Extra Batteries (Especially in Cold Weather)

There is nothing worse than ending a shoot just when the light is getting really good because your battery is dead, and you don’t have a backup. You need at least two, if not three, backup batteries (at least three if you’re shooting a mirrorless body), and if you often shoot in cold weather, your batteries won’t last nearly as long, so you might even need a fourth. However, I have good news: these days you don’t have to buy your spare batteries from the camera manufacturer. If you’ve priced replacement batteries from the manufacturers, you’ve already found out that they are crazy expensive—especially when there are so many good alternatives out there for a whole lot less. For example, instead of spending $64+ for a single battery, I’ve been buying PowerExtra batteries for my make and model of camera for $11 a battery, and honestly, I haven’t noticed a difference in performance whatsoever (and I’m not alone. The photographer who turned me on to these said the same thing). I can buy five of these PowerExtra brand batteries for less than the cost of one battery from my camera’s manufacturer (I carry five with me—four in a simply designed Think Tank Photo DSLR Battery Holder [it’s around $18] and the fifth one in my camera).