Saturday, May 2, 2009

5 Tips for Conserving Camera Battery Power

5 Tips for Conserving
Camera Battery Power


Running out of battery power can be one of the most annoying aspects of digital photography.

Too many times in the past have I experienced taking the time to set up a shot or needing to use my camera in the heat of the moment, only to find that the battery didn’t have enough power left to capture the moments that I wanted to photograph.

You can imagine my frustration when I miss the photo opportunity because of the camera battery.



Some camera batteries available in the market


Now, instead of carrying spare batteries with me in case this happened, I decided to research into the area of conversing camera battery power. I share what I learnt with you in this article in the hope of helping you to avoid such annoying situations!


Tip 1: Keep LCD Use to a Minimum

The part of your digital camera that uses up the most power is without a doubt the LCD screen. Every time you open up this digital display you are presented with a view of what the camera sees in real-time, meaning that the display has to be refreshed multiple times every second to show you a fluent-moving picture. Keeping usage of the LCD screen to a minimum will definitely help a freshly charged battery last much longer!

Tip 2: Manage Photos While Your Batteries Charge

Another easy way to cut down on the amount of power drained from your batteries is to wait until you can plug your camera into an AC adapter before you start to manage your photos. This is an important tip to remember - you may enjoy cropping, deleting, and viewing your photos on the go, but it will leave you with much less power to take photos if you do so.


Tip 3: Try Not to Use the Memory Card

This tip goes hand in hand with the previous one, but also plays an important factor in keeping enough juice in your camera batteries to take those important photos! It uses up a lot of power every time that you access the memory card, so keep this in mind before reviewing every photo that you take while relying solely on battery power.

Tip 4: Don’t Mix Different Types of Batteries

Keeping the same types of batteries together can help to conserve power in digital cameras as well as most other battery-powered devices. This is mostly because the performance of older batteries will not be as good as newer ones, and they will drain much faster. Another important reason to remember this tip is that mixing different types of batteries can be dangerous – the batteries can become damaged and even leak, which in turn could end up damaging your digital camera.

Tip 5: Let Batteries Run Out

Letting batteries completely run out of power before recharging them can help them to last longer as well as increase their performance. Something that people tend to forget is that just because your batteries aren’t holding enough energy to run your camera it doesn’t mean that they are entirely empty of power. You can make sure that your batteries are as empty as possible before recharging them by leaving them in an old radio or a flashlight that is turned on until they run down.

Conclusion

Hopefully this article has offered you some new suggestions to help you conserve digital camera battery power. It may first seem annoying to not immediately review all of your photos as you take them, but after a while you will most likely find that you get more photos taken this way, and using this in combination with some of the other tips will help you become more efficient at using your digital camera!

How to Take Care of Your Digital Camera

How to Take Care of
Your Digital Camera


Are you having trouble taking care of your digital camera? A digital camera is a very delicate piece of equipment.

The camera body, especially the lens, can be easily damaged through rough handling and scratches. I’ve owned a Canon S300 camera for a long time, and it still works fine.

Why? Because I do put in effort to take care of it. Here are some tips for taking care of that precious camera of yours.
Lens Care

The lens of your digital camera is its eye or window to the outside world. It is easily the most important component in any camera. To take care of the lens, make sure that you never, ever touch directly with your fingers. Also make sure that you put on the lens cap when not shooting pictures.

If you really need to clean the lens, use good lens cleaning equipment. Investing in such equipment is really important. Always use a good lens brush, lens blower and lens cloth to do the job.





Temperature


The other thing to look out for is the temperature under which the camera is stored. You should always keep the camera out of sun. One mistake that newbies always make is to store the digital camera in the extremely hot temperatures (e.g. the car boot). Don’t ever do that. It’s also important not to store the camera in extremely cold temperatures either.


Storage

When storing your digital camera, you need to keep it away from magnets of any form. Magnets will affect the circuitry of your digital camera and should not be placed near it.

Another point to note is to use silica gel to combat condensation. Many electronic products come with silica gel capsules. Keep these and put them in your digital camera storage box. It will prevent condensation.

The batteries of the camera should also be removed if you intend to store the camera away for a long time. The reason is that batteries can have corrosive leaks over time.



Protect Delicate Components


You also need to protect those delicate components. In particular, watch out for the memory card (whether it is a CompactFlash, SD or MMC card). Handle them with care because they are small and delicate.

Camera panels are also very delicate. In my Canon PowerShot S500, the panel for the USB connect and the battery is a tad flimsy. I make sure I handle it with care whenever I open it.



Conclusion


You digital camera costs a lot of money and it pays to take care of it. Remember to apply the above tips to preserve your camera and it’ll last you a long, long time. Good luck!