I recently purchased a Nikon D40. I, of course, love it, but have a question I can't seem to find a focused answer on.

I don't have the money to purchase the back up battery until I get paid next month, and was wondering about the charge process for the battery that came with the camera.

Is it best to let the charge die before recharging, or can you charge it at any interval to assure you're juiced up for a full day of shooting?

Is it a good idea to charge it frequently, or not?

I'm coming from a point-n-shoot Canon where it was kind of hit or miss, and the batteries for the D40 aren't nearly as affordable as the typical rechargeable AA batteries, so I wanna get this right.

Thank you in advance for your help.

Your camera has Li-Ion battery. While not cheap it's a nice battery that has these key properties:

- Low weight
- No memory effect
- Very slow self-discharge rate.
- Amazing battery life

What this means to you?
Since it has no memory, it can be charged at your pleasure. You don't have to wait for it to drain. It is advisable to fully drain it every now and then, but again, not necessarily every single time. You don't want to be caught with nearly empty battery when the great photo opportunity arises.

Low self discharge means if you're not shooting anything for a while – you will probably not have to worry about the battery losing the charge. Just charge it fully and keep it in a camera on stand-by!

If you come from a camera with AAA rechargeables – you'll probably be amazed how much better the battery life of your D40 is. It is probably going to be good for at least 400 shots on one charge with battery fully rechargable in about 90 minutes. So unless you are doing A LOT of shooting in the same day and have no spare time to recharge, you may even do well with just one battery.

I was going to buy an extra battery for my D80, when I was researching it, but when I saw how amazing the battery life it has, I just quit and bought a few filters instead! Note, that D80 has a better battery life than D40, but I think D40 is still a great battery preserver, so try and shoot with it for a while, and then decide if you want to invest your $$$ into this!

It also matters a great deal how you shoot. For example, I never use onboard flash (have external unit), so I usually recharge my D80 battery after about 300-400 shots, and it has never been under 50% as per camera indicator! Your mileage may vary depending on how you shoot, plus again – D80 has better battery life than D40….

By the way, if you do decide to buy – only buy from reputable dealers and only genuine Nikon battery. Stay away from the "compatible" ones. This is a very high power battery, and the original includes some safeguards against short-circuiting that may result in a fire or explosion that the $14.99 knockoffs don't. Don't gamble with your camera and your health for that matter!

LEM.