Battery question

[disneevillian]

OK, my Nikon D50 has a really good battery, and from what I've read here it seems like it will last ages even with a lot of flash usage. However, the rule that has been forever drilled in my head since my first camera purchase is "bring extra batteries" regardless of whether or not you think you might need them. So my dilemma before my trip next week is whether or not to spend the money on an extra battery for this new camera...or use the money to buy an extra memory card. I already have a 2GB but I wonder...

What is the general opinion here?

Molly T

 

[jockey]

I would go with the extra memory card. I have had my Nikon D50 for nearly two weeks and I have taken hundreds of pictures and only charged my battery once!! I did order a spare from e bay it cost £7 approx $15 from hong kong - delivered in 4 days! PM me if you would like the sellers details!

 

[Kelly Grannell]

I'd go with eBay and 100% agree with Jockey. With me, I'm somewhat OCD, so I always have at least one back up for the backup. Or in case of batteries, I put 2 in the camera and another 2 in my back pack. For my flash I put 1 set in the flash and 3 sets in my backpack. Nuts, I know.

 

[handicap18]

I picked up a spare battery at Best Buy last week for $40 for my D50. I also bought 2 more 1 Gig cards. One on amazon.com and one on buy.com. Got the one from amazon 2 days ago and the buy.com one should be here Monday. This will give me 3 gigs and 2 batteries for our Disney trip in 3 weeks.

Also keep in mind that the total number of exposures the D50 says you have when you put an empty card in is an estimate. Mine tells me I can fit 287 shots at full JPEG on an empty card. However, about a week ago I finally got around to deleting and formating my SD card. Camera told me I had 70 pics left, I then went on to delete 295 pictures off the card. The average size file my pics have been at full JPEG have been about just under 3mg each. So I should get closer to 330 pics per card, not 287.

How long are you going for? and do you have a laptop with cd and/or dvd burner to bring with you to download to at the end of each day? What has been your picture taking habits in the past?

 

[MICKEY88]

I'd go with eBay and 100% agree with Jockey. With me, I'm somewhat OCD, so I always have at least one back up for the backup. Or in case of batteries, I put 2 in the camera and another 2 in my back pack. For my flash I put 1 set in the flash and 3 sets in my backpack. Nuts, I know.

not nuts at all

I have 2 batteries in my grip, 2 backup, planning to buy 2 more,

one set of batteries in each flash and 1 set of backups for each flash....

with memory I have a 2 gig in the camera , and 2 1 gig cf and a 4 gig microdrive for backup,

for a total of 8 gig memory


it's better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it..

 

[ldibo]

Although I am a Canon user, I have bought spare batteries from SterlingTek. The people on the Canon forums swear by them. They are inexpensive, ship fast and I have had no problems with them. They have batteries for your camera as well. I always carry a couple of extra batteries. HTH

Lynn

 

[Kelly Grannell]

handicap18,
the number of photos you can fit onto a card also depends what ISO you're using and the complexity of the image.

MICKEY88,
it's nice to know I'm not the only nut at the DIS! LOL! But true, I always feel the "just in case" scenario crawling behind my back.

 

[mabas9395]

I also vote for SterlingTek batteries. They are so cheap that it doesn't make sense to not have one. I got one that works just as well as a Canon brand battery for only $21.98 shipped. The only possibility is that it wont last as long as a canon (i.e. I may get 4 years of use from my Canon battery but only 2 out of the SterlingTek), but I seem to get as many photos out of my SterlingTek as I do my canon.