Decent Batteries and Chargers are Crucial Accessories For Your Digital Camera

For a photographer, few things are worse than the bad feeling that you've just missed a fantastic shot because the digital camera battery went dead. If you are planning to take a lot of photos, is advisable to bring another replacement battery with you - few digital camera accessories are more important.

There are many reviews on digital cameras, but few sources if usable information concerning the options with batteries. But it's an important question - how can we find a good battery replacement for our digital cameras?

 There are 3 kinds of digital camera batteries that you can choose from: alkaline Ni-MH and lithium-ion. Plus, there are factory-specific batteries.

Alkaline batteries are the most common batteries and are used for many kinds of consumer electronic products. There are many brands of alkaline batteries, like Duracell, Energizer, Sony, Samsung, Maxell, etc. Alkalines are not rechargeable and once they are drained, you have no option but throw it away. So they are not an ideal accessory for digital cameras. You should take alkalines only as a temporary solution if your regular batteries go flat. Also note that alkalines need to be taken them out of the digital camera after using as they could leak.

Ni-MH batteries on the other hand are rechargeable battery, and quite common. They are not overly expensive, and are a good choice to juice up your digital camera. YThey are of course not as cheap as alkaline batteries, but the fact that you can recharge them 1000 times will save you a lot of money. They do have a so-called 'memory' effect that will cause them to hold less and less charge, so you will have to replace them eventually. For Ni-MH batteries need to be fully charged and discharged up to 3 times before achieving full capacity.

Lithium-ion batteries (sometimes abbreviated Li-ion batteries) are also rechargeable. Nowadays, most digital cameras use Lithium-ion batteries as power supply. They are lighter and more powerful than alkaline and Ni-MH batteries. Lithium-ion batteries do not suffer from 'memory' effects. They are more expensive than Ni-MH though. Also, do not charge them until they are fully discharged, or you will shorten their life. .

As for the chargers, these come in different shapes and capacities and usually plug into the electric grid. If you are traveling with your camera, you should consider solar-powered chargers as an additional accessory, and also make sure that you have the right plug adapters for the country that you are going to.

Factory-specific batteries are usable for your brand on digital camera only. You don't have a lot of options with this accessory, but do check if the manufacturer offers differently powered (volt * ampere) batteries, or if you can get compatible cheaper batteries from a white label manufacturer.