Nikon D5500 Battery performance

[EmzDad]

Hi,

We have a new D5500 that is a couple of weeks old. All the reviews I read before getting this camera stated that it had better battery performance then the D5300, it should take about 800 photos.

The best I can get is about 300 before the battery is flat. I just did a mixture of day and night shots, no flash and got just around 300 photos.

I don't do any editing on the camera. Touch screen is auto off, use it to look at photos taken to check they are some what right.
With some live view use.

Those who have a D5500 home many photos do you get out of a battery average?

And do different settings vastly effect battery life? Bar the obvious of running the rear screen full time.

Thanks
Shane

[MissionMan]

You should be getting double that. I'd consider getting a spare battery to compare (always good to have a second) and at least you would have an indication of whether the problem is with the camera or the battery. Not sure if they have a run in period though.

[tandeejay]

I have a D5500 and get a lot more than that.

Using the touch screen to view photos, and making use of liveview will have a big impact on the battery life. I never worry about reviewing photos I've taken on the camera screen, and always wait until I'm home and can view all the pics on the big screen.

[arthurking83]

.....

I don't do any editing on the camera. Touch screen is auto off, use it to look at photos taken to check they are some what right.
With some live view use.

.....


Can you attempt to measure the amount of Lv usage?
Almost 100% certain this is where your battery power is going.
(one reason I'm unconvinced of mirrorless cameras!)

Reviewing your images doesn't use as much power as you think, unless you look back through them all all the time and show your friends .. etc.

Of my two cameras, D300 and D800E, they basically get the same power. D800's battery is in better shape(it's newer) and can mostly get more shots if both cameras are used in the same way.
That is, with image review off .. and if I need to check an exposure I just do it manually.

But: If I have one camera with auto image review after every exposure on on one camera and off on the other .. battery life doesn't change all that much between the two. So as an example of the D300 can now get me about 400-500 images on a single battery(battery is now 8 years old!) and the D800 can get me nearly 800 exposures on it's much newer 'good battery' ** (I'll explain that later).... I've never noticed the camera not achieving roughly the same number of images with the auto image review feature turned off or on. I think if there is any difference it may be in the 50 shot range or something .. not much difference in reality.

Not the same for Lv mode. Where I used to easily get 800-1000 images from the D300(when new) and about 800 images from the D800 .. using Lv cuts that down quickly, depending on the amount of Lv usage.

One time when the D800 was newer(now 4 yo) I used Lv exclusively in a macro setup, mainly to see how many images it would capture and playing with a new lens.
It ran out of juice after 80 exposures, each shot taking between 30s to 1min of fine tuning composition and focus.
Tried the same thing with the D300 and I got more like 200 exposures. While the two tests weren't exactly the same, they were close enough to it, but as it was easier to focus the D300(due to the higher magnification effect of the crop sensor .. with the same lens) I think each Lv setup time may have been shorter .. say 20-40s.
(and note that the D300 Lv system is fully and totally crap in it's operation! It's needs to be manually shut down to actually take the exposure or you get mirrorslap).

So I think the number of pixels that the sensor has makes a major difference to how quickly the power is used up during Lv mode. More pixels, quicker depleting of battery.

I reckon that if you used Lv exclusively, with 30-60 s timing for each exposure for set up preparation .. you'd probably get something like 150 exposures out of the battery.
Extrapolating that, I reckon your usage of Lv is more than "some". And it should be noted that the total time of use, rather than the number of times Lv mode was used is important.
That is, using Lv mode for 10 exposures each taking 1 minute of time to prepare the exposure = 10mins, and will kill the battery quickly.
60 times using Lv for only 5 sec each is only 5mins of Lv time, so not only is the total time shorter, between each timed session the battery has some recovery time to boot .. battery life should be a lot longer.

Also do you have the wireless feature always on? Wifi uses a fair amount of power, especially if it's searching for a connection(just like in a smart phone). This could be a factor too.

**(about the good battery) My D800E came with a dodgy battery(turns out it was in the batch of suspect Nikon batteries) I had it replaced a month or so later with a genuine Nikon battery.
At the same time, I also purchased an aftermarket battery from ebay .. cheap!
The replacement Nikon battery started to play up barely a month of so later too, and what it does is show that it's life is depleted.
The aftermarket battery is fine tho. It shows a 1 in the life indicator that the camera has. If you look for the battery info via the menu it shows you the % of power remaining in the battery for you to use and also an indicator between 1 and 4 for the actual lifetime that the battery has remaining.
My Nikon battery shows 4 and has reduced available power for use, whereas the very cheap($20) aftermarket battery shows a 1(like new) and gives me more shots per charge.

[ameerat42]

Shane. DO get a 2nd battery if you don't already have one. You can then compare their performances.
This would include how long each battery takes to charge. One that charges much quicker than
another could be suspect. If you have a multi-meter you can use that to check charge levels after a set
number of shots.

I wonder if poor batteries are returnable?

[EmzDad]

Thanks guys for the replies,



Arthur, do use LV some times but haven't kept a log as such. Battery life was also one of my issues with a mirrorless if I had gone that way. I suppose being new to this and experimenting with the camera is why it gets used. Did some more night photo's last night practising some of the advise given to me in the CC section, used LV for about 30min I suppose as it made it so easy to setup in the dark. Will see how many shots I get.

I like your test's, think I will do the same. Do one shoot totally on LV and one only using the camera LCD to review my shoots if needed (screen off other wise)

ameerate, Will do the second battery, but if this one is a Dud then I would like it replaced under warranty as it is only on its 4th charge and and 2 weeks old.

[CathyC]

I noticed a similar occurrence with both my D3100 & D5100 with the first lot of photos I took when brand new - after using and re-charging a few times the number of photos increased :) I can now regularly get between 650-750 photos per battery (depending on flash use of course - and that does not include any video from the D5100 which uses up the battery life very quickly :( )

[EmzDad]

Thanks Cathy,

I had wondered if they need a few cycles to get to full capacity.

Thanks
Shane

[kevin301]

Interesting that you're experiencing poor battery life with the D5500.
I was just remarking to my dad that the D5500 appears to have remarkable battery stamina :)
Got it as a 2nd (or make that 3rd) camera, intending to use it for snap shots and video.
Recently brought it along to my regular badminton game, recording almost an hour's worth of footage (with the screen on throughout).
The next day I brought it along to a social cycling event to take some candids and group photos, maybe about 30-40 shots. When I returned home, the visual battery indicator still showed it was full! Obviously it wasn't at 100%, but that was still pretty remarkable.

[EmzDad]

Interesting that you're experiencing poor battery life with the D5500.
I was just remarking to my dad that the D5500 appears to have remarkable battery stamina :)
Got it as a 2nd (or make that 3rd) camera, intending to use it for snap shots and video.
Recently brought it along to my regular badminton game, recording almost an hour's worth of footage (with the screen on throughout).
The next day I brought it along to a social cycling event to take some candids and group photos, maybe about 30-40 shots. When I returned home, the visual battery indicator still showed it was full! Obviously it wasn't at 100%, but that was still pretty remarkable.


Kevin little while ago now,

That was with brand new batt, after another 3 or 4 cycles it has come up in performance...

I now have 3 genuine Nikon batteries and they all function well.

Thanks
Shane

[kevin301]

Kevin little while ago now,

That was with brand new batt, after another 3 or 4 cycles it has come up in performance...

I now have 3 genuine Nikon batteries and they all function well.

Thanks
Shane

Ooops you're right! I'm so sorry about that slip-up. Didn't pay attention to the date of the post.
Interesting about the battery performance improving after 3 or 4 charge cycles. I've only charged it once so far (got it last week). If the performance improves further I'll be very happy indeed!