Tips for conserving FZ20 battery?

[KJB]

I love my FZ20, but am relatively new to advanced digital photography. I'm going on a long vacation, taking extra batteries of course, but would also like to know of any tips for conserving battery life as much as possible. I have read a few here: avoid reviewing photos, turn off LCD, etc. Any other tips?

[genece]

I do not have any help but there is a compromise between turning the camera on and off and leaving it on. If you leave the camera on for 3 hours the battery will be close to dead.. but if you turn the camera on and off 30 times in a few hours the battery will also be pretty close to dead.

If you are able to charge batteries every couple days this would be valuable to you.
Digipower DPS9000 (http://www.ritzcamera.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10001&catalogId=10001&langId=-1&productId=9621132)
Although I charge it every day it is usually only about 1/2 discharged after a 1000 photos a day.

[KJB]

I recently ordered two extra 800 batteries. I suppose the one you are suggesting is better? I can return the others. Thank you for your advice.

[genece]

The digipower is not a battery but a battery pack much larger and mounts to the tripod socket on the camera. In my opinion it will outlast 4 or 5 Batteries but at the expense of the size. Your 800 mah batteries may be fine it depends on how often you can charge up. One advantage you can charge it in the car if your traveling by car.
Of course you can get a small power inverter to charge the other batteries in the car.

[jaynads]

The digipower is not a battery but a battery pack much larger and mounts to the tripod socket on the camera. In my opinion it will outlast 4 or 5 Batteries but at the expense of the size. Your 800 mah batteries may be fine it depends on how often you can charge up. One advantage you can charge it in the car if your traveling by car.
Of course you can get a small power inverter to charge the other batteries in the car.
If you can get to an electrical outlet, you can purchase an adaptor and just charge the battery. It was a concern for me (I used to bring 4 sets of rechargeable batteries for my old camera), so before I bought my FZ20, I contacted Panasonic, and they said the charger automatically converts the current, all you need is a plug adaptor for foreign outlets.
Have a great, safe trip!

[ssidlov]

1. Turn off the continuous auto focus feature; use the half pressed shutter button to focus.
2. Change camera stabilization mode to Mode 2. Mode 2 is not continuous and is only activated when actually pressing the shutter button. It's actually more accurate. If you can hold steady, you can even turn the feature off.
3. Activate and set the auto shutoff feature to 1 minute. When you press the shutter or the camera will turn back on, and it does it much more quickly than the power on/off switch.
4. Unless you are in a low light situation, turn off the AF Assist Light. It shouldn't light when you are in a bright room anyway, but it will in a moderately lit room.
5. The LCD consumes more power than the EVF. Use the EVF whenever possible, even for picture review.
6. When connected to a PC or printer, the camera will be on the entire time. When you have finished transferring the pictures, don't forget to turn off the camera. (This is the only possible mode/function of the camera when the power cord -not included- would be useful. I understand that the power cord will not charge a battery that is in the camera.)

7. I have 3 spare batteries. I can't imagine being out somewhere for the day and not being able to take pictures. It's not like you can stick AA's in it.

[KJB]

I appreciate it!

[andyn]

keep the camera/battery from getting too cold as that seems to reduce the battery's charge.

[HawkeyeLonewolf]

The digipower is not a battery but a battery pack much larger and mounts to the tripod socket on the camera. In my opinion it will outlast 4 or 5 Batteries but at the expense of the size. Your 800 mah batteries may be fine it depends on how often you can charge up. One advantage you can charge it in the car if your traveling by car.
Of course you can get a small power inverter to charge the other batteries in the car.

The site doesn't list Panasonic/Lumix compatibility. Are we sure it would work? A great idea!

[Ronin005]

I do not have any help but there is a compromise between turning the camera on and off and leaving it on. If you leave the camera on for 3 hours the battery will be close to dead.. but if you turn the camera on and off 30 times in a few hours the battery will also be pretty close to dead.

If you are able to charge batteries every couple days this would be valuable to you.
Digipower DPS9000 (http://www.ritzcamera.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10001&catalogId=10001&langId=-1&productId=9621132)
Although I charge it every day it is usually only about 1/2 discharged after a 1000 photos a day.

you have this digipower dps9000??

[genece]

you have this digipower dps9000??

Yes I do and it does last a long time as I said I have taken over 1000 pictures over a full day and had lots of battery left.

And the cable that fits the Nikons fit the FZ cameras it is the DP 1U and is included.

[ssidlov]

So using the Digicam you connect via the FZ20's power connection in the side of the camera? Did you remove the door cover or modify it so that it would close?

[genece]

So using the Digicam you connect via the FZ20's power connection in the side of the camera? Did you remove the door cover or modify it so that it would close?

I got use to one with the FZ10 and it had a small door on the other side of the camera, but to be honest having the door open on the FZ20 does not seem to be a problem. It looks to be more of a problem than it is.
Also I do not use the pack in day to day shooting but when I am going to be shooting a lot in a day I do use the pack. Such as a day at the Zoo or on vacation. Things alwas seem to happen when I am away from the Bag or car.
I just seems I take a short walk down a trail to get a special photo when the card fills up or the battery goes dead. The DPS9000 eliminates the battery deal now if I could just remember to carry a spare card everywhere.

[gary_hendricks]

I love my FZ20, but am relatively new to advanced digital photography. I'm going on a long vacation, taking extra batteries of course, but would also like to know of any tips for conserving battery life as much as possible. I have read a few here: avoid reviewing photos, turn off LCD, etc. Any other tips?

One good tip is to get a card reader. So you don't have to turn on the camera just to upload pictures to the computer. You can just remove the SD card and slot it in the card reader. :)