View Full Version : Charging proprietary digi-camera batteries on trail?
crazypete
09-12-2008, 07:59
Here's a tough question that I've been waffling on for a while now.
I love taking lots of pictures wherever I go to the tune of 1000+ on an average 2 week vacation, so, for me, a digital camera is the only way to go (no disposables for me). Only problem is that most digital cameras use propreitary lithium batteries.
My original take on this topic was a canon a770-series plus 2 sets of 2 AA batteries and a solar "flap" style charger that I would deploy now and then. But the batteries are HEAVY. Hell, my samsung i8 and three lithiums batteries weigh the same as a pair of lithium AA's!
But now I have to carry a charger around for the camera and use my finest puppy eyes on resteraunt and convenience store staff to let me borrow an outlet for 1/2 hour here and there.
How did you guys solve this problem?
Buy an extra battery to fit your camera. Works for me.
I carry extra batteries. For my camera, they're lighter than carrying the charger.
My next camera will take AA or AAA batteries.
No magic bullets, eh? Somehow I've never had a digital camera run out of juice while on the trail... in spite of always having a spare battery on hand. Of late, I've gone to cameras with standard, non-proprietary batteries due to the considerations that you've cited. IMO, my camera is even more critical than my cell phone. ;) It's one of the items that keeps me forever out of the "ultralight" category.
Sacrifice a couple of ounces and get a camera that takes AA's and has an optical viewfinder. The AA's have the advantage of being universally available. The optical finder has 2 big advantages. Easier and quicker to frame and shoot (ever miss that 'once in a lifetime' shot?) and the fact that keeping the view screen turned off doubles, triples, or more the battery life. My Canon A540 has served me well.
NICKTHEGREEK
09-12-2008, 09:16
No magic bullets, eh? Somehow I've never had a digital camera run out of juice while on the trail... in spite of always having a spare battery on hand. Of late, I've gone to cameras with standard, non-proprietary batteries due to the considerations that you've cited. IMO, my camera is even more critical than my cell phone. ;) It's one of the items that keeps me forever out of the "ultralight" category.
I made the reluctant switch over from 35 mm slr to digital and I'm amazed how long the battery pack on my little canon sd790 lasts. I bought a spare too and it looks like I'll lose it before I use it.
I had always been a Koday digi cam user and always had a 2nd prop. battery charged and in the case. Used it many times, as the one in the camera would run out at any given moment. Just considered the cost of the back up batt part of the purchase. Always worked well, in fact the cameras crapped out or were obsolete well before the batteries, lol. But my newest cam is a Canon A570IS, using 2AA batts. The special lithium AA's are IMO, unreal for life. I used the initial pair nearly a year, with lots of pics and short videos shot. Just recently changed to the second pair. I am very sold on them, at least with my camera, and would now not even think about buying a camera using AA batts. I was a little apprehensive, but no more.
I also think the camera people who don't use prop. batteries, and maybe all cams in general are figuring out how to use a lot less power for the screen and other draining parts of the camera.
Here's a site that sells solar backpacks:
http://www.voltaicsystems.com/
Pedaling Fool
09-12-2008, 12:03
...I love taking lots of pictures wherever I go to the tune of 1000+ on an average 2 week vacation...
It would be great to see some of your pics in the photo gallery.
crazypete
09-12-2008, 12:04
It's the flash.
If you dont take night photos, you can be blasting away for 3 days straight before you use up a propreitary lithium. If you arm the flash, you'll use it up in half a day. Those bulbs use a lot of juice!
I have three lithium batteries but eventually they will run out. The other option is to take only the USB cable for the camera and try to recharge at hostels with PC's and try to yogi a computer every now and then from local businesses.
I have a AA camera but I realized how heavy and bulky it is on a conventional vacation this summer. It was really weighing down my pack, especially with a change of batteries and a solar charger and the temptation to bring all my other AA powered gadgets like my shaver...
Blissful
09-12-2008, 12:04
My camera took double AAs it was a Samsung s630 (probably obsolete now)- cheap, decent photos, and when it broke in the Whites after being dropped, it wasn't a heartbreaker to replace.
crazypete
09-12-2008, 12:08
Here's a site that sells solar backpacks:
http://www.voltaicsystems.com/
I've already got one of these:
http://www.thecompassstore.com/silvacharger.html
It works surprisingly well. Just the batteries themselves are quite heavy. I dont know...but is it possible to alligator clip a lithium battery onto the + and - posts and charge it from the silva? That would be pretty sweet.
Buy the canon 560 or 570 they both take aa batteries and the have a view finder so you turn off the screen. The screen is what eat the batteries up you can also use lithium batteries in it. i have the canon 550 and 560 with the screen off and lithium i can take close to 1000 pictures.
Nikon also has some cam that take AA i they are the coolpix ones they get petty good reviews.The canons got real good reviews and you can do full frame video with the canon.
:sun
NICKTHEGREEK
09-12-2008, 12:25
It's the flash.
If you dont take night photos, you can be blasting away for 3 days straight before you use up a propreitary lithium. If you arm the flash, you'll use it up in half a day. Those bulbs use a lot of juice!
I have three lithium batteries but eventually they will run out. The other option is to take only the USB cable for the camera and try to recharge at hostels with PC's and try to yogi a computer every now and then from local businesses.
I have a AA camera but I realized how heavy and bulky it is on a conventional vacation this summer. It was really weighing down my pack, especially with a change of batteries and a solar charger and the temptation to bring all my other AA powered gadgets like my shaver...
If your camera recharges via USB look at a solio solar charger http://store.solio.com/s.nl/it.A/id.80/.f?sc=7&category=109
Use a camera that uses AA lithium batteries, this way you can carry spares lithium’s and are very light weight, they give you many times more pictures then alkaline batteries do. And when you go to town, just buy more lithium batteries.
You could carry 8 lithium AAs in the same space and probably weigh less then a charger.
Somehow I've never had a digital camera run out of juice while on the trail... in spite of always having a spare battery on hand.
That’s because you had spares with you. I notice if I have spares for anything I generally don’t need them. But one time forget the spares and I will need them. :(
Gray Blazer
09-12-2008, 13:24
I'm not a lite-weight weenie....I'm a heavy weight duma$$. I carry lots of spares. I don't want to run out like I did when I saw the most spectacular sunset on Mt. Mitchell. The wind was blowing the clouds over the mountain at about 40 miles an hour and the colors were changing from white to red to gold to gray just as fast as you are reading this. I was snapping away and just when the clouds left and the last of the sun was sinking over the Smokies, my batteries gave out.
crazypete
09-12-2008, 14:14
I'm not a lite-weight weenie....I'm a heavy weight duma$$. I carry lots of spares. I don't want to run out like I did when I saw the most spectacular sunset on Mt. Mitchell. The wind was blowing the clouds over the mountain at about 40 miles an hour and the colors were changing from white to red to gold to gray just as fast as you are reading this. I was snapping away and just when the clouds left and the last of the sun was sinking over the Smokies, my batteries gave out.
Exactly! You miss one sunset like that and you're packing around 3 batteries and solar chargers afterward. I almost missed some fantastic scenery a ton of mother nature's fury in utah when my blasted casio lens jammed while trying to open. It then shredded the gear inside. Luckily, I was able to borrow a camera from someone who wasnt really using theirs, add my memory cards and keep shooting.
Since then, I've switched to "internal lens" cameras with fewer moving parts. This is one reason I've leaned away from the canon series. Even though they are AA cameras (the one I have at least), it has the standard telescoping lens which might jam again, it's heavy, the batteries are heavy and I've already scratched the lens to boot.
So nobody seems to do anything crazy here, just carry extra batteries. I was hoping for tales of bounce boxes filled with wall chargers, potato powered charging mechanisms with alligator clips.
But you guys just carry extra batteries... :rolleyes:
I guess I'll just pick up one of those solia chargers and strip it down a bit to make it light and use that to keep all my gadgets powered!
Thanks everyone and good hiking!
bigcranky
09-12-2008, 15:10
I have several cameras that use proprietary rechargeable batteries. On any hike longer than a weekend I carry a second battery and the charger. I recharge in town (ask for permission unless you are in a hotel or hostel room.) Really not a big deal -- I shoot a lot, but I've never run out of battery power.
gravityman
09-12-2008, 15:32
We carried an extra battery and the charger, slightly modified so I didn't have to carry the seperate, heavy electrical cord.
It's not a problem. Plenty of chances to recharge in town or along the trail without special trips.
grumpypickle
09-12-2008, 15:37
I carry extra proprietary lithium batteries, very light. I stuck my charger in my bounce box and just charged up my batteries every 2 weeks or so. I found that if I resisted the temptation to scroll back through my photos, edit them or show them off to friends until I got into town, my batteries lasted forever.
you can carry 3 pairs of AA bats for the weight of most any solar charger
Blissful
09-19-2008, 10:39
We tried one of the solar chargers last year - didn't work that great. Finally just bounced the battery recharging unit up the trail to recharge batteries for the camera in town, along with the cell phone charger. Worked pretty good for us until we hit the north, then we carried the charger and skipped charging batteries.
crazypete
09-19-2008, 12:00
So here's what I did. I got hold of a 4 AA ->usb charger. It's hollow plastic and weighs next to nothing. Then I carry the camera's USB cable and 4 AA's. I also ordered a usb cable for my cell. I just ordered a gerber triode so now my headlamp uses 1 AA. Just for laughs, I threw in my braun pocket AA powered shaver which also weighs nothing without batteries.
Then I whipped out my trusty 4 panel flap AA recharger (which works surprisingly well and gets lots of comments) and topped off my kit with self-charging ability.
All the above probably weighs a pound or two but it's my luxury items all together.