Nikon D300 Complete Manual page 99

circuitry, when connected and communicating, is drawing
power. You can minimize the battery hit by shooting
smaller image formats (JPEG instead of NEF, which take
less time to transmit).
• Likewise, a GPS connection to the camera reduces battery
life. This is doubly true if you use one of the camera-
powered GPS receivers, like the one made by Dawn Tech.
• The Lithium-Ion batteries of the Nikon D300 do not lose
capacity over short periods of non-use. If you store the
battery for a long period of time, it will probably lose
some charge, though. It takes very long periods of time to
see significant power reduction on a battery not being
used (a month or more). See "Battery Storage" on page
<91>.
On the other hand, the D300 isn't completely quiescent
when the Power switch is in the OFF position. In
particular, the D300 uses an LCD overlay mechanism in
the viewfinder, which requires a small, but constant
power source. This overlay supplies the AF sensor
markings, the grid lines and warnings (if enabled). You
can verify this by looking through the viewfinder while
removing the battery: the display will get darker without
the battery in the camera.
The consequence of the LCD overlay needing power is
that if you store a D300 for a month, at the end of that
month you'll have either a discharged or low battery.
Moreover, you'll likely be running the battery fully down,
which as I've already mentioned, is not the way to leave
Lithium Ion batteries if they're not going to be used for a
period of time. Remove the battery from the camera if
you're not going to use it for long periods of time.
• Microdrive storage uses more power than a standard
CompactFlash card. A Microdrive is a miniature hard
drive, and has moving parts that must be moved. During
standby the older Microdrives consume as much as 65mA
compared to only 0.2mA for CompactFlash cards (newer
Thom Hogan's Complete Guide to the Nikon D300
V1.02
Page 99