ABC: Always Be Charging
–Mike
Batteries are my personal nemesis that I’ve learned to work with over time, and I think that most underwater photographers also have a love-hate relationship with them.
My problems with most batteries:
- Chargers take up space in your bags
- Different types of devices have different batteries
- Battery chargers usually come with a power cube of some kind
- Some chargers have “fixed” plugs that don’t let them pack nicely
- Batteries are heavy
- Batteries have to be in your carry-on baggage
- Batteries usually can’t be seen through on x-ray because they contain metal
- Batteries heat up when they charge
- Hot batteries in a sealed device create vacuum and offgas issues
- Batteries will last for 2.5 dives on average and that third dive might run out
- You can’t take photos with a camera that has dead batteries
- You can take photos if one or two of your 4 light sources dies
Out of all these considerations, I have this strategy for batteries:
- Have enough batteries for 1.5 days of photography
- Minimize the amount of chargers that I have to take with me by standardizing on just a couple of battery types
- Whenever possible, have chargers that plug into USB
- Always Be Charging: batteries on the charger are one of the first things that I do after every dive
- Take an extra set of batteries on the dive boat
- Have 2 containers next to the charging table: one for empty batteries and one for full batteries
- Whenever I’m not taking photos (hunting for subjects or waiting or on the boat), I shut off my camera, strobes, and focus light
- I try to resist the urge to look at photos on the boat unless we’re headed back to the dock although sometimes I fail at resisting
- I carry 2 spot-beam dive torches for tech-diver redundancy and to use as a macro torch
- I have redundancy between my strobes, focus/video torch, and handheld dive torch so I don’t really need a full set of extras for strobes
- If you’re diving with a guide, you will take more photos and will use batteries faster
- If you’re doing 3 dives plus an early morning or night dive, you’ll need more batteries because they won’t charge fast enough
- Chargers can go in checked baggage
And finally, my dive trip packing list:
- 4x 18650 (2 handheld dive torches plus maybe the ScubaLamp MS-30 snoot torch)
- 2x 26650 (1 focus torch)
- 1x 14500 (dive computer)
- Nitecore 4-bay charger for 18650, 26650, 14500 (it has a straight cord with no power cube) (in checked bag)
- 12x Eneloop Pro (2 strobes and each holds 4 batteries, I don’t take a full set for 2 days because it’s just too many to carry) [See Note Below]
- 2 Eneloop 4-bay chargers with folding US plug (in checked bag)
- 2x Camera Battery (either TG5/LI92B or G9/DMW-BLF19)
- USB-powered single-bay charger for camera battery
- 2-bay USB charger for phone, tablet, batteries
- Waterproof bag or box for the boat: I have a dive mask box that seals and is the perfect size for batteries and my phone
- Extra bag for batteries in my carry-on so I can can just put them into an x-ray tray at airport security
See You Underwater
–Mike
[1] You’re maybe not supposed to put Eneloop batteries into a sealed device: opinions vary on this. You can read more at WetPixel. I hedge my bets by never ever using batteries right off the charger that are warm. This is why I get them on the charger early so that they have time to cool.