5 Reasons For An Extra Camera Battery
I’m a worrier. I know it and I admit it. Most non-worriers probably think this is a bad thing. Well, I’m here to tell you that worrying has it’s advantages. Yes, advantages. We worriers prepare, plan, then prepare some more. We anticipate the problem before it’s a problem and usually head it off. The end result often is – there was nothing to worry about in the first place. But, we are the people that have the solution when the problem does occur.
For the rest of you who may or may not be worriers that are running around with one battery or one set of batteries, it’s time to prepare.
Here are five reasons why you should consider a second (or in my case a third, or fourth) battery:
- You will take more photos, capture more shots, and potentially create more “keeper” images
- Peace of Mind – Stress Less about the battery going dead
- Be Prepared if your current battery malfunctions, fails, or wasn’t charged
- Minimal cost compared to potentially getting NO photos
- Batteries become weaker (especially in cold weather) over time and will slowly take less and less images
If you don’t have back-up batteries, did I convince you to change your ways? Or do you already have back-ups? Leave me a comment below and tell me how prepared you are.
PS – For those of you counting, yes there is another Nikon battery in the camera I used to make these images. And that makes five (5) Nikon proprietary batteries. So I’m prepared, what can I say?
BONUS TIP ~ with a marker, write the date you purchased your battery, on the battery. This will help you determine age and distinguish them for one another.
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by Kent Weakley
I do weddings, equipment failiure isn’t an option so everything is backed up so there is no single point of failiure…
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I’m a total worrier so battery back up, I think, was my invention. I’d rather have my camera fall in water than say I missed a shot because my battery died. Oh the horror! Crap, now I’ll worry about water.
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You’re cracking me up. Lol!
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Batteries??? Only 2, but I can never have enough SD cards. I’m always afraid I’ll run out of card space.
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I have 4 batteries and 6 SD cards… I also have a car charger for the bateries for just incase, you never know. I think I am set pretty well…for now
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Extra batteries are a must. Even using 2 batteries in a grip, after being out in the upper 30s at a ball game last week, I still needed my spare to capture the last inning. I keep it wrapped in a cloth in the inside pocket of my coat to keep it warm.
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I shoot a D200 and D300s, both with grips, and fortunately they both take the same batteries.
It’s highly unlikely that I’ll drain all 4 batteries in a single day if all 4 are charged the evening before. But, it’s definitely very handy to have those extra EN-EL3e’s in the backup body just in case.
I learned long ago to take out far more memory than you’re likely to need as well – just in case. Now I go out with around 100Gig of storage (all Sandisk, split between 4, 8 & 16GB CompactFlash & SDHC cards – as the D300s takes both).
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I just can’t imagine not having a backup battery, but maybe that’s just a failure of imagination on my part. I always have, or have had, a backup in my bag. When you’re a bit absent-minded (as I can be), having that backup battery can be a godsend when you get where you’re going only to realize that you’ve left your “main” battery back home on the charger!
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LOL…I always have 4 batteries on hand (not including the one in my camera and the one in my back up camera). Is that overkill? Probably. But, I never worry if I’ve accidentally left one on the charger…
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wow what a nice post thank you for your awesome and informative post
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[...] of at least 5 reasons you should have an extra battery for your camera (and so does Kent Weakley in in his photo blog article on this very subject). And a memory card that works seamlessly with your new state of the art [...]
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