Dave Hartley

During my recent travels, I’ve been keeping a log of camera battery usage. I did this to get a better feeling on how the camera and battery combinations were working so that in the future I would have a good idea on how many batteries I would need out in the field.

The first major workout for my D3 was our trip to the Falkland Islands, South Georgia, and the Antarctic peninsula. This was a twenty five day cruise in the Southern Ocean. I used the Nikon EN-EL4a rechargeable Li-ion battery exclusively taking a total of three on the voyage. The usage statistics for this trip are shown below (14-bit RAW capture with loss less compression). The lenses used and the approximate percentage of use were the 17-35/2.8 (~15%), 28-80/2.8 (~10%), 70-200/2.8 (~15%) and 200-400/4 (~60%). The 70-200 and 200-400 lenses have VR and this was enabled.  Weather conditions on the Falklands are similar to England (rain, wind, sleet, sun, all in about 60 minutes!). South Georgia is colder, with temperatures from just below freezing to about 5C (windchill can lower this considerably if you get Katabatic winds). The Antarctic peninsula was about the same as South Georgia. During the trip, I never had to change a battery whilst out shooting.

D3 Battery Usage for the Falkland Islands, South Georgia & Antarctica 2008

Compare these numbers with a trip to Antarctica and the Falkland Islands that we did in late November/ early December the previous year. This was early in the season and hence we had colder weather whilst in Antarctica. I was also shooting with the D2x as the D3 became available whilst we were away. The lenses used were almost identical to those mentioned before with the 12-24/4 being used instead of the 17-35/2.8. Both EN-EL4a and the lower capacity EN-EL4 were used; capture was 12-bit uncompressed RAW.

D2x Battery Usage for Antarctica and the Falkland Islands 2007

Notice that the average number of pictures increased with the D3 compared with the D2x. You can also see the higher capacity EN-EL4a performing much better than the EN-EL4.

Finally, some statistics for the D3 in hot climates. The D3 with the EN-EL4a was used for a trip to Belize for the last two weeks of May 2008. The first week was spent in the jungle whilst the second week was spent offshore on the two of the Cayes. Temperature was very hot, around 38C (100F) with humidity through the roof in the jungle; on one of the Cayes, we were photographing Red footed Boobies on a platform, in absolutely scorching sun, so temperature was around the same but humidity was lower. The same lenses were used (17-35, 28-70, 70-200, 200-400) with the 200-400 being used for about 90% of the images. All images 14-bit RAW capture with loss less compression.

D3 Battery Usage for Belize

The middle battery numbers included using the live-view feature in tripod mode; this tends to use up more batteries due to the use of the rear LCD. Normally I would expect the battery performance to be better in warmer conditions, but the numbers are slightly distorted due to the more intensive use of the 200-400 (with VR) and also the live view mode.

On our recent trip to Belize, we spent two and a half days at Half Moon Caye. This is owned by the Belize Audubon Society and is a sanctuary for Red-Footed Boobies and Frigate Birds. Each morning, the Audubon residents would check the sanctuary to see if any chicks had fallen out of their nests. The adult birds will not tend to these chicks and so the birds are rescued, raised and eventually released into the wild. When we visited, there were two chicks that had been rescued and these hung out by the resident accommodation. We went to photograph the two chicks but the photographic environment was not optimal to say the least. One chick was hanging out by the building with the other standing on the building steps. To make matters worse, the background was a mixture of wooden building and bright background caused by the fact that the building was raised. The picture below gives you an idea of what we saw when we first turned up.

At first I thought there was no decent shot in the current setting but decided to take a few shots anyway. Looking through the view finder, I originally tried to put the dark part of the background behind the chicks head but had trouble getting the right composition. Then I noticed the pleasing blue background which was the out of focus sea. I then changed my angle to put the blue background behind the chicks head and played around with various compositions. The picture at the top of the post shows the result of changing my angle and working the subject.

We recently returned from a great two week trip to Belize. A last minute booking, with the decision to go being made after an afternoon discussion with our friend Enrique who had already booked to go along with his wife Margaret. The first week of the trip was spent in the jungle where we photographed Black Howler Monkeys, a rescued Jaguar, and the archaeological sites of Altun Ha and Xunantunich. The second week was split between Long Caye/Halfmoon Caye and Caye Caulker. We spent four nights staying on Long Caye, spending our days on the nearby Halfmoon Caye which is owned by the Belize Audubon society. This is a great place to photograph Red footed Boobies and Frigate birds. The last few days were on Caye Caulker where we planned to see the Manatees in Swallow Caye Wildlife Sanctuary. Unfortunately, the first Atlantic storm of the 2008 season (Tropical Storm Arthur) formed, which halted all the boat trips going out to the wildlife sanctuary. So, the last few days were spent eating, drinking and playing cards. The full force of the storm hit the day before we were due to leave. We had made it back to Belize City and stayed in the Great House hotel (a very nice place). We had torrential rain and constant thunder throughout the night. The next day, the roads were flooded, bridges were out and unfortunately some people were drowned in the south of the country. Belize is a great country to visit, with lots of diverse subjects to shoot; we’ll be returning some time in the future. Some of the photos of the trip can be seen here .