Prolong Battery Life With Common Tips

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of the Canon Digital Camera Battery   First post by: www.itsbattery.com

Like any beast that needs feeding, your digital camera is always hungry...for power. It requires a constant supply of charged batteries to give you the photographs you desire. But to many, once the batteries have been put in, they are forgotten about - until they let you down and you are left feeling frustrated. This digital photography for beginners article considers the importance of the battery and provides some handy tips for conserving energy, when necessary.

The most obvious tip is this - always have a spare battery (or set) to hand at all times. There is nothing more annoying than having a wonderful photographic opportunity in front of you (such as a beautiful once in a lifetime sunset) which you can only stand by and watch. And all because your camera's battery is flat. Believe me, you'll feel flat, too. If you are using an external flash unit, make sure you have the appropriate batteries such as canon NB-1L battery, canon NB-2L battery, canon BP-511 battery, canon NB-5L battery, canon NB-4L battery, canon NB-5H battery for this to hand, as well.

Depending on how you use your camera, the length of battery life will vary. If you get into trouble, and are unable to quickly charge your battery, or get to a store to obtain new ones, there are a few energy-conserving steps you can take which may prolong your battery power enough for you to get your shot. Or you can use these tips to simply make your batteries last longer throughout their life.

Using your monitor to view pictures is one of the biggest drains on power, and one area of digital photography for beginners that can be a hard habit to break. Therefore, don't review your pictures until you have new batteries in. If you are not viewing the monitor when taking pictures, turn it off, even if you need to leave the camera itself powered up.

Check out you camera's auto turn off function. Most modern digital cameras have a feature that automatically shuts the camera down after a certain period of inactivity. In many cases, this is adjustable, so you may be able to reduce the amount of inactive time before shutdown.

The built in flash unit also consumes much power. If flash recycle time starts to slow down, this is usually a sign of impending doom (or battery failure, to be less dramatic). Limiting flash by ensuring your auto flash option is off, and using available light, will help.

If your camera has Image Stabilisation, some models will conserve battery power when this is turned off. This can vary, though, so check your camera's manual to find out if this applies.

Many cameras offer continuous autofocus as an option. In this case, the focus is being altered constantly whilst the shutter is being depressed. Some battery power may be preserved by switching to regular autofocus, or manual focus, such as on a Digital SLR.

Whilst the subject of batteries may easily be overlooked, you should consider these as vital as any aspect of digital photography for beginners. You only need to be let down by dud batteries once to realise how important they are. In short, keep spare batteries with you at all times, and you will never go far wrong.