OpticalLimits

This has to be the last of the last ....

davethebirder

Ok brace yourself guys .... I've bought a used D850 .... yay !!

I knew that before they nail down the lid of my box, I would have to, by hook or by crook, find myself one of the last of these beasts of a camera and step up from the 20Mps of the D500 and 24 Mps of the D750 to 45 Mps ...
The deal was, it was just 15 mins down the road from me so I could go and see it and test it. The seller was just winding down as a professional and taking more of a hobby stance keeping his D800 and a recently purchased Hassleblad 50 Mp ....
The boxed D850 is in good general condition with just a crack top screen next to the shutter button... easy fix and about 8 euros on ebay. Shutter count is 34,000 clicks ... it may seen like no big deal but it came with a XQD 120Gb memory card ... they used to cost 200 euros (I paid 240 euros inc post, many years ago .... also included was silicon body cover (meh) and a supposed vertical grip which turned out to be for the sellers D800 (boo hoo) ... I've ordered a DSTE grip and will order the MB D18 battery and charger, remember the D850 shoots 7 IPS with the standard battery and at 9 IPS with the 10V large grip one, so I do need it for birding.

I'm out of practice setting up the menus .... of course every forum user says RTFM .... (read the (e)ffing manual) .... err are you kidding me ? ... utube where are you, save me from manual agony!!

... does anyone ever read those things?

My OVF fetish is in sublime mode .... that big viewfinder is "thee business" (bees knees) .... the only real shortfall on the D750 is the AF focusing area is too small to focus on the eyes in portrait mode, the D850 addresses that .... as per usual the Sigma macro had me running around in the AF fine tune menu ....
Right, the matter of finances ... one of my D500s will have to go, as well as my D750 to pay for this folly .. hopefully I won't be too out of pocket .... I will miss the D750 however .... I'll keep the other D500 (how could I not?)

So hey hoo .... onward and upward ....

Oh I paid 1,150 euros for the camera, ... I've ordered the DSTE vertical grip and battery and body plug (for the large battery) and charger which cost 160 euros ..... For a OEM grip, battery tray, charger and battery stopper from Nikon is 1,500 euros ....

So that's where Sony has been getting it's new compact camera accessory prices from ... 🙂

davethebirder

Would you believe it? My Nikon EN-EL 18C battery arrived from Germany today .....
..... I put it on charge and in less than 10 seconds it was showing charged ... I smelled trouble straight away and put it in the grip without EL 15 battery in the camera .... nothing whatsoever .... dead, I checked the menu for battery choice ... OK.
I tried charging again, same thing it showed 100% .... I then checked the voltage on the outer pins of the charger, 18 volts, about what it should be .... I then checked the voltage on the +- battery pins .... zero voltage , not a flicker ....
I rang Foto Erhardt (Amazons supplier and they said they would send another, I asked if they could test it before sending, her response was ... "Er ... I'm not sure" she said .... frankly I wasn't convinced that they could ...
Then I had a thought .....

Grays of Westminster (UK) is probably one of the most knowledgeable outlets of Nikon products in London .... so I rang them ..

I briefly told them my issue and asked them did they have a Nikon EN-EL 18b/c battery in stock?

He replied "we certainly do, the version C " ..... "are they compatible with shooting 9 Fps" I replied" .... "Yes absolutely, guaranteed" he said ....

I said " is it possible to test one before sending to me?" .....

"We only sell genuine Nikon EN-EL18c batteries which are tested and then charged before being sent out, I do it personally, because we have had issues with them if they have been standing uncharged for some time."

"Will you send to France" ...... "no problem whatsoever" he replied ... I asked the price and they are £179 + postage

So I will return the dud to Amazon for a refund and order one from Grays knowing it will be good ....

On topic:

I watched a video on power tool batteries and their issues ... the microchip coding that goes on in them is frightening .... the micro chip records every single electrical event, charges, current usage, no. of cycles, battery temperatures, pages and pages of incomprehensible codes and then some ..... The guy making the videos has spent literally years trying to fathom out and how to get round the codes ....

I don't expect anybody to follow this whole video completely, (I didn't) but it opens your eyes to what AI can do .....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHj0-Gzvbeo

me

Seems to be a challenge ;-)

davethebirder

Well two batteries down and out and the third one on it's way .... having established it was the EN-EL 18C that I needed courtesy of Grays of Westminster, I rang again to get a link so I could pass the order .... this time the links to the EN-EL18D, the one for the Z9, I rang again and spoke to another member of staff . "Er" I said, "your colleague said it was the the 18C model". "No no he replied the 18D".
Nobody seems to be agreed on what battery I need, not even the Uk's biggest Nikon dealer!
🙂
On passing the order I noticed I wasn't charged VAT to Europe, whether I pay the Douanes here in France will be seen .....
The positive side is it's the battery for the current Z9 and is unlikely to be discontinued in the near future ....

davethebirder

A real Nikon EN-EL18D battery finally arrived this morning ..... I studied the envelope label to see a customs form .... no sign of a duty charge, the value of the item £169 marked and that's it ..... whether there will be following demand is to be seen.
Popped the battery in the TPM charger and it showed 100% .... as Grays of Westminster promised they had charged it .....

Into the grip and on the camera and Yay! ... on pressing the info button 9FPS was shown .... and sure enough I got my 9 FPS.

Also the Z9 18D battery has a capacity of 3,300 ma instead of 2,500ma of the 18 B/C

third time lucky ........