Pointless tips that might or might not help you out at all.

[BBadger]

The Sanyo Eneloops that Costco sells are also pretty decent.

Remember to use the slow-synchro mode for taking pictures of people at night.

[Oldguy]

I reuse snack size ziplock bags to hold; each bag, 2 scoops Folger's crystals, 1 scoop sugar 1 scoop dry milk, 1 pinch of salt. Some people can not stand instant, but it reminds me of my pop and grandpa.

[oneeyeddick]

Instead of taking pictures, do something picture worthy.

[Eric]

If that works for your camera, go for it.
My experience with my AA camera and others, was 3 continuous shots, max of 15, without flash.

It must depend heavily on the camera- I carry my older Canon (A560) with me on the playa, just tossed in a pouch. No ziplock, no fancy protection, just camera in pouch. Camera runs on 2 AA batteries, I've run it the whole week without having to change the batteries, somewhere around 100 shots and about 6 or 7 short videos (1-2 minute). The batteries are still in the camera from the Burn so I just tested them, still going strong- plain, ordinary Duracells.

However, I use those same Duracells in my Nikon flash when I'm doing club jobs & I can only use them for one night- too much power gets sucked out of them for me to trust them in the flash again. Right now I have a 30-ish lb sack of them waiting to be tested to see if they have enough juice for things like my computer mouse, blinkie lights, etc.

Most modern compact camera's should give you a pretty good battery life, even the ones using AA. If you want to save money, get cheap store brands and just bring back-ups. Sometimes the store brands are made in the same factories as the Big Brands, sometimes they're not.

[gyre]

That's amazing.
Never heard of that kind of experience with regular alkalines.
Especially surprizing is any video performance at all.


The industrial duracells are the same as the standard retail models.

[Eric]

The rate you were saying you got was drastically under how I've ever had a battery perform.

My Nikon SB-700 flash uses 4 standard AA Duracells, I rapidly shoot anywhere from 300-600 shots a night, all with this fairly high power flash (I can get light on a subject from around 50 feet away, and regularly do it from 15-20 feet), and never have to swap the batteries. I've actually gone over 1,000 flashes with it, but the cycle definitely slowed down towards the end. I can't trust them to power the flash two nights in a row because I'm getting paid & don't have time to swap batteries out, but if I was getting the same performance as you (15 shots without flash) I'd be swapping them out of this flash every other shot. Your camera might need to be checked- there could be a power drain. I had that happen in an older camera (wasn't "older" at the time though!)

(My camera uses a proprietary rechargeable battery and I've yet to use up all its power. I do make sure it's recharged before taking the camera out of the house)

[Drawingablank]

It does seem odd that different camera gear gets such radically different performance from batteries.

My original digital (an HP photosmart) seemed to run forever on Duracell alkalines, but when I switched over to an Olympus C-3030 the 4 aa alkalines would barely last for 15 pics (without flash). After switching over to NiMh rechargables the performance increased greatly and would go well over 200 pics between charges. Nine years or so later those same batteries still give me about 100 pics between charges so were a very good investment.

Our newer point and shoot cameras seem to run forever on duracell alkalines.

Prior to the digital age I used a Minolta 9000 with NiCad rechargables mainly because they provided faster recovery time in my flashes.

[mgb327]

I'm with Eric here, I always leave the house with a fully recharged factory battery in my Nikon D-70 for a shoot. Never seem to have a dead main, but I always carry a spare in my bag. My big flash, the Nikon SB-600 uses 4 AAs, and I put any old brand in it, rarely get less than 800-900 flash/shots per set. My older cameras were always problematic on AA performance, never could find a dependable AA brand, disposable or rechargeable. I tried them all. Hated it. Just the nature of the older, "cheaper" cameras, they didn't put much tech/cost into battery efficiency. My absolute favorite camera is the D-70, both recreational and "on the clock" ( I have shot hundreds of Pacific big game trips off Costa Rica). Last summer I wanted to invest in a smaller unit for BM, so I did my research and bought a Nikon S-8100. It shoots 12MP, with HD video and great sound. Factory batteries, rechargeable, seem to give me an entire night at BM, still and video, but I use no flash at night at BM. Too much dust in the air. I bought spare big chips and a few extra batteries. The best camera for the money I have found, and you can carry it around easily, unlike the D-70. After years of trial and error, my battery issues are over, I am comfy with my setups. Factory rechargeables are the way to go, AAs are just such a pain in the ass in camera useage. My experience here only, I am not promoting or advertising any brands.

[AntiM]

We always have a solar battery charger on hand, and gladly charge up batteries for visitors.

[mgb327]

Thanks for reminding me AntiM, I forgot to mention that I am going to be solar this year.

[TinkerMom]

I have an old beat up Kodak Easy Share C613, the battery door is super glued together.
And I have a rubber band around it. I think I used a total of 10 AA's last year. I was there
from Mon. thru the following Mon. and filled my 4 gig sd card.

I also used my Sony Alpha 100, another beat up but keeps on ticking. I charged it at home
and lasted all week on that one charge. I filled two cards in that one.
But, I also keep extra batteries on hand, and a charger. I guess I lucked out this time, using so
little batteries.

[gyre]

Do not play badminton with servals.


They're faster than you.
And they will not let go of the bird.

[mgb327]

If you ever drop your keys into a river of molten lava, let 'em go, because man, they're gone.

[junglesmacks]

If you ever drop your keys into a river of molten lava, let 'em go, because man, they're gone.

This reminds me of something I was taught years back when learning how to blow glass.


Whatever you do.. no matter HOW tempting it is.. no matter how YUMMY it looks..

Don't ever, EVER.. try and taste the molten glass.


Although there have been lengthy discussions on what it actually tastes like.

[BBadger]

Whatever you do.. no matter HOW tempting it is.. no matter how YUMMY it looks..

Don't ever, EVER.. try and taste the molten glass.

I had an old video game where one of the actions you could perform is tasting a rat trap. The result was something like "Against your better judgement you place your tongue on the trigger of the rat trap. The trap snaps shut and you scream in pain, and pull off the blue chunk of flesh that used to be the tip of your tongue."

[oneeyeddick]

ZORK III?^^

[Zhust]

Colorful zip ties cost the same as milky-clear ones and you can see them if you drop them.

[Canoe]

It does seem odd that different camera gear gets such radically different performance from batteries...

Depends on the equipment's load resistance, required voltage and current it draws, and how that matches to the battery's voltage, internal resistance and current capabilities. Some electronics will actually specify a type of battery, or even a battery model within a type, but for camera's it usually just a type, or your choice of a few. And some models of cameras are simply dogs, or a lemon off the production line.

The older F5 with the motor film advance got the fastest motor drive with the Ni-MH packs. The AA tray filled with alkalines was a tiny bit slower, held up fine but not as many rolls, and that's driving the older heavier 80-200 2.8 AF lenses. I could load, shoot, rewind & unload a roll of 36 in 12 to 14 seconds. Fortunately, that was rarely required. The Ni-MH packs would do more rolls, but would die without warning. In sub-zero temperatures, I could swap one AA tray out for another from inside my jacket once the ones in camera got too cold with slow film advance, and swap them back later. The Ni-MH packs would shoot longer in the cold, but would die suddenly and without any recovery once warmed up. When shooting lots in the heat, I ended up doing similar: swap AAs out to let them cool off. Nikon's black camera with black lenses sucked in the heat, so I made a white ripstop cover so it wouldn't cook the film, batteries, or delaminate lenses. Of all the AA's, I found the Rayovacs would do the same or sometimes slightly better than the big two.

Most of my heavy flash use was weddings or grip & grins, and needing lower ISOs for image quality when shooting 35mm, so I needed flash right now with no delay, so in-flash batteries wouldn't cut it. So I got an external battery back, powered by a NiCad pack. Through the years it ran various Nikon SBs and a pair of Vivitar 285HVs, and only required new cells for the pack once. It semi-fried the SB-24: always worked great on the external, but after a month on the external when on AAs only it would cycle around 80% slower and with a loud whine - when I retired it I walked in off the street and gave it to a photo student working at a camera store in NYC who was happy to get it even with that defect.

(I still have film in the fridge, including 35mm, 120, 220 and 4x5, including around a dozen rolls of Kodachrome Pro 200. I thought I had some of the Kodachrome 50 left, but I guess not. Can't process it anymore anyway.)

[graidawg]

If you ever drop your keys into a river of molten lava, let 'em go, because man, they're gone.

This reminds me of something I was taught years back when learning how to blow glass.


Whatever you do.. no matter HOW tempting it is.. no matter how YUMMY it looks..

Don't ever, EVER.. try and taste the molten glass.


Although there have been lengthy discussions on what it actually tastes like.

dammit now i am curious. not enough to try though

[Drawingablank]

(I still have film in the fridge, including 35mm, 120, 220 and 4x5, including around a dozen rolls of Kodachrome Pro 200. I thought I had some of the Kodachrome 50 left, but I guess not. Can't process it anymore anyway.)

Funny you should mention that - I recently cleaned out my fridge and dumped several rolls of 35mm kodak infared film and a box of 4x5 film sheets. I just couldn't bring myself to dump them for years after I no longer had any use for them. Now if I could only bear to part with the darkroom stuff.

[MyDearFriend]

should eat bacon.jpg

[AntiM]

Now I'm wondering about molten bacon. Is there such a thing? Is it glorious?

[theCryptofishist]

Bacon Lava Lamp...
When being a regular hipster is no longer enough.

[MyDearFriend]

Oh man I need to be cooking bacon right now...

[mgb327]

Bacon? There's bacon being cooked? Even my dogs heard that.

[MyDearFriend]

Bacon is COOKED dogs better get here quick or it will be GONE.

[ygmir]

woof

[MyDearFriend]

once slice left; come and get it

[Elorrum]

[moonrise]

Pionts have tips and tips have points...did this help at all? Wear sensible shoes, they'll come in handy.