This weekend I was back in Los Angeles visiting family and couldn’t help myself in going out to photograph some areas I’ve long been meaning to. Being a little rushed before flying out I forgot to bring freshly charged batteries for my camera. The result was a weekend of shooting on a batteries 1/3rd fully charged and another 1/8th fully charged. Yes, I’m embarrassed to say I fell prey to a variation of #5 of the 5 Most Common Digital Photography Mistakes.
Los Angeles City Lights
In the end it all worked out and I got most every shot I wanted, but only after I employed a trick of the trade for freshly dead batteries. Even after my batteries first died I was able to get another 20 or so shots out of them. The trick, at least when in cold weather, is to warm your batteries.
Shooting on a cool winter evening in Los Angeles putting my batteries in my pant pockets for as little as a few minutes would extend their life. I was able to do this a few times, but eventually I succumbed to the inevitable… dead batteries.
The best solution of course is to plan appropriately when it comes to battery power, but if you’re in a bind try the battery warming method to squeeze out a few more shots.
[tags]Los Angeles, photo, California, battery, trick, battery life, photography[/tags]
There’s another chance to hold on – just scratch the contacts of your battery with something sharp 🙂
I too fell prey to a battery issue over the weekend. Problem was I setup umbrellas and wireless flash in a park…I did not charge the batteries in either flash and the spares I had were drained. My flashes weren’t recycling fast enough to truly capture the best images of my 9 mos. old son for our holiday card 🙁 I got a winner…but truly missed THE winning shot because of drained batteries.
nice shot Jim. I have photographed L.A. once, Olvera Street. in general it ain’t my cup of tea so I admire your efforts.
i went down to the coast last week on two nearly empty batteries! I found out right before I left the house, so I charged one of them for 10 minutes. neither one of them died luckily enough
@komod interesting tip. I’ll have to give it a try to confirm it. I’ve never heard of that before.
@noeltykay and @Richard Wong Looks like this was a bad weekend for photographers with their batteries. Perhaps its the result of being distracted due to the holidays approaching.
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So, where were you standing? LA City Lights 2007