On Photography
By Robert de Gast, Jan 12, 2007

Power to the people

Question: What do you call a camera with dead batteries? Answer: A paperweight.

Once upon a time (only a quarter-century ago), cameras didn’t need batteries. Once upon another time (only a decade ago), we changed batteries perhaps once a year. After all, the battery only powered the exposure meter, the film advance, and the flash. No more. Today it’s assault and battery: The assault is on your pocketbook, and the battery is on your battery. The LCD (liquid crystal display) screen on today’s digital cameras devours as much as 90 percent of all the energy the battery supplies. It is not unusual for batteries to have to be changed every few days. A check of nearly a hundred digital cameras shows battery life (meaning, really, the number of pictures you can take) ranging from as few as 35 to as many as 650.

Common sense tells us to carry spare batteries. Most digital cameras come bundled with a charger, but Murphy’s Law dictates that when your batteries fail you’ll be on the bus or some equally inconvenient or impossible place to plug in your charger. So buy a spare. (The word for battery in Spanish is pila.) If your camera uses a proprietary (read hard-to-find and expensive) battery, you need to go online or to a camera store (and not in San Miguel) to buy one.

Just a few years ago, battery options were limited to disposable alkaline batteries or rechargeable Ni-Cds (from “nickel-cadmium” and pronounced “nicads”). Lately, we have more choices. Disposable batteries now come in two flavors: alkaline and lithium. Alkaline batteries are inexpensive and widely available—even, I’m told, in Outer Mongolia. But digital cameras drain alkalines quickly, making them costly if you shoot a lot. Lithium batteries cost a little more than twice the price of an alkaline battery, but they last three to five times longer. Lithium batteries also have double the shelf life of alkalines. So, disposable lithiums are a great backup for rechargeables. (If you use alkaline AA batteries, be sure to buy them in a store that has a fair amount of turnover.) 

Rechargeable batteries take three forms: Ni-Cd, Ni-MH, and Li-ion. The Ni-Cds are known for their limited capacity and for having a “memory” that seriously degrades performance and the battery’s life span: Unless fully discharged, its capacity will diminish every time you recharge it, until, finally, the battery will be completely useless.

Ni-MH (“nickel-metal-hydride”) batteries can store a lot more energy than Ni-Cds and are more resistant to cold than alkalines. There are no “memory” problems, and they can be recharged about 500 times. All good news, except that Ni-MH batteries lose about 2 percent of their charge per day. That means that if you don’t use your camera for a month, you’ll get only a fraction of the shots you were expecting. Wait even longer and you could have a fully discharged power source. Always charge your batteries before going out on a shoot.

Li-ion (“lithium-ion”) batteries are still hard to find and are expensive, but they have a terrific capacity, are smaller and lighter than other batteries, are even more resistant to cold than Ni-MH (I know, you think it’s not much of an issue in San Miguel, but wait till you go out to photograph the sunrise in December!) and they can be recharged up to 1,000 times. Unfortunately, they have a limited life span of three to five years. Like the Ni-MH batteries, they also self-discharge and need to be recharged after several weeks. 

Almost all cameras have battery-condition indicators. Be advised, however, that these do not foretell the future. There is little or no warning of impending battery exhaustion—the batteries can produce normal power one minute and be dead shortly thereafter.

Finally, don’t be seduced into buying a charger that promises fast results. The faster the charge, the hotter the battery becomes and the shorter its life span. Just like your car battery!

Robert de Gast is a photographer and writer, and the author, most recently, of Behind the Doors of San Miguel. He teaches and lectures and can be reached at 152-7396 or robertdegast@hotmail.com