Tips to Extend the Battery Life of Your Digital Camera
As with most consumer electronic items these days, digital cameras are battery hogs. They are responsible for powering a number of items within the camera that explains the battery drain including the LCD display, photo storage to the memory card, the flash and the motor that controls the zoom lens.
Because camera batteries do so much, it is no wonder that they don't last very long. However with a little knowledge, you can follow some simple steps to help your camera batteries last longer and to require fewer charges or replacements.
The first thing you should do is to turn off the LCD display if possible and look through the optical viewfinder instead. The LCD is one of the biggest battery hogs in your camera and you can dramatically extend the battery life if you don't use it.
Next, resist the urge to preview your pictures. Again, powering up the LCD to review the photos you took will also drain a lot of your battery life. If you have to take a look, keep the viewing time as short as possible.
If you don't need to use the flash, disable it. There may be cases when your camera would naturally flash but it does no good. For example if you are at a sporting event, your flash from a hundred feet away will do no good so disable id and you will be able to take more photos.
Although it may seem counterintuitive, if you are taking a lot of pictures, don't turn off the camera after each shot. It would seem that you are conserving the battery power by turning it off but in reality every time you turn the camera off and on, the mechanism to power up the camera, extend the lens and so on eats up a little of the battery power.
If your camera uses AA batteries, consider getting rechargeable batteries instead of the typical alkaline. Although the rechargeable batteries cost more up front, the cost of a few sets of alkaline batteries can quickly exceed the rechargeables, not to mention the extra waste of throwing the old batteries into the landfill when they run out of juice.
