How To Extend A Digital Camera's Battery Life

Digital cameras rely heavily on rechargeable batteries. Hitting the road and being able to shoot digital photos along the way is a great career choice or hobby. The only negative aspect of owning a digital camera are the batteries that operate it. They never seem to last as long as you like and you must constantly replace them. With a few suggestions, you will be able to easily extend the battery life of your digital camera.
Decrease your photo previewing time. Previewing your photos on the LCD will quickly drain your battery life. The only time you should be using the LCD to view digital photos is when it will help the next shot. Constantly previewing digital photos will kill batteries in an instant. Although it is fun to show others your images via the LCD, wait until you can transfer them to a computer or another photo viewing device.
Recharge the batteries for your digital camera whenever possible. Taking the time to charge your batteries at least once a day is a smart idea. Once you arrive at your office, home or other destination, begin the recharging process for your digital camera's batteries. You will not want to miss a photo taking opportunity because of dead batteries. It is best to always be prepared.
Turn the LCD off and use the optical viewfinder. Doing this stop the LCD from consuming all of your battery life. Every time you take a digital photo using the LCD, you are shortening the amount of time for actual photo taking. Using the viewfinder will give you a longer battery life and more photos to add to your expanding collection.
As far as which to choose between Nickel Metal Halide and Lithium Ion is mostly a matter of cost. The Lithium Ion battery is more expensive than the Nickel Metal Halide battery. They both can be recharged before being fully discharged and do not suffer from "memory effect" characteristics which is a loss in the specified total capacity of a battery which is encountered every time the battery is recharged.Today, the digital camera is being used more and more by the average person and the analog film camera is rarely used these days. The digital camera also has many more functions that are controlled electronically.
Electronic Control Means Battery Power Consumption .True, the older analog film cameras used batteries for a few camera functions which included the flash, motorized film advance and sometimes the electronic control of shutter speeds. The modern digital camera uses battery power for many functions including telephoto lens functions, the LCD viewer display and of course the flash. Some digital cameras will retract the lens to its home position after the photo session is done and the user is just viewing the photos that were shot. This is a great power saving feature. The user can incorporate some personal power saving procedures that can even double battery life of any given type of battery. Probably the simplest approach to saving battery power is to plan your photo session and try to preset the camera function settings in advance if this is at all possible. My personal battery saving approach is to shoot my photos using the "available light" method. Sometimes this creates slight movement of the image due to slower shutter speeds either auto or manual but the natural rendition of the image will far outweigh this shortcoming. Available light photography is a totally separate branch of this art.