A question about camera batteries

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Camerafan

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I have a small pocket-sized digital camera and am about to buy a digital SLR camera.

My pocket-sized digital camera used AA batteries which I just recharge when flat.

However, I was shown a digital SLR camera recently and the battery is like a small box which is recharged when it goes flat.

My question is: what does the photographer do if the battery goes flat when they are out taking pictures. Is it possible to purchase a second battery to be charged up and kept as a reserve in case the battery in the camera goes flat?

With my pocket-sized digital camera I just put in new AA batteries if the batteries inside it go flat when I am out taking photographs.
 
Camerafan said:
My question is: what does the photographer do if the battery goes flat when they are out taking pictures. Is it possible to purchase a second battery to be charged up and kept as a reserve in case the battery in the camera goes flat?
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Exactly that.

The batteries used by DSLRs are pretty heavy duty and last much longer than AA batteries in compact cameras.
 
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Depending on how many shots you take when you go out ,one battery will do,but you always carry a spare .
I average around 100 to 150 shots while hiking and the battery is 3/4 full at the end of the day.
If you look at every shot you take on the screen and keep reviewing these shots it will take a bit more power,but any non professional will usually get by with two batts.:thumbs:
Incidentally ,Hahnel battery's are cheaper than nikon or canon by about half the price and are quite good.

PS
A battery grip is ok for sports or weddings ,but I find then a bit heavy for Landscape and in the bird hides and ended up selling mine.
 
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I bought a spare battery for my canon for about £10 off amazon. I used it at the British wildlife centre last weekend and took 550 photos and it wasn't even showing low.
 
towershot wrote: Depending on how many shots you take when you go out, one battery will do, but you always carry a spare. I average around 100 to 150 shots while hiking and the battery is 3/4 full at the end of the day.
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That's good. How long can you leave a 75% full battery before it needs recharging (i.e. how long can you leave it without taking any photographs)?

towershot wrote: If you look at every shot you take on the screen and keep reviewing these shots it will take a bit more power, but any non professional will usually get by with two batts.:thumbs:...
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My pocket-sized digital camera seems to use quite a bit of power. It may be the case that it uses less power if it is kept on rather than turning it off during photographic assignments. I think that deleting pictures seems to run the battery down quite fast. I try not to delete when out taking photographs in order to save battery for more pictures.

towershot wrote: Incidentally, Hahnel batteries are cheaper than nikon or canon by about half the price and are quite good.
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Thank you for letting me know this, towershot.

towershot wrote: A battery grip is ok for sports or weddings ,but I find then a bit heavy for Landscape and in the bird hides and ended up selling mine.
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The battery grips I have seen pictures of seem to look rather bulky. I shall ask to see if the DSLR I am thinking of buying can connect to a battery grip but it may be the case that it might better just to have a spare battery charged up instead.
 
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gblades said:
I bought a spare battery for my Canon for about £10 off amazon. I used it at the British wildlife centre last weekend and took 550 photos and it wasn't even showing low.
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Do some DSLR batteries work in different battery rechargers? Did you by a Cannon battery off Amazon for your Canon camera?
 
Do some DSLR batteries work in different battery rechargers?
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Most commonly, DSLRs use custom lithium-ion batteries which require their own specific charger (which is supplied with the camera). Lithium-ion batteries aren't particularly fussy about charging and recharging, and it's quite OK to leave them in a partially charged state for a longish period.
 
Really, don't worry about a battery grip unless/until you find you really need one. They're expensive, bulky and heavy and you'll only need one if (a) you're shooting thousands of images per day and (b) you can't afford ten seconds of down time to change the battery.

A couple of weeks ago I went to a hawk conservancy centre and shot about 600 frames, which is a huge amount for me. Plus I was using continuous AF a lot, and I was doing a lot of chimping and deleting the grossly out of focus shots, of which there were many. At the end of the day my battery still had loads of charge and I hadn't touched my spare.
 
roseway said:
Most commonly, DSLRs use custom lithium-ion batteries which require their own specific charger (which is supplied with the camera). Lithium-ion batteries aren't particularly fussy about charging and recharging, and it's quite OK to leave them in a partially charged state for a longish period.
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In fact if you are not going to be using a lithium ion battery for a while then the best way to store it is with a 50% charge. The only thing not to do is store them for a long time fully discharged as if they go too flat they cannot be recharged again. They have circuitry to stop you from being able to fully discharge but like all batteries they self discharge a little over time. However they are cheap so my advice is to keep them well charged so they are good to use whenever you want to use them.
 
There are some DSLR's which can use AA batteries, notably the Pentax KX and KR, they can both be used with AA and Lithium batteries.

Dave.
 
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