I bought a Nikon D300 just after Thanksgiving and was initially overjoyed with its performance. But my excitement waned after bringing it out to CES 2008 and experiencing false low battery warnings and other issues that rendered the camera useless.
The D300 was something I’d been salivating over for months and just couldn’t wait to get my hands on. I hunted down what seemed to be the last D300 in San Francisco and tacked on an 18-200mm VR lens and a SB-800 speedlight for a grand total of $3,000. This is quite a large investment, but well worth it considering photography is my passion and that I plan on using it for years to come.
I was impressed with the performance of the D300 and thought I’d found the camera of my dreams. The pictures were stunning and low-light performance was amazing. Some of my family members are professional commercial photographers and they urged me to switch to Canon when I told them I was buying a new DSLR. I didn’t listen and when I showed them the D300 and some shots I took with it they were very impressed.
But then I brought the rig to CES 2008 and the camera started flipping out. On the first day at the show my D300 started displaying a low-battery warning after I shot a few frames. I swapped out the battery pack, assuming I’d accidentally drained the battery some how. After a few more shots I got the low-battery warning again. I pulled the battery out, put it back in and my lcd showed that I had a full battery. I was able to take 20 to 30 shots without incident, but then the battery warning came back…again and again and again.
check out the video for a taste of the D300 false dead battery warning
I brought my D300 to the Nikon booth at CES and the product guys were pretty much dumbfounded. They said they hadn’t seen or heard of this issue before. They played with my D300 for a while and determined it was definitely not within specs.They recommended I bring the D300 back to where I purchased it, but that didn’t do me a whole lot of good while at the show.
I carried the D300 with me for the rest of the week at CES, eeking out a few shots here and there. The D300 continued to seize constantly and I had to retake shot after shot, looking like a complete moron as I had to ask people to stay still for another try.The week after CES I had to bring the D300 to MacWorld. The D300 acted up again and I stopped by the Nikon booth again to see if this batch of Nikon guys had any advice. They didn’t, but one of the Nikon employees was extremely helpful and assured me he’d have my D300 replaced if my local retailer couldn’t help me.
The D300 also started having focusing and metering problems on top of the false low-battery warnings. Auto-focus would work sporadically and the camera started metering at “F 0.” The A f-stop of zero is physically impossible, yet my D300 seems to think it’s perfectly acceptable to release the shutter with this kind of reading. When I took some of the photos, the meter read F 0, but when I imported the photos the EXIF apperture data was blank.The result was several underexposed and/or out of focus shots.
I called the Ritz Ultra store where I purchased the D300, and was assured they’d replace it as soon as they received the next shipment of D300s.It’s been a week and I still haven’t heard back, and for all I know it might be another week or more before it’s replaced.
I’m pretty loyal to the Nikon brand. My dad taught me the basics of photography on his Nikon SLR. I used a F100 for years and ‘went digital’ when Nikon launched the D70 four years ago.
Here’s a shot of an ultramobile PC with the whacked out exposure.
A quick on/off cycle let me take a properly exposed photo of the same device:
I was an early adopter of the D70, and about a year and a half after using it I experienced the Blinking Green Light of Death, which was caused by a faulty circuit board. Nikon repaired it for free and I wrote it off a mishap, since this was my first real problem with a Nikon product.
This is the service bulletin Nikon issued when for the D70:
It has come to our attention that select electrical components in a limited number of D70 cameras may, in some instances, fail affecting camera performance and/or operability.
While only a limited number of D70 cameras are affected by this advisory, if (1) when a memory card is inserted, your D70’s memory card access lamp blinks, locking camera operations and preventing operation, or (2) with no memory card inserted, the camera will not turn on despite the battery indicator showing a fully charged battery, Nikon Inc. will service it free of charge.
After browsing several photo forums, it’s apparent that there are A LOT of other D300 users experiencing similar issues. Some people are pointing to poor battery contacts, others are blaming faulty contacts between the body and certain lenses. Other D300 users are having mixed results with using solutions to clean contacts, scraping the contacts or avoiding using certain lenses, especially Nikon’s 70-200mm zoom lens.
All of the above solutions are unacceptable. The D300 was named Camera of the Year by Popular Photography and is marketed as a professional camera. A professional camera needs to be reliable. A professional camera needs to WORK. A professional camera needs to have flaws like this figured out BEFORE it ships. When customers spend $1,800 on a camera body they shouldn’t have to figure out how to shim the battery in place, or otherwise coax it into working.
I’ve talked to a lot of other geeks and photographers about my D300. Some people think I’m just unlucky and got a lemon, but there are just too many other D300 owners complaining about similar issues. So far I’ve found dozens of people online with similar problems. I think it’s time Nikon recognizes this as a serious quality control issue and do something about it as soon as possible. If that means halting shipments, issuing a service bulletin or recalling some or all of the D300s that have shipped, so be it.
This was my biggest gadget purchase in a long time, and my biggest disappointment. I’m sure someone at Ritz and/or Nikon will replace my Nikon, but I’ve never felt so crappy about a big gadget purchase before. I just paid off my $3,000 AMEX bill for the camera and all I have to show for it is a camera that doesn’t work and a bunch of sh***y photos from the biggest computer trade shows I go to all year. Thanks a lot Nikon.
update: This issue reminded me of my F100 and film gear, which I haven’t touched for a while. I pulled it out of the closet, but I won’t be shooting with it either, as my SB-28 speedlight seems to have died while in storage. Fresh batteries and cleaning did nothing to revive it. I’m seriously starting to lose faith in Nikon…Is this why all the pro-Canon guys sneer at my Nikon gear at conferences???
update 2: I pickd up my new D300 from the Ritz Ultra store in downtown San Francisco. The Ritz employee was very sympathetic and the exchange was hassle free. She didn’t even bother me for a receipt. I’ve shot a couple of dozen frames on the new D300 and it’s working like a charm. It’ll take a couple of months of flawless operation for me to be convinced I aven’t received another problem D300.
update 3: As of 3/12/08 I haven’t had any battery-related problems with my second Nikon D300, but I haven’t really put it through its paces yet. I have less than 1,500 shutter releases on it and am still hoping for the best. As you can see in the comments below and at popular photog forums, a lot of other D300 users are experience the same dreadful problems.
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Filed under: Nikon, Reviews, defective, news
56 responses to “D300 False Low-Battery Warnings=Worthless DSLR…Thanks a lot Nikon”The Supreme Dalek
January 25th at 1:59pm
I had exactly the same initial experience with my D300 — spurious low-battery warnings and occasional blank frames. Fortunately, I had bought mine from a local dealer, who just handed me another one and said he’d make his Nikon rep sort it out.
One thing I did with my replacement camera — and which you might want to do with yours, to get your confidence in it back — was use the built-in intervalometer to make a LOT of test shots. I programmed mine to make three-exposure bursts at five-second intervals, then went away and left it clicking for about an hour… that’s 2,160 test shots. Then I did another series making five-exposure bursts at 30-second intervals… 600 shots per hour, for about two hours. It ran through these without missing a beat, so I figure my second D300 must be a good one.
One word of warning: If your second D300 also misbehaves, the problem may not be your camera, but your VR lens. Another owner on a Nikon forum tipped me off that his camera had displayed similar systems, and a Nikon technician told him a faulty VR lens can produce these. Apparently it was a simple fix, as the technician was able to fix his lens on a while-you-wait basis.
Yes, it’s annoying that this stuff would happen on a brand-new Nikon. But I’m not as down on it as you are, since I’ve also had fresh-out-of-the-box problems with cameras from Canon, Minolta, Contax, and Leica!
curlykale
January 25th at 2:39pm
I had the same problems with a D80 and the 18-200VR lens. I looked at a lot of posts on Nikonians and read about making sure the lens had properly clicked in. I did this and have never had a false battery warning since, that’s one year and thousands of shots later!
Robert de Castro
February 11th at 3:53pm
Hi,
I am also getting similar problems with my D300. Incidentally, I use it with the 70-200 2.8 VR lens. The battery indicator will just show empty and I cannot operate the shutter. If I switch off and on again, or press the Mode button, the indicator shows full again and away I go - sometimes fine for rest of the day, other time I have to repeat this every few shots. Really frustrating I have to agree.
Rob
Xavier
February 11th at 4:16pm
Robert- My advice is for you to return your D300 to your retailer for an exchange. If they can’t help you, please do call Nikon.
From what I’ve been able to gather, the battery bay is too tall and and the battery is coming out of contact with the camera.
Xlr8
February 14th at 10:44am
Sorry you’ve had a bad experience. I love my D300, and have had no problems with any of my lenses.I would clean the contacts on your lenses with a good quality contact cleaner. Remember that the whole ring needs to be cleaned.
The nikonians board and dpreview d300 forum have both addressed this issue, and people seem to have good results after cleaning the contacts.The only contact cleaner I’ve used is, http://www.deoxit.com
you only need a tiny bit of it.
Hope you have better luck with the new one.
Doug B
February 16th at 6:28pm
Hey Xavier, thanks for the shooting tips at CES (I was in line with you at the keynote). It helped a ton! Sucks to see you had these problems with your camera
-Doug
Xavier
February 18th at 10:30am
Xlr8-
Glad to hear you haven’t had any problems with your D300. I’ve read the tips over at dpreview and nikonians, but still believe this problem is unacceptable.Users who experience it (at least to the degree I had) should exchange their D300.
Some people have found the problem seems to be coming from the battery losing contact, not the lens, and have ‘fixed’ it by shoving a piece of cardboard in the battery bay.
Also, I expect the D300 to have some sense of ruggedness. When I’m out in the field shooting, I don’t want to worry about “if” my camera’s going to work.
So far, I haven’t experienced any problems with my replacement D300, and I believe I’ve shot more frames with it and have used it in harsher conditions than my first one- outdoors vs. trade shows.
julie
February 20th at 8:30pm
I am having the same problem. I sent my out to nikon. I am holding my breath…..I was so happy with my camera. I want to be happy again. This was a huge purchase for me.
Doug
February 24th at 7:15am
I had the D300 for 4 days and the LCD Monitor flipped out and started flashing. I was reviewing images using the zoom feature.
I reset all the menues, performed the green-button reset and changed the battery. I was using a micro 60mm lens. I swapped lens.
The monitor just kept flashing. It is now at Nikon for warranty repair.
I bought it through Amazon, Calmeta Camera. They were no help.
To fail after just few hours of use is indicative of a manufacturing problem and poor quality control.
Before the D300 I had a D200 for 18 mons. that went through hot, cold, mud, snow, etc. I don’t trust the D300.
Joy
March 12th at 7:49am
I have had the same battery issues with my D300.
Abbey
March 12th at 12:16pm
I got my D300 about two weeks ago, it has a Sigma DC 18-200mm lens. For the first 5-10 times I used the camera, it was fine. This past weekend, it started acting as if the battery was low, turning off. I’d turn it off then on, and it would be fine…for a while. The thing is, after Saturday, it’s been happening more and more often, and sooner after I turn the camera on and start shooting.
After I read this article, I realized that as of Tuesday, it started with the meter issue as well. I was out shooting and it was having the usual battery issue, but I did a series of high-speed shots of a running deer, and didn’t see until I looked at the images on my pc that at least two of them were almost black just like the ones shown here. I’m not happy to have this issue, I just want to use my new camera! Looks like I have to call Nikon.
Xavier
March 13th at 7:59am
@Abbey/Joy- Sorry to hear you’re having the same D300 battery problem I had on my first D300.At first, may people experiencing this problem blamed the 18-200VR Nikon lens as the culprit, but it’s clear this is a D300 body problem after seeing that Abbey is using a Sigma lens and others have had the same malfunction with various lenses.
It’s really too bad Abbey accepted not being able to shoot reliably as “the usual battery problem.”
Abbey
March 14th at 2:13pm
I haven’t accepted it - I just refused to not use my brand new camera. :)It was a last ditch effort to wait it out in the unlikely case it was temporary. Obviously it’s not, and I’m packing up and sending it to Nikon Monday.
Xavier
March 14th at 2:25pm
@Abbey, please keep us up to date and let me know if Nikon sends you a new D300 or repairs yours.
Lu
March 16th at 11:43pm
Don’t be discouraged by Nikon- the D300 is a great camera- when it works lol, But hopefully you’ll have endless hassle free shooting with your new one . Like someone else said-make sure the contacts are nice and clean- this will improve performance best of luck!
Xavier
March 17th at 7:12am
@Lu- I’m just starting to gain confidence in the my second Nikon D300 and haven’t had any issues with it so far.But if anyone else experiences the same problem they should return it to their Nikon dealer ASAP. I understand clean contacts are def. better for optimal performance, but the issues I and several others experienced aren’t normal.
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March 19th at 2:48am
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March 19th at 8:36pm
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Willem
March 20th at 12:16pm
Found this website through Google. I’m also experiencing problems with batteries, but not only with my new D300. I bought an Albinar EN-EL3e battery for my D200 two months ago. This battery ‘died’ on me (from full to empty in 2 shots). It showed the empty battery icon on my D200, and as well on my brand new D300.The battery isn’t empty, because it stops charging after 2 to 3 minutes.
The battery works fine on other camera’s. We tried 4 different models D80, 2 * D200, and a D300 and battery worked flawlessly on those.My 2 original Nikon batteries work fine by the way.
Debbie
March 23rd at 7:21pm
I seem to be having the same problem with my D80. All of a sudden I started experiencing issues with it not acquiring focus. I kept getting an error. I removed the lens and reseated it and it was fine for some time, but it is began acting up with what I would assume is a “false” low battery. The battery is new and on it’s first recharge. The Lens issue gets me since I had never removed the lens once since purchasing it in July!
Garion
March 28th at 3:46am
I also have the D300 Battery Issue. It seems to only fail with the 70-200mm f2.8 VR lens. I wonder if the camera body flexes with the weight of the heavier lens which allows the battery to loose contact with the weak spring on the cernral battery contact. The issue doesn’t seem to hapen with other lenses including the 24-70mm. I just find it interesting that the 2 Nikon Reps I have spoken with deny ever hearing about this problem. Guess I’m going to ship mine back Nikon as well including the lens.
Steve
March 28th at 10:03am
I found this post by doing a random “google” of the phrase “Nikon D80 False Low battery”. Reading this was very helpful. I was really getting torqued up about the false readings and the lost shots.
After reading the posts here, I’ve concluded that it isn’t the camera. It is the VR or OS lenses that cause the issue.
For over a year, I’ve shot thousands of photos around the world without incident until I decided to purchase a Sigma 18-200 Optical Stabilization lens. I’ve taken some great photos with the lens, and it is a good deal for the price. However, the OS lens is the only lens with which I have this problem.
Having heard that the Nikor VR 18-200 lens can produce the same issue seems to indicate that there is a conflict with the on and off cycle of the silent wave motor relative to other operations of the camera. In the Sigma lens if you turn the camera off before their version of the motor cycles off, you get a buzzing noise. Doesn’t happen with the Nikor, I’m told.
That isn’t comforting, but at least it isn’t a camera issue. It is an integration issue with the VR/OS technology. They just have bugs to work out with the VR or OS function of the lenses to make them more compatible. Perhaps a seperate battery for the lens motor? I don’t know. I don’t make ‘em…
But now I have a lens that is questionable in the field…and I’m not very happy about that.
Xavier
March 28th at 1:01pm
Steve- interesting theory, but I don’t think the VR/OS lenses are fully to blame for the false low battery warnings. I’m on my second Nikon D300 and haven’t experienced any of the same problems even though I’m using the Nikon VR 18-200 lens.
I’ve also read a lot of others complaining about false low battery readings on the D300 who’ve had luck fixing it by using shims or cleaning the contacts.
Dana
March 30th at 12:22am
You guys aren’t the only ones with this problem. Just bought mine today at 5pm and as of 10pm it’s dead. I’m never able to get it to “boot up” again… I just get the low battery warning and it does nothing. I’ve tried 3 different batteries and with and without the MBD10 grip. I’m using the ENEL3e batteries, and it’s definitely not a “battery contact issue”. I’m also dubious about it being a lens mount issue. I was using a Nikkor 50mm 1.8 when it happened to me, so I don’t think it has anything to do with VR or anything like that. Well… guess I’ll take it back to the shop tomorrow.
penga
April 1st at 6:49pm
well - I am glad I found this page - I was frustrated after my trip to DC to get the Cherry Blossoms there and what do you know - the D300 just starts phasing out on me - I did have the 70-2– vr on but the glass worked fine on my D200 - going for the replacement as soon as I can get there
thanks for the post
Xavier
April 1st at 9:40pm
penga- sorry to hear about your D300 quiting on you during such a great photo opp! I saw some pics of the Cherry Blossoms earlier today and hope to make it out to DC one of these years to take some of my own.I’ve put several calls/email in to Nikon and they’ve yet to respond. It’s been months since this problem’s cropped up, but there’s still no explanation. Worse yet, a few retailers I’ve spoken to have had returns because of this issue, but their Nikon rep is ‘unaware of any D300 problems like this.”
Jim
April 2nd at 4:21pm
I am so glad someone pointed me here. I’ve had this issue on multiple replacement bodies and people I’m sure were beginning to think I’m nuts.
Thanks for documenting it on video.
Dickran
April 3rd at 1:55pm
I had the same problem with my D300 couple of days after mounting a brand new 24-70 2.8 nikkor lens,so I guess that means VR has nothing to do with the problem.It has never done it with my 18-200vr lens.
Goodfellas
April 3rd at 2:09pm
I’ve had a D300 for over a month now. I’ve got 2000 actions on it, and it has performed flawlessly. I use the 18-200VR, SB600 flash.
I am 100% satisfied. Now I just need to pay AMEX for it.
Louis Dallara
April 4th at 4:47am
I had the same DBS problem on my D200 which also effected other D200 D2X & D80 owners.Nikon had the camera for over 2 months and was hand carried back to them. The solution: They gave me a new camera with new grip and batteries.IMHO Nikon didn’t know whats causing this problem.Now that the problems resurfaced with the D300 I’m sure that they have never nailed down the problem.Nikon all ways stands behind the product, which is good, but would be nice it they just sent out new cameras, rather than taking months to try and figure out the problem.I have had no problems with my D300, but thanks for the alert. I also have D200 % D2h for backup, but they are not the same as a D300.
ShaolinTiger
April 4th at 10:42pm
I had the same issue with my D200 actually, it was a faulty battery.
Once I switched the battery there was no problems.
It was especially an issue with the battery grip attached, cleaning the contacts helped too.
Trent
April 6th at 2:05pm
I had the same problem with my D300 & 70-200/1.7x tele. I cleaned all the lens contacts with Deoxit (Radio Shack catalog #: 64-4338) and it hasn’t happened since.–Trent R. StanleySan Diego, CAhttp://www.sdbirder.com/
2tall
April 6th at 5:56pm
To the originator of this article; Sorry to hear of your problems, but I think you paint with a very big brush. To say that the D300 is a bad product because of a very small percentage of problem cameras, is really a diservice to consumers. Of course you hear of the ‘bad’ ones. Do you hear of the thousands of extremely happy consumers who have never had a problems with their D300? No. They are happily shooting away.
Do you really believe that Canon doesn’t have any problems? Come on, let’s get real.
Xavier
April 7th at 3:52am
@2tall- I don’t think the D300 is a ‘bad product,’ but there is a very real problem here.I’m not painting with a ‘big brush’ here, just relating my personal experience with a problem D300 that didn’t live up to my expectations when I needed it the most. In a nutshell, I had a worthless DSLR during my confereneces and missed out on a LOT of shots (like Bill Gates’ last keynote at CES).
A ‘disservice to consumers’ would be to not share experiences like this with them and let Nikon tell them they’ve never heard of the problem. Several people have reported waiting weeks or months to get their camera fixed.
Having thousands of happy customers doesn’t matter much to the dozens/hundreds/thousands (not sure how widespread the problem is) of D300 owners that are experiencing similar problems.What’s completely unacceptable is that Nikon’s not recognizing this as a known issue and replacing customers’ cameras. Nikon is making some of them go through hell to get a D300 that just works. I was lucky enough to have a retailer that replaced mine without too much hassle, but this hasn’t been the case for others.
I’m sure Canon products aren’t perfect, but this was my second Nikon DSLR purchase in a row that had major electrical issues and my patience is wearing thin.
I’m on my second Nikon D300 and it’s performed nicely for the past couple of months, but I’m still concerned since others have reported similar problems after really breaking in their D300s. I get an email or comment every couple of days from another dissatisfied D300 owner- just read all of the above comments/links.
vdubelu
April 7th at 6:27pm
I also have had this problem, once with my D300 and many times with my D200. I believe this is a lens mount issue. For the D200 it took two trips to Nikon to fix the issue. The camera came back with a very tight lens mount and the problem never happened again. The D300 I cleaned the contacts with Deoxit and it has not occurred again (knock on wood).My theory is that a loose fitting lens will get moved around and cause a small short or lack of contact with the camera giving the error. If you can reproduce the error by slightly moving the lens while the camera is on, then I would definitely recommend sending back to Nikon with a letter explaining how you reproduced the error. If you can not reproduce the error by moving the lens on the mount while the camera is on, then deoxit will definitely help.Hope it helps someone!!
sethu
April 9th at 9:42am
hello, Happenend to lay my hands on a d-300 with a 18-70 AF-s lens, the same problem as faced by all of you occured, in my case the camera simply refuses to start. will send it to nikon and keep you updated on what they say.the camera is just out of the box with out a single shot taken. already claened the battery contacts this has not helpedregardssethu
Ellu
April 11th at 9:34am
After the frustration I have to say I’m glad that it just took me 10 mins to google some relevant enough results.
I’m having exactly the same problem on my new D300 I bought 2 weeks ago. Then I tried that specific EN-EL3E (comes with the D300 sales pack) on my old D80, works perfectly fine. It doesn’t seem to be the issue with VR lenses either as the low-batt issue just exists as much as with my AF-S Nikkor 24-70/F2,8G and 85/1,4. Really irritating when you missed the particular moment.
I think I’ll bring it back to the dealer for the replacement, but a huge effort would be expected to explain and prove it, especially when such issue cannot be 100% reproduced. Any good suggestion?
Xavier
April 11th at 11:31am
@Ellu-I’d suggest calling your dealer and explaining the problem to him before you go to his store. Ritz didn’t give me any trouble about the exchange at all.If he has a computer in the store, direct him to the above video and that should help.Don’t settle for anything else than a new camera. Just be very polite to the camera dealer- as far as I know, Nikon hasn’t issued any kind of service advisory so he may be unaware of this problem in general.When I first experienced it people didn’t believe me until I demonstrated it to them.The dealer shouldn’t give you too much trouble as they don’t take a hit for defective merchandise-that’s Nikon’s responsibility. The dealer should be on your side here.
sethu
April 13th at 7:14am
hello,changed the battery, and the camera is working fine. the new body had come with a after market battery, the original battery did the trick. wrote to nikon, they informed that they would charge me for it. my local dealer v.g.chimalgi sloved the problem,(anand who manages the shop put in a new battery and the camera started), what foxed us both is the old battery was working perfectly on a d-200 and d-80, but refused to work on the new d-300, so do try this outregardssethu
Ginger Ovnicek
April 14th at 2:53pm
I am reading through this blog–only I have a D200-and am having the same problems. I bought one in 6-06 and it started having electrical probs and flashing “dead battery” so I took it in. I was told to send off the flash and replace my sync cord. I made the mistake of buying a second one in 3-07. Now neither one is working. I have had each in at least twice-and Nikon is fighting me because my extended warranty serial number and reciept doesn’t match my camera–Have you ever gotten the wrong one back from Nikon after a repair????
Larry Abraham
April 19th at 10:04am
Bought my D300 March 25th started doing the same low battery problem last week. Bought more batteries thinking that was the problem. Bought another charger thinking that was the problem and then read this forum. Camera definitely has a problem. Using the 80-400 lens. Weight/Flex may be a problem??
Victor
April 23rd at 11:25am
Hello everybody,I bought my D80 in december ‘07 and love it since then. a few days ago the Falese battery warning issue appeard. I only have the 18-70 lens so i think is not the vr lens that causes it. Anyway, hopefully nikon will finaly take responsability and do something about this problem, the first step would be to admit it.I love my D80 and I wouldn’t trade it for any canon, i’m just an ammateure of course but i love how it feels and now that he’s ill, i’m by his side.
Joe
April 23rd at 11:47am
Hey
I have the same issue on my D300 and one D200 that is on parts hold at nikon repair in NY . I sent in my 70 x 200 VR as it is the only Vr lens that is causing the issue . Nikon replaced the lens bayonet and it fits tighter but the D200 still had the dead battery issue. I will see if they fix my D200 first before i send in my new D300. Its a shame but i too have lost respect for Nikon
Michael Millhollin
April 26th at 3:11pm
I have both a D200 and D80, and they both have that annoying battery indicator problem. It must be a Nikon thing!! It’s irritating when you’re facing a shot that can’t be duplicated and the camera won’t cooperate. I was wondering if it may be that because of my swapping lenses or memory cards without shutting the camera down caused the problem. Not sure if those items are hot-swappable. If not, they certainly should be!! Time is money!! And I was going to purchase a D3…
Tibi
May 1st at 4:23am
Hi everyone!
I’ve had a D300 for 3 months now and I got this issue only a few times. Every time this happened, I turned the camera off and back on again -> everything returned to normal.
When I had my 50mmf1.8 on all was ok, when I had my 18-200 VR all was OK, but when I put on the Sigma 18-200 OS I got this issue 3 times in, let’s say, 3 weeks time.
I also believe that it is related to the OS/VR (although it didn’t happen with the VR lens on). So, when the OS switch is turned on, the system starts functioning when you half-press the shutter button (and it starts making the awfull sound). It stops functioning a few seconds after you release the shutter button (making that sound again).
I got the battery issue on two ocasions:
1) I wanted to preview the picture the second after it was taken (the OS was still on)–> I’ve tried it again, this time waiting for the OS to turn off, and everything was ok.
2)I turned the camera off without waiting for the OS to turn off.
So, from my experience, it is an issue with the stabilization system compatibilty. We should tell Nikon to look into this. I’ve only got this issue a few times but I’m sure it can become most annoying!Anyone got the same experience?
Don
May 1st at 11:00pm
I am waiting for my Nikon D300 and have been reading comments all along. I stumbled across this site and see that there are quite a number of complaints regarding the Low Battery indicator. I have read a number of reports on the Nikonian Site and have found postings with the same issue. I hope I do not have to shim up my battery to prevent poor contact issues. I would expect that Nikon would address this issue. I hope I do not encounter any problems as I purchased mine from across the country not locally here in N. CA. I wonder if it might be wise to send it directly to Nikon if I have any issues? Fingers Crossed..
Don
Gene Simon
May 12th at 10:59am
I have had this problem for some time with my D80 and Nikon 18-200. I use the turn off/turn on method to keep going. I don’t want to be without the camera for the 2-3 months that Nikon often seems to be taking to attempt a repair.
Nikon has lost all credibility with this. I’m thinking in terms of a class-action law suit and/or involving the consumer fraud section of the New York Attorney General’s Office.
It’s one thing for a company to have a problem with a product and not be able to figure out a solution as long as the company acknowledges the problem and establishes a prompt replacement procedure. It is quite another thing for a company to deny the problem exists and then deprive customers of their cameras for 2-3 months while the company does who-knows-what with them.
Nikon seems to be depending on the docile good nature of their loyal customers to make the problem go away. And so far, that seems to be working.
And I don’t buy the argument that Canon and other reputable companies do the same thing to their customers.
Darren
May 13th at 3:44am
My D300 is currently waiting at the shop and will be picked up this weekend. Concerning the issues, I believe that there is a fault with the batteries as I have the low battery warning issue too BUT with only one of my batteries! - a quick knock on the side and it’s back in business (but would much rather it just worked correctly), I shoot sports, studio and low light (live music) and use mostly a 80-200 f2.8 AF-S with this I do get the occasional loss of contacts between the lens and body but this is rare and I think partly caused my my shooting style (applying a constant twisting force)
James Jackson
May 22nd at 6:54am
I keep reading about this issue and I must admit, it worries me. The problem is either real or a gigantic hoax. I know a lot of photographers in my area that have been using Nikons for years. Many of them started digital with the D100 and many of us have the D300, D200 and D3 now. I have not been able to find anyone locally that has had this problem. I have had my D300 since November 2007 and have not had any kind of problems with mine. I personally don’t go to any photographic event with only one camera and can’t understand how any serious photographer would. I have checked with several local Camera Stores and they have sold hundreds of D300s and have had problems with only a few. None were the DBS problem described here.
Xavier
May 22nd at 9:25am
James, I can assure you it’s real, but thankfully seems to only affect a small minority of D300s. I consider myself a prosumer photographer and only carry one DSLR at a time because I need to stay mobile. Check out the other sites I linked to above, which are also filled with readers who’ve experienced this issue…it’s not a hoax.
Rachel Hopper
May 25th at 6:15am
I just bought my Nikon D300 and am having the same problems with the low battery issue. I am using the AF-S VR 70-200mm f2.8 lens with a 1.7X (Nikon) converter. After reading all of this, I have noted that my lens does not fit snugly and that if I am very careful (ha!) to not move the lens, I do not get the low battery issue. However, if the lens rotates at all, the camera shuts off. Argh! This NEVER happened with my D200 so it is an issue with the D300. I will be calling Nikon tomorrow.
Rachel Hopper
May 25th at 7:41am
Just an update…I took the converter off my 70-200 f2.8 lens and I cannot get the low battery issue to duplicate. Obviously a problemn between the converter and the D300 body. It is he TC-17EII 1.7X.
Andy MacDougall
May 29th at 10:14pm
I’m having similar problems and have contacted Nikon. Waiting to hear back.
I had the battery dead problem last week but also:
1. If using Sigma 180 macro, it feels loose on the mount and loses the contact with the body on a regular basis but can be rectified by twisting the lens or usually rectifies itself.
2. Using the 300 AFS lens with 1.7TC, no commms, no AF, not even hunting for focus lock, triangle and F6 appears, indicating the lens and body are not able to communicate.TC is 1 week old, lens is used. Worked for 2 days, hasn’t since. Lens works fine on it’s own, works fine with Kenko 1.4TC.1.7TC works when used with 70-200VR.
Not happy with nikon at the moment. A 1.7TC + 300 afs is only affordable way to get decent IQ and fast AF @ 500mm with Nikon.I believe Canon has lots of alternatives in the affordable mid to long lens range !
Andy
Sue
May 30th at 9:46am
I had this problem too on my D300. I took it to a local camera shop where I purchased the camera and the rep. told me that most likely it’s not the body, but the flash! I had an SB-600 that was about 7-9 years old. I purchased the SB-800 on the spot and haven’t had a problem since…(knocking on wood). I shot a wedding two weeks ago (shot over 900 frames) and still no problem. I have another wedding I’m shooting tomorrow, so let’s hope I’m still problem free!
TK
June 2nd at 6:31am
Wow! I had no idea so many others are having this issue. I just got off the phone with Nikon regarding the same problem. I was shooting an event a week ago, when it first happened. I thought it may have been user error, since the camera was pretty new. I got off about 150 shots when the dead battery indicator came on and the camera stopped working. After reading the manuals, getting everything set up correctly, I decided to use it at a wedding this past weekend. First 136 shots were fine, then everything died. I have the grip, so there were 2 batteries and nothing would get the camera to work. When I checked the battery power in the menu, one was at 85%, the one in the grip still had 100% power. It did work when I tried it again, several hours later at the reception, but thank goodness for the D2X that was hanging on my shoulder when this problem happened. Nikon is not being very helpful at this point. They basically told me to do tests with different lenses, with and without flash, etc. I’m hoping the camera dealer I bought it from will replace it, since it’s less than 3 weeks old.
Ferando C Narduzzo
June 2nd at 12:36pm
I`ve used Nikon for more than 20 years because of his quality reputation, but now I`ll reconsider this.I bought a night mare Coolpix 5700, first dead flash coust me US$ 250,00 to fix, and after 3 months dead sensor no fixable !So I bought a new D100 and 2 months after warranty expires and no more than 500 shots a have a vertical dead line in the midle of all pictures, diagnolstic : new sensor needed.So my last option was to use a almost new N80 wich I have as a back-up… surprise ! The body rubber melted no way to use it, I`ve shot exactly 5 rolls of film with this camera.All these problems hapened with a lot of consumers and the Nikons`s answer is always the same : “this is the first time this kind of problem is related”I decided to forget all the cameras and buy a new one.My choice was a D300, but after reading about this problem, I`m shure: NIkon never more !By the way.. I`ve two Leicas very very used, one cheap Yashica FR-II with 28 years of use and a small Sony T-7, all then working fine as the fist day !Ok quality is a common problem, don`t discuss that but try to foolish consumers with answers like “this is the first time it happens!” Sorry, no chance!