Recently I bought an MB10 vertical grip for my Nikon N90s. The next day when I was trying with this new "toy" I found a problem that I've never encountered before: the battery indicator on the camera said that the battery was almost empty although the 4 AA Duracell alkaline batteries in the MB10 are new. Astonished by this I took the batteries out the MB10 and checked the power with the PowerCheck--even more puzzeled it indicates an almost 100% full of power. It must be something wrong with the MB10 and the battery indicator of the camera: I checked this many many times and it turned out the following: switching on the camera after a switch-off, the battery indicator says 100% ok. After a single shoot, the indicator jumps to saying battery is almost empty (half). Without the MB10 this does not happen. I was not happy with this situation (though the problem could always be solved with powering off the camera and on again but then my finger will become hot in practical shooting). Then I thought about this Nikon mailing list: by checking the archives, I found out that many of you who have an MB10 also complained about the power problem but no real solution was provided. Suddenly I recalled me that the man who helped me transporting the batteries from my camera's battery holder to the MB10 case, when I bought the MB10 from them (www.kamera-express.nl), said about this: you should use real Varta camera batteries instead of the normal Duracell batteries. Then I thought: why not give it a try. Then I ran to a shop and bought 4 AA Duracell Extra power batteries (they didn't have Varta extra power). Guess what: after inserting these batteries to the MB10 I don't have the above-mentioned problem anymore. Now I've taken 5 rolls with these extra power batteries and the battery indicator still says 100% power. So my conclusion: the N90s in combination with the MB10 really needs extra power. The extra powered batteries can resolve this problem, at least it works for me. If you have the same problem, why not give it a try? Jian Luo ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
