10 Shocking Mistakes That Will Reduce Your DSLR’s Battery Life

#1

Every DSLR camera comes with a small LCD screen to help you view the photos you clicked through the viewfinder. It also lets you get a quick preview before taking a click, but that is optional. If you find yourselves using the preview option too much, or viewing photos and videos on the camera itself, all the time, your battery is going to take a huge hit.

#2

Doesn't matter if you have a normal lens or a zoom lens, the rule of getting the perfect click is by going to the subject as near as you can get, and then using zoom to go any further. This not only improved your image quality but is also effective in conserving your DSLR's battery life.

#3

There are basically two controls to manage the focus on your image - Manual and Auto. Autofocus is for the beginners and the ones who don't want the hassle of operating a professional camera. For your beloved battery though, autofocus keeps whirring mechanism, thus sucking up battery. The manual mode, on the other hand, is great for conserving battery.

#4

Admit it, you are making this mistake a lot. Half-pressing the shutter button involves just a subtle press on the shutter button that helps you refocus on objects in your viewfinder. The noise that accompanies this is the sound of machines working to make your focus work. Those machines are responsible for taking up a lot of battery life.

#5

The primary image mode on your DSLR camera is A or Automatic Flash. Having this options enabled isn't good for your shots or even your battery. A lot of times, the camera can't detect whether the flash is needed or not, and it ends up giving you hazy shots at night or in low light. The best way to prevent this is disable Automatic flash and move to other modes.

#6

DSLR manufacturers bundle in unwanted features into your camera, for the sake of marketing. These features generally take up a lot of battery as well as space on the memory card, unless they are turned off. You can choose to simply ignore them or switch them off, if you have the ability. Beeps and other sound effects are battery drainers, and in 99% of photographs they're utterly useless, so disable them.

#7

While a DSLR camera offers video recording options, it isn't generally meant to be a recording device. If you have set it to recording mode, chances are that your battery will deteriorate and you will be recharging it much more often.

Overlooking record mode is quite common, so always ensure that your camera has been switched off before putting it away for the day.

#8

Some of the new DSLRs have a toggle for power saving; that boosts your battery life by automatically shutting down the camera after a fixed duration of inactivity. You should probably turn on this feature if you have a DSLR that supports it.

#9

Basically, a DSLR offers you two different image formats to choose from: RAW and FINE. RAW is needed when you need a basic sample of the image for editing. But you definitely don't ALWAYS need that mode. Switching to Auto or Fine will help you conserve some battery life.

#10

DSLRs use Li-ion battery modules that need to be refreshed after they have gone through their regular cycle of recharging.

If you don't use your DSLR for a prolonged period, better to store the camera with the battery removed, preferably fully discharged beforehand.