Dead Battery Syndrome in D90 or D300

[Dan3006]

I was wondering if Nikon has fixed the Dead Battery Syndrome that plagued Nikon D300 users up thru 2008. Also has anyone had a DBS problem with the D90.
I have been thinking about upgrading my D70s but not if DBS is still a problem.

Thanks,
Dan

[Gentoo]

The have fixed it. I bought my D300 in late July 2008 and never had the issue.

[rezMole]

I suffered DBS for about 6 months on my D300 - when using Sigma 500mm f4.5 and a Kenko Pro 300 1.4x converter. It was caused by a not very tight fitting lens connection. It was fixed by a firmware update about 6 months ago. I still occassionally get an error message but this is got rid of easily by "twisting" the lens slightly. Not sure whether the D90 ever suffered from the problem. I know the D60 doesn't.

[Helios]

I bought my D300 in January 2008, and I've never encountered the DBS. I havn't upgraded my firmware either.

[Gentoo]

I bought my D300 in January 2008, and I've never encountered the DBS. I havn't upgraded my firmware either.DON'T DO IT! It will screw up your metering. Before I "upgraded" my firmware, my D300 use to meter and expose perfectly the way I had it set. If it were at 0.0 then it was dead on. Now it overexposes there and I have to pull a D80/D40 and stop it down to expose correctly, although it's not quite as bad as those other two.

[Helios]

As a rule I never upgrade firmware on anything, unless I feel I really need to.

[Duke Leto]

DON'T DO IT! It will screw up your metering. Before I "upgraded" my firmware, my D300 use to meter and expose perfectly the way I had it set. If it were at 0.0 then it was dead on. Now it overexposes there and I have to pull a D80/D40 and stop it down to expose correctly, although it's not quite as bad as those other two.

I have upgraded the firmware on my D300 and its fine, to be fair there is no correct exposure I find that I have to add or take off a fraction of a stop depending on what I shoot.
I normally as a rule on my D200 or D300 set it to underexpose by a 1/3 of a stop to help reduce over exposing the whites of a bird which matrix metering can't cope with.
If metering was always 100% cameras wouldn't have a bracket facility:t:

[Gentoo]

I have upgraded the firmware on my D300 and its fine, to be fair there is no correct exposure I find that I have to add or take off a fraction of a stop depending on what I shoot.
I normally as a rule on my D200 or D300 set it to underexpose by a 1/3 of a stop to help reduce over exposing the whites of a bird which matrix metering can't cope with.
If metering was always 100% cameras wouldn't have a bracket facility:t:Don't know, maybe it was just mine but before I upgraded that firmware I had far fewer exposure issues.

[rezMole]

If you are suffering from Dead Battery Syndrome when using one of your lenses you have no alternative but to update the firmware. I have had no exposure problems that I can tell, since upgrading to the later version.

[bkrownd]

If you are suffering from Dead Battery Syndrome when using one of your lenses you have no alternative but to update the firmware.

There is an obvious alternative - cleaning the lens-body contacts really well. (do all the lenses at the same time, as the gunk might be coming from another lens) My D80 occasionally comes down with it. Also, from the comments on dpreview the firmware change apparently did not fix everyone's problems.

[rezMole]

The problem with DBS was that it required you to turn the camera off and then on again, and often you'd just get it again straight away. I still get an error but it only requires a little "twist" on the lens to fix. The problem can be caused by "dirty" lens / mount contact but in my case it seems to be that there is a little movement / wobble on the fitting. Cleaning the contacts dosen't stop this. I put it down to the fact that the Kenko 300 Pro isn't built to the same standards as the Sigma 500mm mount.

As I don't often use the converter, it's a minor problem that i can live with.

[NicoleB]

OK, next step tomorrow will be cleaning my lens mount.

I finally figured out how to upgrade the firmware and did.
Reading the comments now,I almost regret it ;)

But the DBS is a bitch that got me last Friday and haunted me on my trip yesterday.
Turning the cam off after every shot helped. But being scared that the cam dies on you when you need it most, isn't a great feeling :(

Hope cleaning the lens mount will do the trick, sigh.

Thanks for the tips!