This Battery Has Reached The End Of Its Working Life And Can No Longer Be Used

The flyover prior to the beginning of the inaugural running of the Grand Prix of Indianapolis at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

I’ve have been meaning to buy and carry around an extra battery pack for my Nikon V1 for some time now. This weekend, I was at IMS for the inaugural Grand Prix of Indianapolis. For the third year, I had purchased a bronze badge for access into the pits and the track on non-race days. This year’s badge came with a special bonus, a grid walk prior to the start of the GP race.

I wanted to go light this year, so I just took my V1, two lenses and its external flash, knowing I could get some great shots on the grid of the cars, drivers, and racing celebrities. I had taken the camera out to the track the day before and only snapped a few shots. The battery was showing a full charge, but I thought it would be best to throw it on the charger to top it off before a full day of shutter action.

Just prior to the start of the grid walk, I fired up the camera and was met with a blue-screen-of-death-like message, “This battery has reached the end of its working life and can no longer be used.”

Luckily I had upgraded my iPhone earlier in the spring so I could at least capture a few decent images. Above is one that still creates goosebumps, the fly over after the singing of the National Anthem, taken from the very end of the grid.