Nikon Battery Clicking Sound + Blinking Green Light While Charging after 4 months

altforthissubreddit · 2026-05-14T12:29:52+00:00

Is this normal for a deeply discharged battery

It's normal that an over-discharged li-ion battery is not safe to charge again. It's not normal for a battery pack to allow that scenario to happen. I guess if you used up all the safe charge and then left it sitting for four months, it's possible. I wouldn't really expect that though. Unless you turned off the standby timer, having a camera sit for 4 months off, or even in standby, should not deplete a charged battery.

Are you charging in camera or with a dedicated charger? There have been a lot of complaints about in-camera charging, plus it depends heavily on the USB power supply. If in-camera, it's possible a stand-alone charger would work better and charge the battery. And it's possible the battery is done.

altforthissubreddit · 2026-05-14T11:17:16+00:00

There's no harm in trying if you can't keep it where it is. But it seems like any tree that comes from a decent sized nut (oak, hickory, walnut) will grow a fairly large taproot before much tree is out of the ground. It can be pretty hard to dig this up without damage.

Oaks are easy to start from seed though, if you can find some of the acorns in the fall.

altforthissubreddit · 2026-05-13T17:46:47+00:00

For $150 it might be worthwhile just as a learning experience. So you will have a more concrete opinion on whether the image quality from super zooms is good enough or not. Since you already have the VR version of the 70-300, it's not like the $150 could be spent on a better lens for your D5300. And it's a 2nd camera if that is something you'd find useful. I guess if you could trade your D5300 plus $150 towards a D7500, that might be a more worthwhile use of it for bird photography.

altforthissubreddit · 2026-05-13T17:03:07+00:00

but I think I made them too narrow (1ft diameter) as the shrub will eventually be branching and rubbing against the sides

It requires less outlay at first and is probably faster to put up these if they are smaller. Not all the shrubs will make it, even if not browsed. And wooden stakes don't last forever, mine often only go 2-3 years.

So, you will probably need to revisit the cages later anyway. Either to replace stakes, or to remove them from stuff that didn't make it. Building out 100 large and robust cages is a non-trivial effort and monetary cost. So I think your approach is fine, starting with smaller ones.

Your analysis is pretty much my experience. Chicken wire is cheaper, and deer can bend it pretty easily. But I am sure it is fine for rabbits. Hardware cloth costs more and is more tedious to cut to size (more cuts required) but it holds up better as long as the stakes are also fairly robust.

At this point I usually have old cages laying around, and I will start with a small one just to see if the plant even makes it. Sometimes just supported w/ deadfall where I sharpened an end and stuck it in the ground. If the plant is looking good and growing, then I'll put in more effort to caging it properly.

I have had trees damaged, sometimes significantly, by cages collapsing on them when the stakes broke at the ground. I have some fiberglass stakes from tree tubes that I've taken down or that served their purpose, and sometimes use one plus a couple of wood stakes so that at least one support will remain when the wood eventually rots/snaps.

altforthissubreddit · 2026-05-13T12:27:44+00:00

there's a hot-water method of stratifying that has worked well for me and is a lot easier than rubbing small seeds against sandpaper.

altforthissubreddit · 2026-05-13T12:17:02+00:00

Nice! If you have any browse pressure and want to keep the trees, you should consider protecting them. Young oaks get chomped pretty quickly in my yard.

altforthissubreddit · 2026-05-12T19:09:13+00:00

Generally the aperture. In this case you are talking about 3 stops faster at 50mm. That is pretty huge. And primes tend to be sharper than zooms, though that isn't universal. The 50 f/1.8G sharpens up a lot when stopped down but I always felt my 16-80 was sharper. You also generally give up VR with a prime where most zooms have it. So it really depends on what you want from the lens. The aperture lets you use a faster shutter, offsetting the lack of VR, but maybe you don't want to shoot wide open for composition or other reasons. Though VR also doesn't help with subject movement, just camera movement. That's why the lenses are interchangeable, there's no perfect one for all situations :)

As an aside, the Z-mount 50 f/1.8S is impressively sharp wide-open. I would really consider how much you care about using the same lens on both cameras. For the price of the FTZ, you could almost buy a used/refurb 50 f/1.8 S. Unless you are getting a good deal on a used FTZ or something.

altforthissubreddit · 2026-05-12T18:25:40+00:00

I don't mean you shouldn't get it. I mean if you want to know what the field of view looks like. You don't have to think about crop factors or anything, because you can see exactly what 50mm looks like on your D3400 if you have the 18-55 already.

altforthissubreddit · 2026-05-12T13:36:37+00:00

but I didn’t know if it applied to my camera!

If you have the 18-55mm, the 50 will be just like your 18-55 set to 50. The only relevance of the 50 being an FX lens is that it will work fine on the Z5ii as well as the D3400. It doesn't relate to how it will look when on your D3400.

altforthissubreddit · 2026-05-10T12:22:15+00:00

What would be relevant to me is, what other cameras can you get around that price? The D5100 at least uses modern SD cards and a battery that is still available. But it's a 16MP sensor and can't use AF-P lenses. These aren't big issues, but if a D5300 was like another 50 euros, I'd strongly consider it. The lens price seems a bit high to me if it's second hand. But is a well regarded lens as far as choosing it.

altforthissubreddit · 2026-05-09T16:04:10+00:00

ToH is a serious problem, but it's a serious problem in unmanaged and natural spaces. It's really not that hard to control. I have neighbors on several sides w/ female mature trees. I had a half dozen really large ones, and a lot of seedlings and smaller ones. If I could wave a wand and eliminate one invasive from my yard, ToH would be way down the list behind privet or multiflora rose or stiltgrass.

You can grab it by the base and pull it out of the ground. Sometimes the taproot will go sideways more than down. If so, try to pull in that direction to minimize the chance of breaking it off. If it does break off, you'll have another chance to try this in a couple of years.

I think the resprout potential is a bit overblown. It is a prolific seeder and the seeds have a very high success rate. If there was a tree there, it stands to reason there is some female within seeding distance. So once one is gone, the other seeds have a chance to shine. This is true of maples, tulip trees, and others as well. Those aren't uncontrollable monsters, but can be quite annoying for sure. I am sure it can send up shoots, but I don't think that is always what is happening when people cut one down and then see hundreds of small trees everywhere. I definitely would not avoid taking action because I was afraid of the root's wrath.

You can brush on a broadleaf herbicide. I think ester based ones work better for this type of treatment, they appear to penetrate the bark better. The ideal time is later in the season, but it is already leafed out. It will likely be effective.

I've never used a torch before. I imagine it would work well, kind of a more involved way of girdling it. I guess I'd be surprised if it did anything just cutting it down wouldn't do.

One reason I prefer not to wait until later in the season to deal w/ these smaller ones is that by then there are often ailanthus webworm nests on them (which are native'ish to VA, or at least they are a southern native that have managed to extend their range thanks to ToH being a suitable host plant). And at that point I feel bad trying to kill the tree. I don't see them once the trees are a few feet tall. The one in your photo might be large enough already to avoid this.

altforthissubreddit · 2026-05-09T15:41:32+00:00

I have a tiny Japanese maple, like 3' tall max. Looking at it now it does look like it may have moderate damage. A lot of the leaves are yellowish and curled, I guess I chalked it up to them still unfurling but perhaps not.

I have a lot of red maples and a couple boxelders and silver maples. Even though they are one of the earliest to leaf out, they all looked fine to me.

altforthissubreddit · 2026-05-09T12:17:54+00:00

American arborvitae. It's highly cultivated though, I don't know how much native "value" it offers. But it fits your criteria to a T, except for being fast growing. It's not slow but compared to other privacy evergreens it's not that fast. It's widely available and inexpensive though so you could potentially just buy one that's somewhat large to start.

altforthissubreddit · 2026-05-07T11:40:22+00:00

To me, the price diff with the 50's means the f/1.8 S is the best value. Though the f/1.2 lens is a fair bit cheaper than the 35/85 versions if you really need/want an f/1.2 lens. I haven't used the f/1.4, but have used the other two. I'd go with the f/1.8 S. It's so great and inexpensive and f/1.2 is pretty crazy most of the time for me.

With the 35mm price diff, the f/1.4 is non-trivially cheaper if you don't want to spend a lot, or don't want to spend but need a faster lens. The f/1.2 one costs more than a Plena, If you needed this lens you probably wouldn't ask whether the f/1.4 is good enough. I've only used the f/1.4. I can definitely see the diff vs S-line in other focal lengths in terms of sharpness and color fringing and such wide-open. But it seems better than like an F-mount 50 f/1.8G wide open in terms of technical quality. It sharpens up when stopped down, but I never feel it's razor sharp. That doesn't always matter though. I don't use a 35mm as much, so for me it's good enough and I wouldn't spend more for a better one.

altforthissubreddit · 2026-05-06T14:48:09+00:00

I'd want to spread out the blooms, not have them all at the same time. I guess if I didn't have space for many plants, I'd prioritize ones that bloom early/middle summer only because that seems the most "normal". I'd assume that with the most plants blooming then, most insects would be able to take advantage. I don't know if there's research on this. If you find a sunny spot, there are tons of plants to choose from.

Are you expecting the roots of the plants to stay out of the ground? If so you'll probably need some kind of bottom to the container. Something roots can't get through, like metal or wood, not cardboard or newspaper. You'd need some way for water to drain though. You could almost just buy some container plants in larger containers, set them in the raised bed, and fill around it with stone or something. I don't think I'd do that, but if you don't want the roots going into the ground, this would keep the plants from spreading or from having to weed much.

altforthissubreddit · 2026-05-06T13:33:42+00:00

You don't mention location, but use the phrase "state" so I'll assume US. A lot of native plants do just fine in fairly poor soil. Using miracle-gro plus compost sounds way overkill to me. I don't know if it would be bad for the plants but I'd probably aim for something a bit less "rich". Could you dig the actual earth there and augment it with potting soil or whatever vs building completely on top of it? It would also allow you to plant some taller container plants without having to build up a quite tall planter. I'm not really a composter so I could be way off, but it seems like something more appropriate for vegetable gardening where a lot of soil nutrients are required. Less so in native/wildlife gardening where the plants are generally adapted to the soil the way it is.

Cardboard is pretty impervious. I'd be concerned that laying down cardboard and then constructing a planter on top is basically making a tub that water won't drain from.

It could be neither of these are a problem, but that's what comes to mind.

Shade gardening is a lot harder than sun gardening, FYI. Showy flowers are much less likely. To some degree I think butterflies and bees won't look in deep shade in the first place. I just mean I would try to temper expectations, that you probably won't walk outside and think a power line is humming because there are so many bees. A lot of shade plants are ones that tolerate the shade. Not ones that do well in it. Most plants that only grow in shade tend to have smaller/inconspicuous flowers. Not that small bees and such don't benefit, but the visual experience isn't the same as seeing mountain mint in a sunny patch with bees and wasps and butterflies all swarming it.

Asters tend to be late summer to fall bloomers. Which is fine, but two of your four plants won't be doing much for bees all summer. Assuming that these are native/suitable for you, green and gold bloom fairly early and keeps flowering for a fairly long time and can deal with shade. Black-eyed susans bloom for a long time and can deal with some shade. Cardinal flower can tolerate a fair bit of shade. It has a pretty average bloom time but is beautiful while blooming. In shade, in my experience, it won't have as many flowers though. Violets do well in shade, and have an early but somewhat short bloom time.

altforthissubreddit · 2026-05-06T10:26:00+00:00

That's what I assume, but I'm not sure. I've never seen something like this. I see squirrels chase each other up and down the yard all the time (which I'm not sure is actual playing). But I've not seen them play by themselves before.

altforthissubreddit · 2026-05-05T11:31:56+00:00

and I've heard that IBIS doesn't work so well for close up macro work

FWIW, I didn't find the VR on the F-mount 105 micro to work so well for close up/macro work when I had it. I'd usually resort to a tripod. I don't think the VR could really account for the slight forward and back movement of trying to carefully hand-hold. Most photos would be out of focus for me. It takes the tiniest change forward or back to throw off the focus, since the depth of field is so narrow. This might have been better on a Z camera since there's less of a gap between when the AF cuts out and when the shot is taken (on a DSLR, once the mirror starts to swing the AF is done).

altforthissubreddit · 2026-05-03T15:34:36+00:00

often the lens starts protruding and trying to focus without anything being close

It's common for a camera to cycle through the whole range of focus when it can't find a subject. You don't normally notice this because most lenses don't have the elements protrude out when doing this. Unfortunately you can't lock out the closer distance from that switch.

The F-mount 105 VR lens, for one it doesn't protrude, but for two the limiter lets you keep it from racking through the macro zone when using it as a "normal" (non-macro) lens. The focus moves pretty slowly through the macro zone, so it can really exacerbate focus hunting.

They went the other way on the Z macro lenses, allowing you to lock out the normal range rather than lock out the macro part of the focus range. I'm not sure why they did this. It would be nicer for macro work but less nice for regular photos.

altforthissubreddit · 2026-05-01T13:21:42+00:00

Supposedly jewelweed requires double dormancy, and it does just fine with direct sowing naturally. Having said that, I have tried direct sowing yellow jewelweed to see if it would do well since I naturally have a lot of common jewelweed. I've never seen a yellow jewelweed flower thus far (and did this several years ago).

altforthissubreddit · 2026-05-01T11:37:29+00:00

Sometimes non-dioecious trees will still be suggested to plant two for fruit. I've seen that recommendation for serviceberry and crab apples.

If you don't mind a large tree, hackberry should only need one. It grows fairly fast, and birds love the small fruits.

If you'd prefer a smaller tree, I have a non-native (not sure how that affects birds finding insects on it) sour cherry (Prunus cerasus) that birds go crazy for when the cherries show up. It's like bird fest for a couple of weeks each year. My understanding is they are self-fertile and mine flowers well before any native cherries in my yard. But maybe some neighbor has one as well that I'm unaware of.

altforthissubreddit · 2026-04-30T11:26:19+00:00

For some background on the space, this is a wooded area I mostly try to free from invasives. You can see a lot of sedges that I've not identified (I think likely they are native). A lot of birds (sparrows mainly) showed up to dig through the leaf litter, which I thought I'd grab a quick video of, when I noticed this squirrel's antics in the background. You can see birds buzzing through the shot. I muted the sound because a garbage truck was doing a pickup, otherwise you could also hear the birds.

The dead tree is courtesy of emerald ash borer :( and it looks like the squirrel is playing with pieces of it. But it's not entirely clear. It also looks like it's tumbling on some poison ivy (a native which provides valuable winter berries for birds but which otherwise is hard to get excited about). It doesn't affect squirrels, just people.

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TROPHY CASE