Do you see your Digital Camera’s battery life going flat sooner than you expected? If yes, do not come to a conclusion that the fault lies in the batteries or with the camera. The actual fault lies in the way we handle it or the ways in which we use it. When your Digital camera is handled carefully and put into proper use, you can actually increase or boost its battery life to a great extent. There are certain ways or I can say it as precautions which when applied properly will help you in improving your Digital Camera’s battery life.
The following section will guide you on 8 ways which you can employ to boost your Digital Camera’s battery life.
1) Adjust the brightness of the LCD screen accordingly
The LCD screen in your Digital camera becomes the most important component when it comes to saving the battery life. It is the one which tends to eat most of the battery life. So, if your camera has an option of adjusting the brightness of the LCD screen, then make sure you use it in order to adjust the screen brightness depending upon the strength remaining in the battery. Thus, if you are camera is running on a low battery, adjust the screen brightness to a minimum level so that you can capture some extra snaps.
2) Automate your camera into standby mode when idle
Most of the modern day digital cameras come with an option that pushes the camera into standby mode if it is not used for a certain interval of time. The option for this setting will be available under your camera’s setup menu. Some of the cameras will have this option enabled by default.
If not enabled, dig into your camera’s setup menu and find this option and enable it. By doing this, the amount of power consumed by the shooter will be reduced (when it is idle) and at the same time will keep the shooter ready in order to capture your next snap. The amount of power consumed by the camera to restart when it is put into standby mode is way less than the amount of power needed to start the camera from the off mode.
3) Take good care of the batteries
Taking good care of your camera’s batteries will help in improving their shelf life and thus its health. For instance, do not leave your batteries uncharged until they completely go flat and at the same time do not charge them unnecessarily when they have a decent charge in them.
When you come to know that you are not going to use the camera for some time from now, then ensure that the batteries have some power left in them to keep them healthy. Take care that you do not drop the batteries because dropping them can take a toll on the polarity of the batteries and hence decrease their strength.
4) Keep a check on the number of times you review pictures
Frequently reviewing the pictures you have taken will take a considerable toll on the life of your camera’s battery. Review pictures only when there is sufficient juice left in the batteries and also try to avoid recording lengthy video clips when you find there isn’t enough power in the battery. So, avoid these two activities and you will land up taking more snaps than you expected.
5) Make use of Optical viewfinder if available
Some Digital cameras come incorporated with Optical viewfinders. You can use them instead of the standard LCD viewer if you find that your battery will be soon running out of power. Images taken and viewed with the Optical viewfinder may have their edges cropped off. So, do not be worried if you find some snaps with their edges cropped off.
6) Avoid flash if not necessary
If your digital camera has a LED flash incorporated with it, then it is very important that you make optimum use of it. For instance, if you are taking snaps in a well lit condition, then the option of using flash becomes unnecessary. So, use the flash option only when it is necessary. Unnecessary use of flash will cut short your camera’s battery strength.
7) Keep the batteries warm in cold conditions
If you are using your digital camera in cold or extreme cold conditions, then make sure that you are keeping the camera warm. For instance, keep the camera inside your woolen jacket when you are out in cold conditions. The cold weather and low temperatures will drain the batteries faster. So, it is necessary that you keep them warm in order to squeeze out that extra amount of power from them.
8. Use two sets of Battery packs if possible
If you use two sets of battery packs, then you can take out the option of relying on the same set of battery packs every time. You can use the two sets of packs alternatively so that you can drain out all the batteries evenly and thus ensure that all of them get wore out at the same time.