Batteries

A few tips about batteries:

  • Always carry a spare for your camera (and everything else).
  • LiIon batteries do not mind being charged without first being discharged, so charge them every time they go down – every day if you like.
  • Once a month, exchange the spare with the camera battery, and top up if needed.
  • For flashes, use NiMH batteries. These recharge more quickly between flashes. Plus, they save you money.
  • And these do like to be occasionally discharged before charging again. You can get a “conditioning charger” for this (Lacrosse or Maha).
  • These also discharge quickly by themselves, so top up before a shoot!

Do all this, and you are ready to live without battery hassles.

 

4 thoughts on “Batteries

  1. Re: NiMH batteries, try Sanyo Eneloops. They have a far superior shelf life than any other brand I’ve tried. They use a diferent technology and so can come to you off the shelf with an essentially full charge. Combined with a conditioning charger, they’ll save money and decrease the time you spend worrying about topping off spare batteries.

  2. I’ll agree with Steve on Enelopes, at least for AAA (I don’t have any AA Enelopes yet.)

    I’ve been using a mix of Energizer, Duracell, Kodak and a few ‘off brands’ for several years. (I have several flashes, and each gets a set with only one brand at a time… the brands aren’t mixed in a set.) The off-brands, are called that for a reason. They don’t hold up well to repeated use.

    I’ve found that while Energizer starts well, they don’t hold up through the charging/use/re-charging process as well as the Kodak and Duracells do, so they are mostly used as backups (and in pocket wizards) these days.

    I’ve also used (or tried to use) the Duracell 2650auh cells, and they don’t work well at all in flashes. They work better in the pocket wizards, but I’ll not buy any more of them.

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