How Many Camera Batteries For A Wedding

 Sign In  Sign up
 Forums
-  All Contempo Discussions
-  General Photography
-  Images
-  Practice & Technique
-  Equipment
-  Site & Forum Help
 Acquire
-  How-To
-  Inspiration
-  Gear
-  Business organisation
-  News
 Explore
-  Browse by Categories
-  Trending
-  Editors' Picks
-  Seeking Critique
-  Photo Of The Day
-  Photo Of The Calendar week
-  Photo Contests
-  Store

I'm renting a Nikon D90 to shoot a wedding ceremony, and i'one thousand not sure if simply ordering an actress battery (so i'd take 2) will exist plenty to last all day. I could society the bombardment grip and 2 batteries, so i'd have 3 batteries...it merely costs a little more than i would like to spend. Is information technology necessary to have 3 to final 8 hours? I'm also ordering the Nikon SB-600 speedlight and if i sympathise correctly, that uses it's own AA batteries so information technology'due south not drawing from the photographic camera batteries. I shoot in JPEG. Cheers for your help!
I use a D90 to shoot weddings and acquit only one spare bombardment and have yet to utilize it. I have shoot up to 1,000 photos on one fully charged battery. And then 1 spare battery is enough. Don't shoot in JPEG if your shooting a wedding shoot in Raw. If you must shoot JPEG & Raw. Having a RAW file will allow you so much more adjustment on your shots than JPEG e'er volition. Also JPEG will loose a lot in size every bit shortly as y'all start altering them. Shoot in RAW make your adjustments so relieve every bit JPEG.
Brooke --
It depends on how much you shoot. Personally, when shooting a hymeneals I only take 600-800 shots, (6-eight hours), including formals. I tin can, (but don't), go away with ONE bombardment in my D300s. My wink, on the other hand, requires 16 batteries (ii sets of 8 for my SB-900 w/ battery pack).
Now that I've answered the question, I'grand going to ask you what your main photographic camera/flash/lens setup for the wedding? When is the wedding? And, since yous are asking a question regarding back-up,(I hope), equipment, how much fourth dimension do you have to exercise with this equipment so you lot know what to do without thinking on the hymeneals day?
RS
Personally I'd take 3 if I were you. Every at present and and so I've drained my commencement battery. Especially if I'm using a VR lens. I think my seventy-200mm ii.8VR eats through batteries quicker. Nil scientific, merely a hunch =). Ameliorate to take extras merely in case one fails, or you forget to charge, etc.
for each camera i always have 2 extras ( 3 total )... even though i usually stop upwardly using ane.
for my 2 speedlights that i apply in a wedding ceremony, i also have three actress sets ( then 12 spare AA full ).
It is not whether you need it or non.. its what happens when you really need it and don't have it.
Thank you Charles and Mark! So then does information technology matter if i accept the actual bombardment grip? Or can i merely take the 2 spare batteries with me set up to pop in as needed?
Personally I only accept the cameras with at that place grips loaded w/2 batteries. I accept never burned through ii batteries during a wedding and I shoot a lot of frames, between 1000-1200 for a full twenty-four hour period. When I come up home my d700 which gets used 75% of the time has 0% left on one bombardment and 70-fourscore% on the other. and the d300 will have 40-50% on i and 100% on the other.
To answer you lot question on the bombardment grip, It will not matter if you get it or not, X corporeality of batteries will give you lot Ten amount of shots. Where the grip comes in play is that your battery changeover will exist seamless and yous will have no need to stop and change the battery. Most grips also give you the vertical shutter pick for portraits and alot even have shutter/aperture dials and ev/focus lock buttons. If yous shoot longer lens information technology as well helps to residuum the weight of the lens. They are a worth while investment if you don't listen the weight and bulk they add.
Brooke,
One of the things I am assuming of the answers people have provided is that they all ain their cameras and you are renting for this wedding.
If you take two D90s that came off the assembly line one right subsequently the other and they are mechanically and electronically identical, at that place volition still be nuances and quirks that make them a flake different. Call information technology the ghost in the machine, the soul of the camera, chaos theory at piece of work... but I have yet to find two camera bodies that behave the exact same.
Anyway, with the first-class answers that you lot've been provided so far, please remember that these are from people who know their specific camera body. Since you are renting the camera and, presumably, doing so just a solar day or two before the wedding, getting to know the intricacies of that specific torso is non a luxury you volition have.
Therefore, my strong recommendation is to exist over-prepared. Yep, 2 batteries should suffice but yous may end upward with a camera that drinks battery power similar I drink beer... So, get the 3rd.
One concluding note virtually the flash unit of measurement. See if you lot can rent a Quantum Turbo battery. The recycle time is a fraction of AA batteries and I couldn't imagine voluntarily shooting a wedding without mine.
Thank you,
Rob
See if you tin hire a Quantum Turbo battery
This volition merely work if the OP likewise rents a SB800 or 900; the SB600 won't accept external power. I besides just wanted to add together to the "y'all tin can never be too careful crowd". Ane battery should do it. An actress is a must. A third is the neglect-safe. Same goes with memory cards: if you shoot 1,000 images, carry enough cards to hold iii,000. I e'er tell my shooters if anything weird happens, change batteries and memory cards. This is also a good reason to shoot Raw + JPEG: epitome back-up.
I shoot Catechism and can't annotate on the D90'southward battery life. I rarely drain a unmarried bombardment on my 5D2 during an unabridged wedding ceremony shoot (in my part of the world, 16hrs is not uncommon) but I always take another fully charged ane close to hand. I would ensure I had 2 batteries for the D90 and two for the D40. When renting, does it come with a battery? If so, it may be safer to take 2 new ones, equally you never know how drained the in-camera one might be.
<p>John (Deerfield) makes a indicate on the RAW+JPG that I hadn't considered before (file backup). Withal, simply curious, if one fries the CF card or it just goes haywire, won't they lose both the RAW and the JPEG anyhow? What are the chances of recovering but the JPEG or only the RAW? For weddings, I shoot JPEG merely and it works for me
You should besides have into business relationship - bated from the number of shots you take - how much you use the monitor and whether your lens(es) use VR or not (as it also drains the battery). Too, if you're using your born camera flash to remotely control the other flash(es), that would drain battery juice too.
Also, the more than a battery gets used, the less efficient information technology becomes, and so an onetime battery, however carefully used and conditioned, volition never provide the same number of shots as a new battery...
Some points I don't think have been mentioned still and a some I wish to expand upon:
I think your previous thread about lenses. I recall I might have mentioned on that thread my passion about "System Redundancy" for the kit.

Does the D40 and the D90 take the same main batteries? If such is the case I would be comfy with a total of five camera batteries for the two bodies. I am passionate about back-up. I think a more common answer (in add-on to the views already posted here) would exist "ii cameras using the aforementioned batteries, and so three batteries would be a minimum, four would exist "very condom".

Side by side question - do these cameras besides have a "small battery" for date and other functions (usually the size and shape of a small money) . . .
If yes: if that battery dies, how does that affect the camera's output?
Are these pocket-sized batteries the same?
Do you have back up of those batteries too?

Re the battery grip - I have one for each digital photographic camera. Although my main reasons for the battery Grip is the second Shutter release (not necessarily a "Vertical" shutter release) the other reason is for better balance - only with 2 batteries loaded I have never run dry out at a Hymeneals, on any camera.
You should consider weight and balance re the battery grip – many women practise not have large hands (as big every bit men's hands – though my hands are comparatively minor) – Most Women who have worked with me, and almost Assistant Photographers have been Women – exercise not similar using a bombardment grip, citing weight and size the reasons.

I bulldoze two cameras, sometimes three - so that's half-dozen batteries spread over the outcome - also my three primary working cameras ALL accept the same batteries so the "spare" battery number is kept to merely ii . . . and one only "pocket-size battery" - my logic being that I can cannibalize my kit at any time, should one pair of batteries run dry.

Also the another reason for having a bombardment grip for me is that it holds 2 batteries so I know where two batteries are all, the fourth dimension: they will not be going lost or stolen, because I have the cameras ON ME - not in the motorcar; or in the camera bag, behind the DJ'southward gear up etc . . .

My last reason for a battery grip is that it allows the AA battery insert to drive the cameras - which is some other level of "System Back-up" I don't know if this applies to the Nikon cameras you will be using - and the answer to the question nearly AA is: I have well-nigh twelve sets of 4 AA's fully charged, in my bag at all times, and I don't use Flash that often - my battery grip-inserts, each take 6 x AA batteries.

As well batteries don't like cold - not that this appears to be relevant to your state of affairs every bit you lot mention an exterior wedding - but for skiing or snowboarding, for example, I behave actress charged batteries in sealed plastic bags close to my skin, every bit the cameras are out in the cold, the batteries terminal less fourth dimension, than I might usually await.

I think that Rob's point about near of u.s. knowing our gear inside out and upside down and yous renting is important to note – I retrieve that you should drive the gear hard in those days before the Nuptials so you know information technology as all-time y'all can and leave plenty time to make adjustments or purchases to adapt. I recall y'all should hire a D90 near a calendar month out from the Wedding, for a weekend – information technology might not be the same camera you hire for the Wedding – simply familiarity is a good thing.

If you lot shoot RAW + JPEG (or merely RAW) and have simply been shooting JPEG, and so y'all should consider how many memory cards you demand to have, also.

WW
Is it necessary to have 3 to last 8 hours?
In my view - yeah.
I get around 12 hours from a unmarried battery at my shooting rate, perhaps a little less if I'm using VR lenses. I've shot many weddings just on a single bombardment. Only I tin can't guarantee that I'll only utilize one battery, so I'll definitely demand a second. And I can't guarantee that my 2nd battery will work perfectly, or doesn't have a problem that's made it belch prematurely. So I also demand the third battery, just in example.
I carry one spare battery. But I have i spare for each of the ii cameras. If I need the 2nd battery for the first camera and it fails, well that is why I have the second camera. And then I guess you could say I have four batteries. Merely having the 2nd photographic camera is more important than multiple batteries for the showtime camera.
In my experience, it'south standard procedure for a rental house to give an actress body battery. So you lot should be starting with 2, only I'd check in with them to exist sure. Get a third, if one is availible. AAs are inexpensive. Try to recycle them.
I as well don't understand the betoken of shooting RAW and JPEG on the same card. In that location is no significant do good for redundancy. I remember information technology'd really be a liability- using upward a lot more infinite than necessary. If the camera writes dissimilar files to 2 unlike cards, possibly then it would make sense. Is the D90 capable of that?
Wow! Thanks everyone for your assistance! I decided to go with 3 batteries just to have one less thing to worry about. I will exist sure to have plenty of cards too! Again thank y'all, it's prissy to know that there are so many WISE photographers on here willing to requite sage advice to newer photographers trying to learn. I'm very appreciative
I have 3 batteries for the canon 1ds Mark 3. Since I shoot then many weddings I sometimes forget to charge the camera bombardment. The Catechism bombardment is good for 1800 shots.
If information technology were me, I pack about 12 or more double A'southward for your flash. Effigy you will get about 150 shots per set of batteries. Most likely you may become more, just why take the run a risk.

You can also buy a quantum battery, such as the turbo, which should last the unabridged hymeneals. I use this battery with a more than powerful flash unit of measurement and I've had no issues with the battery going dead earlier the end of the hymeneals. Unless you take around 2000 shots you should be fine with the turbo or 13, iv packs of AA. This will give you 1950 shots or more.
two batteries at to the lowest degree for each camera, minimum, preferably the batteries will work on both cameras, actress wink, if any thing can go incorrect it volition is a good rule to follow
Withal, just curious, if one fries the CF card or it simply goes haywire, won't they lose both the RAW and the JPEG anyway? What are the chances of recovering but the JPEG or but the RAW?
There is no easy answer to that. Near problems are directory related. The advantage to having two sets of images is that you have now doubled your adventure of recovering at least one of them. That isn't to say that you lot will be able to. Notwithstanding, I like doubling my odds.
i would have thought that if you lot have a bombardment in each of your d90's, and one spare, that you would have plenty of juice. only don't become too trigger happy; keep your shots under 800.
I shoot Catechism and I simply exercise some events (and definitely not weddings, ever!) but here's an old saw that works every time: it'due south meliorate to accept it and not need information technology than to demand it and non have it. No thing how many batteries yous have, bring a couple of extras and a recharger too. Remember, Tater of Murphy's Law fame finds virtually of his victims among the unprepared, the optimistic, and those who spend an inordinate amount of time wandering around hoping for the all-time.
Just to annotate on the VR battery issue. When I shoot my buddies playing basketball with my D80 and 70-300 VR I found that in one hour I could pretty much kill the battery (same equally in the D90 I believe) to x-xx% if I left the automatic image review on. Of form the camera never left my middle in that hr and so it was running VR and machine focus (AF-C) constantly. When I turned off the car image review I would walk out of one of their games with 40-50% life left. just my two non wedding ceremony shooter cents
I use canon so I can't comment on how long the batteries last for nikon. Simply...I Can tell you lot about when I rented batteries & a camera. 1 of the batteries I had rented was bad. I could charge information technology, it would show fully charged, but when yous used it in your camera, it would lose the charge in less than an hour. I got my money dorsum for the rental, but if that had been my but support bombardment it would not have been expert. So I would say get the extra bombardment. Even though near places test their gear, you but never know, its amend to be prepared.
Also remember not to overcharge batteries. Some people leave their batteries on the charger for a week or more. This actually takes away the life of your batteries. Next, put the batteries on a long charge, don't buy those chargers that will charge your bombardment in fifteen minutes. The slow trickle chargers are the all-time, such equally 4 to vi hours, or even longer. This is in reference to AA batteries for flash units. I remember a lensman putting in newly charged batteries that were about two years sometime and he only got nearly 5 shots out of the batteries.
The aforementioned goes with camera batteries, don't go out them on the charger for a week or ii., until your next gig.

I would suggest replacing your camera batteries also equally your AA batteries every 2 years, but the trouble is we commonly buy new cameras before the batteries demand replacement.

I thought the 1Ds Mk3 would be my last camera earlier retiring. With built in video it looks like I will need to purchase a new camera.
I shot a hymeneals last week using two SB-600'due south and one SB-800 (w/battery pack). I got effectually 500 shots using the battery pack and around 150 with no pack. The GF lightspere requires a little more ability. In the bag I deport sixteen spare batteries. Better rubber than pitiful.
I take iii...just in example I pull one out and for some reason information technology'due south lost it's charge or god forbid something has happened. I rarely use the second and never the third, and I shoot a LOT. For an all twenty-four hour period wedding, I get-go out with 1 fully charged and I'll commonly have to switch information technology correct before the reception (late afternoon).