I’ve experienced strange issues when the MB-D10 Battery Grip is connected to my Nikon D700 camera.

I’ve only seen the occurrences listed below when the two are connected, otherwise the camera performs perfectly. I believe it’s a compatibility issued between the two:

  • the photo display sometimes hangs up when I flipping through photos;
  • the CF indicator light will start blinking for no reason; and
  • there’s prolonged searching and erratic functioning of AF.

The D700 sees the MB-D10 and reflects it’s battery status accurately.

I’m thinking this may be a D700 firmware issue. The MB-D10 Battery Grip functions perfectly on the D300 and the D700 camera functions perfectly without it attached.

I searched and was able to find one other person having compatibility issues with the D700 and MB-D10. This person was told by his local camera shop it was a D700 firmware issue.

I also remember when the D300 was first released there was a firmware issues between it and the MB-D10.

For now I’ll keep the battery grip off the D700 and wait for Nikon to releases a firmware update at which point I’ll try it again. :-/

21 Comments

  1. That’s what you call being on the bleeding edge! :-) I’m sure that Nikon will have a firmware upgrade soon! Until then, you’ll just have to deal with one battery and 5 fps! ;-)

  2. @Paul: Yeah…I think I can manage for a while! ;-) The more I use the D700 the more I like it.

  3. Pieter Pieterse

    Yesterday (at a wedding!!!) I experienced a problem, which is probably related to this MB-D10 issue. My D700’s buttons on the back-panel died and had no response, the preview screen stayed off and the autofocus was jumping eratically for a few minutes, before it stopped functioning all together!

    I could get nothing out of the camera, so my wife suggested that I put in a fresh EN-EL4a battery. This solved the problem luckily and the camera came back to life.

    The battery I removed still had 80% power when I checked it on the charger after the event. I popped it back into the camera to see the problem again, but it was ok again. I wonder if there might be a battery overheating issue here as well, maybe?

    Oh, and the pic count is completely out. My 86% charged EN-EL4a batteries show 2 pics remaining on the D700 battery display.

    I’ll be looking for a firmware update today?! Please let me know of any ideas? I’m very concerned about this. This is my first problem with Nikon gear ever!

  4. @Pieter: When Nikon first released the D300 they were having similar problems involving the MB-D10. That’s why I feel there may be some issues with the D700 as well.

    There have been no updates for D700 firmware as of this time but I’m hopeful when they do release an update it will resolve the issues with the MB-D10 battery grips.

    Thanks for your comment letting me know others are experiencing this as well. Regards.

  5. I have used the D700 and MB-D10 for several months now with no issues at all.

  6. @Brian: Since doing this post I’ve used the MB-D10 with my D700 and it seems to be for the most part okay. I don’t know if initially it was a poor connection or what.

    Thanks for sharing your results.

  7. no worries :)

    A lot of gear doesn’t always operate as desired, and sometimes results do vary by individual products

    B

  8. just a poor electric contact
    Hi everyone , just want you to know how I solved that problem and works just fine for me. I checked the cartridge that holds the AA batteries and it worked OK in al circumstances and camera positions even shaking it, so comparing the shapes i found that the cartridge that holds the EN-EL3 is not making properly the contact at the far end connector with 6 slots because is not well supported inside the grip assembly. I taped a piece of soft foam in the little ledge that is between the end of battery and the far end of the cartridge so it kinda like extends and mimic the battery shape and size till the end.
    Now everything is just fine and I can shoot upside-down if I want.

  9. I have some problems with the MB-D10 pugged on to my D700. When the battery on the MB-D10 has a litle bit power, I mean that this charge is not the necessary for a preview, or AF, the cammera don’t change to the body battery. On my D300 it’s not happends.

  10. I am so frustrated. I am having battery grip MB-D10 and it is not registering either. I purchased the Nikon D300 battery grip versatile with the D700 and it does not work either. I have sent back two D700 so far for replacements (waiting on my third D700 right now). I am less than happy. I haven’t even got to use the camera yet. I have a friend who said he owns the D90 and has the same issues and ended up putting a piece of cardboard between the grip and the camera. I just can’t justify spending $2300 on a camera to put implement a “hillbilly” technique into the picture. It is disappointing.

    Ali

    • Ali, This issue seems to only happen with some D700s. My situation is now okay and the MB-D10/D700 are working okay. I did nothing to fix it except install the latest D700 firmware updates. As you can see from the comments here there are a number of issues perhaps causing this problem. I wish I had a quick solution for you because I know it’s very frustrating.

  11. I have had d700 for almost 1 year.
    Recetly I purchased Nikon MB-D10 (from an authorized dealer obviously).
    Had it attached, and boom, the camera went dead.
    sent to Nikon, awaiting to see what will they do.

  12. I’ve been having the some issues too:
    — not showing a preview when pressing the playback button
    — the shutter button not firing sometimes and will only take a photo if I remove the MB-D10 battery (the EN-EL4a battery)
    — the display going wacho, saying no card was in it when there was

    It seems to work find when the grip is not attached. The problem I have is that my D700 is already sporting the latest firmware update (1.02).
    Any thoughts?

    • nikki, I wish I had some suggestion for you but mine has been working since the latest firmware update (1.02). I’m sure you’ve checked that all the connection between the D700 and MB-D10 are clean and connecting. That’s the only other thing I’ve heard of.

  13. I am having the same issue on my D300s. I bought the grip, put it on, and after a handful of shots it froze up while I was previewing photos. The screen froze and the buttons on the back of the camera stopped working. I’ll have to look into firmware and clean my connections to see if that fixes the problem. If not, I won’t be a happy camper…

  14. Angie Stevens

    I’m getting in on this feed obviously way late but I’ve just started experiencing the blinking battery indicator when using the battery grip on my D700. If I wait a few seconds I can start back shooting but obviously this is a HUGE problem, especially when I shoot kids and you have to be fast. Any suggestions on fixing the problem? Any advice is greatly appreciated!

  15. Angie I am having the same problem when attaching d700 and mb-d10. I just purchased both items together and I experience the blinking battery and it shuts down my camera capabilities. I have to take it off to get camera functioning again. I would appreciate any suggestions.

  16. Had the same experienced from new. Every time it happen, gave a gently knock to the grip and the connection came back. I guess it has something to do with the contact pin between the grip and body.

  17. Fix my Grip problem…
    Cleaned the pins contact points with stanley blade. Once they’re all bright again it works fine.