Photographing Where No Electricity Source

On Tue, 08 Jul 2008 20:00:28 +0900, David J. Littleboy wrote:


Quite a few old slr's had fully mechanical shutters, so the only thing
you lost was the metering.

yes - but IIRC no batteries at all was rare.

There are quite a few fairly recent SLRs that work without batteries:
the OM-1n, FM2, and FM3a all work fine without batteries.

The OM1n had a battery for the meter, I had one once a long long time ago.

--
Neil
reverse ra and delete l
Linux user 335851

About 25 people have responded and Jake is apparently not interested?

"Jake" wrote in message
...
Anyone had any experience with photographing for over a week where
there is no electricity.

I am guessing that the two main options are to take a lot of charged
batteries, or maybe the safest way would be to take film bodies
instead.

Are there any other viable solutions to be able to shoot digital
without worrying about power, such as solar charging devices, etc?

Steve Sherman wrote:
Jake wrote:
Anyone had any experience with photographing for over a week where
there is no electricity.


Sure.


I am guessing that the two main options are to take a lot of charged
batteries,


yep. They are not heavy.



Jut how did you get around to take all these pictures?
Do you walk?

Yep. Next month, 11 days, 130 miles, three batteries, 15 gigabytes of CF.

Doug McDonald

Jake wrote:
Anyone had any experience with photographing for over a week where there
is no electricity.

I am guessing that the two main options are to take a lot of charged
batteries, or maybe the safest way would be to take film bodies instead.

Are there any other viable solutions to be able to shoot digital without
worrying about power, such as solar charging devices, etc?

I've expanded the section on solar charging on the digital camera
battery web site, including links to products and photos. A viable
set-up is more than just buying a solar panel, you need a charge
controller, and a storage battery as well. See "http://batterydata.com"
and click on "Expanded Section on Solar Charging" near the top.

Steve
"http://batterydata.com"
Earth's Independent Source for Digital Camera Battery Information

On 7/9/08 8:37 AM, in article ,
"Frank Arthur" wrote:


About 25 people have responded and Jake is apparently not interested?

"Jake" wrote in message
...
Anyone had any experience with photographing for over a week where
there is no electricity.

I am guessing that the two main options are to take a lot of charged
batteries, or maybe the safest way would be to take film bodies
instead.

Are there any other viable solutions to be able to shoot digital
without worrying about power, such as solar charging devices, etc?




Jake? Jake Off. Jake take off?

Solar charger like this one:
http://www.renewablestore.com.au/cat...roducts_id=380

You can save energy during trip:
1. lcd switch off,
2. sounds off,
3. live preview off,
4. stabilization system off,
5. (optional) lens set to manual focus,
6. batteries out of camera when not in use)
7. Memory Card (more cards with smaller capacity)
8. Memory Card made by good producer

Best wishes
Martin
www.gorgolewski.com




Uzytkownik "Jake" napisal w wiadomosci
...
Anyone had any experience with photographing for over a week where there
is no electricity.

I am guessing that the two main options are to take a lot of charged
batteries, or maybe the safest way would be to take film bodies instead.

Are there any other viable solutions to be able to shoot digital without
worrying about power, such as solar charging devices, etc?

wrote:
On Wed, 9 Jul 2008 01:03:04 +0200, Wolfgang Weisselberg
wrote:

If you use a DSLR, you can get 500 or 700 or maybe more pics on 1 charge... A
P&S camera will only take a few dozen...

That depends on the P&S, for some "a few dozen" is really 'several
hundred' (measured per CIPA standard).

I'm just going by my own camera experiences.

Several hundred with at least one of my P&S cameras, quite less
with another one --- personal experience.

If you can carry a fair amount of weight, you can bring a big battery and an
inverter to run your cameras charger.

Or justr bring a couple batteries for the camera. 20 lbs in
LiIon accumulators is quite a bit of power ...

Yes, but compare prices...

Comparing prices a wall wart is cheaper. And lighter.

a camping inverter is under $50 as opposed to camera
batteries at what - $100 each?

That would depend on your camera and battery, if you buy original
or third party (some of them are $5 and change, what they are
worth and if they are safe I cannot judge) and so on.

-Wolfgang

"Neil Ellwood" wrote:
On Tue, 08 Jul 2008 20:00:28 +0900, David J. Littleboy wrote:
Quite a few old slr's had fully mechanical shutters, so the only thing
you lost was the metering.

yes - but IIRC no batteries at all was rare.

There are quite a few fairly recent SLRs that work without batteries:
the OM-1n, FM2, and FM3a all work fine without batteries.

The OM1n had a battery for the meter, I had one once a long long time ago.

Yes, I did too.

What I was trying to say was that an OM-1n without a battery is functionally
the same as many of the early SLRs that didn't have a meter at all. There
were SLRs with selenium cell meters, but until recently, you could get a
handheld or clip-on battery-less meter as well, so you can replicate that
functionality battery free with fairly recent equipment.

Of course, all these cameras will shoot for a year on a single battery, so
it's not like a dcam that runs out of steam after 4 hours or so. So for a
week trip, battery free isn't a big deal with film, unless you make the
mistake of buying one of those new-fangled AE/AF/power wind/rewind cameras
that sucks batteries.

--
David J. Littleboy
Tokyo, Japan

On 7/7/08 1:52 PMJul 7, "Jake" wrote:

Anyone had any experience with photographing for over a week where there is
no electricity.

I am guessing that the two main options are to take a lot of charged
batteries, or maybe the safest way would be to take film bodies instead.

How many photos do you take in a week? I can get as many as 700 on one
battery charge (Nikon D200) so a couple of extra batteries provides for a
good number of pictures.

On Mon, 7 Jul 2008 18:52:29 +0100, "Jake" wrote:

Anyone had any experience with photographing for over a week where there is
no electricity.

I am guessing that the two main options are to take a lot of charged
batteries, or maybe the safest way would be to take film bodies instead.

Are there any other viable solutions to be able to shoot digital without
worrying about power, such as solar charging devices, etc?


Unlike the rest of these totally useless resident trolls that have never held
any real camera nor ever been further from their keyboards than their kitchens,
I frequently go on extensive photo-treks into many areas where any grid electric
is many days or weeks away. Sometimes staying in rugged areas for many months at
a time.

Simple solution:

Folding solar panel. Lightweight, compact, and (if you are lucky) inexpensive.

A bevy of DC-DC converters with all appropriate connecting cables. I found the
best and most inexpensive source of these, for extremely small and compact sets,
come bundled with external battery packs from DigiPower.
http://www.digipowersolutions.com/st...roducts_id/405
I padded out the missing voltages with small adapters that I found at
flea-markets while on the road, often sold for charging cell-phones, blue-tooth
headsets, and other little 12v inverters.

My whole charging system, for all voltages from 1.5v to 8.4v for cameras (and up
to 12v, 15v, and 18v for other devices) all packs down to 1" x 4" x 8" and
weighs less than 6 oz. A full charge for batteries for any of my cameras takes
less than 3 hours in bright sunlight. Given enough photo storage space I could
remain away from any civilization-dependent electric source indefinitely. 2 of
my cameras can run directly from the solar-panel if need be, should their
batteries eventually become unchargeable.

Word of advice: do NOT, I repeat, DO NOT take any D-SLR into any remote and
rugged conditions. Not only will their obnoxious sound destroy most of your
chances of capturing wildlife, and the delay from changing lenses will make you
miss most shots, but more importantly I guarantee you that 90+% of your
photography will be ruined by dust from changing lenses. You won't know this
until you get home. Get top of the line fixed-lens super-zoom P&S cameras. The
multitudes of resident-troll arm-chair-photographer idiots on this newsgroup
don't have a clue--and never will.