of 120 shots !!!!. It ran out during the first day of my holiday last week and I didnt have the charger with me assuming it would last as long as the D70. When I look at the battery info it says its new (ie hasnt been recharged millions of times) ???? Its pretty much 1% of battery per shot ???? I havnt used the onboard flash which I assume would zap the power ??

2. When I try to review the shots, the screen on the back keeps going blank. It happens when I try to look at the detail by zooming in. When I hold the thumbnail button the red border comes up, however when I turn the main command dial most of the time the screen just swithes off. I then have to go through the proccess again loads of times until occasionally it will zoom in normally. Its really frustrating !!! Its as though it switches back to shooting mode ???? As I say sometimes I can zoom in but it seems 100% random. I make sure all my fingers are away from the other buttong etc.

3. this is a wierd one. Even though the display says I can take approx 290 shots with fine jpg onto a 1gig card. when I came to download them there were just over 410 shots. All the same quality ?????? I did notice a couple of times that after taking a series of images the counter stayed the same ???? Not really a problem just very odd, although i would like to know accurately when the card will need changing.

Obviously the camera is under warrenty but are these problems fixable ???? What are my options. The battery could just require replacing and see if it works how it properly, or the old charger that I have from the D70 isnt compatable ??. But Im not so sure about the disapeering screen problem. Its a very annoying and really inhibits some of the key features of the camera.

Has anybody come across these issues before ??
 
#3 is easy. The number of shots that the display is just an estimate by the camera of the number of shots you will be able to get on the card based on your previous shot. It is quite common to get more shots than the top LCD indicates
 
Oh thanks for that, I suppose that is logical, as it doesnt know if you are going to change file quality.

any thoughts on the other 2

cheers

chris
 
1. The battery should last a lot longer than that. I used to get around 600 RAW shots out of mine.

2. I've noticed a new battery is only ever good after a really long charge. I've had exactly the problem (is it a problem?) with a couple of EN-EL3s. Left them on charge all night and they've been ok since.

3. The amount displayed is based around the minimum amount the card could hold based upon the maximum file size at the current quality setting. The bonus comes from the fact that no two JPG files (or any compressed files) are the same as the maximum size. So the compression creates 'bonus' space.
 
I will try that with the battery

thanks for the info on the number of images !!
chris
 
Not being a dark sider, I cannot specifically comment on the D200, but there are a number of things which are known to effect the efficiency of the battery. One you have already eliminated, the on camera flash does indeed hammer the battery. Image stabilizing lenses also drain the battery, as does constantly checking the images in the viewing screen. Believe it or not, the auto focus can also impact... if you're like me, you'll spend all your time half pressing the shutter as you walk around. As I said... I don't use Nikon but my previous camera was a canon 400d and the battery performance was rubbish, my 5D on the other hand is fantastic... seems to last forever.
 
Hi Chrispix

So did the battery on my old D70 !!! Seemed to last forever. I havnt changed my method of holding or using the camera ??

Im thinking as this was a second hand camera and didnt come with ANYTHING , and after just checking the battery isnt a nikon one !!! and im using my old d70 charger I might just bite the bullet and get a brand new d300 instead. If I go back into the shop I dont think they will mind if I upgrade !!

chris
 
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