Five Quick Tips to Extend Your Digital Camera's Battery Life

One of the few negatives about owning a Digital Camera is the rechargeable battery found in each device. While each battery might vary in size, color, and shape, they all seem to have one common problem: they never last as long as you'd like them to. Fortunately, there are a few simple things you can do to help fix this problem and in the process, squeeze the most life out of your Digital Camera's batteries.

1. One of the easiest ways to find yourself with no batteries is to overuse the LCD on your camera. While this feature is extremely convenient at times, it is the one that hogs up the most battery life. Turning off this feature and using the camera's viewfinder can conserve precious minutes of battery life and will allow you to take many more pictures. If you absolutely must have the LCD screen, consider dimming the brightness a bit. This will conserve some power and is usually a very good solution unless under direct sunlight.

2. Don't get trigger-happy! Try to prevent pressing the shutter button halfway. Doing this will begin the picture taking process and will successfully drain all of your battery if done frequently. To avoid this, press the shutter button only when you are absolutely certain that you are ready to take a picture.

3. Minimize previewing pictures. It is always fun to show your pictures to friends and relatives but if you really want to extend battery life, refrain from doing this as much as possible. Previewing pictures on your digital camera uses the LCD screen, which, as explained above, is a huge battery hog. To minimize this process simply wait until you are home and transfer the pictures to your computer. From there you can e-mail them or even preview them from your computer.

4. Limit the zoom use on your camera. The small motor that moves the lens back and forth uses power. Consider the type of picture you are taking and use your best judgment as to when zoom is really necessary. Avoiding its use will conserve precious minutes of battery life.

5. Lastly, and possibly the simplest tip to extend your camera's battery life, charge your batteries as often as possible. Most digital cameras use Lithium ion batteries that, unlike older alkaline batteries, work better and last much longer when charged frequently.

These five tips while simple and easy to do, will allow you to take many more pictures by successfully extending your digital camera's battery life.