Railfan Technology > My request for Nikon user / expert thread on the Eastern board

Background,,2 days ago I charged my batteries to go rail fanning, I use a dual battery pack as I video mostly, so yesterday I get trackside and the NS train is closing on me and I get the camera turned on ready to shoot and get the message "you must use a Nikon battery" or similar what, same batteries I've been using for years,,,,, so I missed the shot, but what I did try was reversing the position of the battery's and that worked,, so 1 moral of the experience is always double check operation of the camera after reinstalling the batteries.

After I posted last night on the Eastern board I was directed to dpreview forums by JR24 and found others that experienced similar experiences, so this is a heads up for you guys, now to try another day for that shot.

Hope this helps

Ed Stewart
Jacksonville, FL



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/26/17 06:04 by calsubd.

Nikon wants you to use their proprietary batteries for commercial, they make money when you buy their batteries and technical, the batteries and camera bodies talk to each other reasons. Putting an ID chip in a Nikon battery insures some cheap Chinese knock off battery will not damage the camera electronics. Nikon has found out the hard way there are some real crap batteries out there these days.

Did not know this thanks

Ed Stewart
Jacksonville, FL

fbe Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Nikon wants you to use their proprietary batteries
> for commercial, they make money when you buy their
> batteries and technical, the batteries and camera
> bodies talk to each other reasons. Putting an ID
> chip in a Nikon battery insures some cheap Chinese
> knock off battery will not damage the camera
> electronics. Nikon has found out the hard way
> there are some real crap batteries out there these
> days.

Like other Chinese batteries that catch fire -(hoverboards) .....

The same is true with Canon 'compatible' batteries, including the fakes that come from China. Canon firmware also detects 'fake' batteries sometimes, but not consistently, from what I've read.

FWIW, Epson does the same with their printers that frequently reject non-Epson cartridges. If it were possible, I'd bet Gillette would do the same with their razors. It's called 'increase brand sales'.

There's probably a brand protection element, but there's also a large component of not wanting to tell someone whose knock-off battery leaked, exploded or corroded that their warranty is now invalid.  The number of abysmal-quality knockoffs has led all of the major camera makers to take this position.