Nikon D850 battery drain

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So I work with the Z6II but I "play" with a D850 as a backup and for wildlife. I've never seen a battery drain as quickly as this camera does and I've looked everywhere online (or so it seems) as to whether it's the way the camera is, or if there's a fix. I've turned off all the wifi/bluetooth/touchscreen and anything I could . Nikon batteries are full health and recent. Having had many dslrs, I'd never given battery consumption a second thought. Now when I shoot weddings I'm checking both cameras for batteries like I'm running with two mirrorless cameras.
Since this has been apparently been going on for some time, has anyone figured this issue out? Threads online are outdated and go in circles and I'm stumped as to what could be tapping in the battery when the camera is turned off. Thanks:)
 
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So I work with the Z6II but I "play" with a D850 as a backup and for wildlife. I've never seen a battery drain as quickly as this camera does and I've looked everywhere online (or so it seems) as to whether it's the way the camera is, or if there's a fix. I've turned off all the wifi/bluetooth/touchscreen and anything I could . Nikon batteries are full health and recent. Having had many dslrs, I'd never given battery consumption a second thought. Now when I shoot weddings I'm checking both cameras for batteries like I'm running with two mirrorless cameras.
Since this has been apparently been going on for some time, has anyone figured this issue out? Threads online are outdated and go in circles. Thanks:)
Two thoughts come to mind from my experiences with battery drain in a D500. First, did you also put the D850 into Airplane mode when you turned off wifi/BT? Second, perhaps your onboard battery for your clock is not holding a charge and needs replacement? Most cameras have an onboard battery that powers the clock. When they have not been replenished by your main battery they can pull down some juice, but that should be for a day or so. But if that battery cell is bad and cannot hold a charge, then your main battery will always be used to power the internal clock. There really is no way that I know if to test this, so you may want to send it to Nikon.

Good luck,

--Ken
 
Two thoughts come to mind from my experiences with battery drain in a D500. First, did you also put the D850 into Airplane mode when you turned off wifi/BT? Second, perhaps your onboard battery for your clock is not holding a charge and needs replacement? Most cameras have an onboard battery that powers the clock. When they have not been replenished by your main battery they can pull down some juice, but that should be for a day or so. But if that battery cell is bad and cannot hold a charge, then your main battery will always be used to power the internal clock. There really is no way that I know if to test this, so you may want to send it to Nikon.

Good luck,

--Ken
Hi Ken. Yes I did put it in Airplane mode as you mentioned. If it's the clock I wish I could just disengage it as I have to use for it at all other than using it to tell time when I'm out in the field. I can't afford to be without the camera until the late October so I'll have to wait I guess. We do have a camera repair place here in Ottawa and will call them when they open tomorrow. Thanks for the reply.
 
Hi Ken. Yes I did put it in Airplane mode as you mentioned. If it's the clock I wish I could just disengage it as I have to use for it at all other than using it to tell time when I'm out in the field. I can't afford to be without the camera until the late October so I'll have to wait I guess. We do have a camera repair place here in Ottawa and will call them when they open tomorrow. Thanks for the reply.
I recently sent my D500 to Nikon for a cleaning and check-up and they turned it around in a day or two less shipping times. I do not know about in Canada, but I was surprised at the speed of service. I cannot say for certain this is the issue, but it has been in other cameras (from other brands) over the years. Unfortunately you cannot disengage this battery as it also provides power to keep all of your settings in its memory. If you cannot afford to let the body go into service for any length of time, then I would just get an additional battery.

Also, are you placing the battery in the body or the grip? If the latter, try using the body only and see if that makes a difference.

--Ken
 
I recently sent my D500 to Nikon for a cleaning and check-up and they turned it around in a day or two less shipping times. I do not know about in Canada, but I was surprised at the speed of service. I cannot say for certain this is the issue, but it has been in other cameras (from other brands) over the years. Unfortunately you cannot disengage this battery as it also provides power to keep all of your settings in its memory. If you cannot afford to let the body go into service for any length of time, then I would just get an additional battery.

Also, are you placing the battery in the body or the grip? If the latter, try using the body only and see if that makes a difference.

--Ken
I'm not using a grip. I've seen the internal battery mentioned in some threads so that might be the culprit as I can't think of anything that could drain power when the camera is turned off. If there was one thing I used to love about dslrs is the low battery consumption so this is a bummer for sure but not the end of the world. I'll check with a local repair shop in Ottawa tomorrow and see if there's something they can do locally. They usually have the answers, just not always the required pieces to fix the issues. Thanks again.
 
yah, #1 cause of fast battery drain is the networking stuff (snapbridge/bluetooth). if you're in airplane mode and it's still happening, the battery itself is probably on it's last legs
 
I have been experiencing battery drain as well with my D850. Wi Fi BT turned off. It's not related to that. My issue is not battery drain when camera is turned off. The battery drains fast when the power is on, but the camera is NOT in use. I have other DSLR's, (D500, Canon, and Sony) have never had this issue. You can leave the power on for day's and the battery will not drain. I've never had that problem. It's not the battery. I have several batteries, it happens to all of them, I also place the battery in D500 and it doesn't drain in that camera. I'm still going through a process of elimination to try & figure this out. As a last resort I will just reset camera to factory settings & see if that solves problem.
 
So I work with the Z6II but I "play" with a D850 as a backup and for wildlife. I've never seen a battery drain as quickly as this camera does and I've looked everywhere online (or so it seems) as to whether it's the way the camera is, or if there's a fix. I've turned off all the wifi/bluetooth/touchscreen and anything I could . Nikon batteries are full health and recent. Having had many dslrs, I'd never given battery consumption a second thought. Now when I shoot weddings I'm checking both cameras for batteries like I'm running with two mirrorless cameras.
Since this has been apparently been going on for some time, has anyone figured this issue out? Threads online are outdated and go in circles and I'm stumped as to what could be tapping in the battery when the camera is turned off. Thank
Remove memory card and try again. Thanks!
 
So I work with the Z6II but I "play" with a D850 as a backup and for wildlife. I've never seen a battery drain as quickly as this camera does and I've looked everywhere online (or so it seems) as to whether it's the way the camera is, or if there's a fix. I've turned off all the wifi/bluetooth/touchscreen and anything I could . Nikon batteries are full health and recent. Having had many dslrs, I'd never given battery consumption a second thought. Now when I shoot weddings I'm checking both cameras for batteries like I'm running with two mirrorless cameras.
Since this has been apparently been going on for some time, has anyone figured this issue out? Threads online are outdated and go in circles and I'm stumped as to what could be tapping in the battery when the camera is turned off. Thanks:)
I’m with Charles. Did you try another battery? I had that happen to me and it was the battery on its last legs.
 
Not seeing the same issue with my D850. A typical shoot is 500 to 1000 shots and I do that with one battery with power left to spare. I believe Nikon says the battery should last for about 1800 shots. Of course that depends on a lot of factors.
 
So I work with the Z6II but I "play" with a D850 as a backup and for wildlife. I've never seen a battery drain as quickly as this camera does and I've looked everywhere online (or so it seems) as to whether it's the way the camera is, or if there's a fix. I've turned off all the wifi/bluetooth/touchscreen and anything I could . Nikon batteries are full health and recent. Having had many dslrs, I'd never given battery consumption a second thought. Now when I shoot weddings I'm checking both cameras for batteries like I'm running with two mirrorless cameras.
Since this has been apparently been going on for some time, has anyone figured this issue out? Threads online are outdated and go in circles and I'm stumped as to what could be tapping in the battery when the camera is turned off. Thanks:)
Something’s not right here. I shoot two D850s, and never have problems with batteries draining, even in cold weather. Are you sure that your batteries are good? If you’ve turned off all of the standard options that suck battery life, then I’d double check the batteries. Make sure you don’t leave battery in the camera when not in use.
 
I use a third party grip on my D850 and if I left batteries in the grip they used to drain. Don't know if this was a common issue with the grip I have but I solved it by taking the batteries out if I left the grip on. No drain other than the expected drain when in use. Without the grip the battery in the camera lasted for months if not used.
 
I have the D850 as well, the first thing I noticed is it’s exceptional battery life, but as a matter of course always took a spare (which I have yet to use, but it’s there). Somethings not right there, perhaps best to get it seen to. If you can’t be without it, why not hire one while yours is away.
 
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