Digital camera battery life depends on conserving power usage of certain features. The LCD screen, camera motors for zooming and focusing, and flash are large power consumers. To extend battery life, photographers should use the optical viewfinder instead of the LCD when possible, minimize previewing photos on the LCD, and limit use of continuous focusing to only what is needed. Knowing which features consume the most battery power allows photographers to avoid unnecessary usage and get more life from their batteries.

1. Digital Camera Battery Life
“How to make it last longer.”

2. Digital camera battery life is one of the most
important factors in your enjoyment of
photography.
Neglect it and you run the risk of missing that
important shot.

3. Like other portable consumer electronic devices, digital cameras use
batteries as their power source. All batteries have one major
drawback: they only last for a limited time. In this article we will
explain what camera features consume the most energy and how
you can squeeze more life time out of your digital camera battery.

4. There are many types of battery. Your digital camera might be
using disposable batteries or maybe it uses rechargeable ones.
Rechargeable batteries use a variety of technologies such as
nickel cadmium, lithium ion or lithium polymer. Battery
technology has advanced in the last years but digital camera
battery life time is still considerably short. It is very frustrating to
come across a great photo opportunity just to find out that you
have run out of batteries.

5. When it comes to power consumption not all digital camera features
are equal. Some of the digital camera greatest features are high
energy consumers. By knowing which features consume the most
energy you will be able to avoid or minimize using those features
save energy and get more life time from your batteries.

6. The other big energy consumers are the motors. Digital cameras
have motors that move the lenses either to change the zoom or to
focus. Motors consume relatively a lot of energy when moving
the digital camera optical components. And finally the flash is a
big energy consumer too. Shooting photos using the flash
consumes more energy that shooting photos without flash. So
what can you do in order to minimize power consumption and get
more life time from your batteries?

7. Turn off the LCD and use the viewfinder: If your camera has one,
use the optical viewfinder instead of the LCD for composing your
photos. Using the camera menus, disable the LCD by turning it
off. Since the LCD consumes a lot of energy every time you are
using it to take a photo or to look at your objects and compose a
photo you are wasting energy. Only use the LCD when you must
for example when taking an overhead photo when the optical
viewfinder is not usable.

8. Minimize photo previewing: The LCD consumes a lot of energy.
When you preview photos on the LCD you are wasting digital
camera battery life.
Digital Camera Battery Life 3
Only use the LCD to view photos when you need to do so for the
benefit of the next photos shooting – for example to check if a
composition was right or if the lighting was good. Do not use the
LCD to view photos for fun or to show photos to others. Wait
until you are on your computer or in your office or home to do
that.

9. Do not use continuous focus when not necessary: Every time your camera
focuses it consumers energy. The motors that move the optical
components in order to focus consume a lot of energy. You cannot avoid
focusing of course but you can avoid focusing that is not necessary. For
example, your digital camera can be set to continuous or single focus.
For moving objects such as in sport events continuous focus is used so
your can stay focused on the object until you are ready to take the photo.
In those cases as long as you press the shutter button half way down the
camera will continue to focusing on the object. To save energy minimize
that time to the minimum necessary. For example if you plan to shoot a
photo of a runner at point A only press the shutter when he gets close to
that point. Holding the shutter button down and following the runner for
a longer time than needed to capture him at point A wastes a lot of
energy.

10. Do not use continuous focus when not necessary: Every time your camera
focuses it consumers energy. The motors that move the optical
components in order to focus consume a lot of energy. You cannot avoid
focusing of course but you can avoid focusing that is not necessary. For
example, your digital camera can be set to continuous or single focus.
For moving objects such as in sport events continuous focus is used so
your can stay focused on the object until you are ready to take the photo.
In those cases as long as you press the shutter button half way down the
camera will continue to focusing on the object. To save energy minimize
that time to the minimum necessary. For example if you plan to shoot a
photo of a runner at point A only press the shutter when he gets close to
that point. Holding the shutter button down and following the runner for
a longer time than needed to capture him at point A wastes a lot of
energy.