I hadn't thought of re-charging from a car, but that's a good idea and I will keep it in mind. So far, even when there hasn't been any electricity there have usually been cars (or usually trucks and Landcruisers). Another possibility, I guess, is to use a wind-up recharger or a bicycle, somehow, or a solar cell.
I have had an MX and 2 LXs fail on my in the field, so I don't really trust cameras that much. Anyway, I did some calculating today. A single charge of my camera battery is supposed to be good for 400 frames according to Olympus (I will check this for myself sometime). That's 11 rolls of film. So on a 100-roll trip I would need to recharge 10 times. Of course, I also need to buy a spare charger in case the one I have disappears or stops working. I already have 3 rechargeable batteries so I should never be short of them, at least. When there's no possibility of recharging the batteries I can also use 3 CR123A lithium batteries, but only get half the number of shots - that equates to roughly one battery per roll of film. Cheaper and less bulky than film, for sure. Personally, I would not rely on shipping out a spare anything. Apart from the fact that it assumes the presence of a speedy & reliable shipping service, there is always going to be a time factor to consider. For most of us our holiday time is severely limited (as is our money), so to be in a position where you have to wait several days for the spares to arrive, or spend a day travelling to a power source, seems to me to be a waste of good time off. I love being in the boonies (expect for the dearth of Gaggia machines). I just don't want to live there. -- Cheers, Bob > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On > Behalf Of Godfrey DiGiorgi > Sent: 06 September 2006 06:28 > To: Pentax-Discuss Mail List > Subject: Re: the way it was ... the way it is (was: amusing > product review) > > On last year's trip to the UK with the DS, I purchased five sets of > Lithium disposables (CRV3 and AA) before leaving. During the course > of the trip, I made 2900+ exposures. I didn't change out the third > set of batteries until I'd gotten home and had made a total of 3400 > exposures. I put the fourth set of those batteries into that DS body > (this is July of 2005) ... they're still in the body today, still > registering fully charged, and I've probably made close to another > 1200 exposures with it (haven't looked lately). The fifth set is > sitting in my backup battery pouch. > > As I said before, the Epson P2000 storage tank will download > up to 13 > 1G cards on a charge. That's 1300 RAW exposures, roughly, so to > handle 3000-4000 exposures you're going to need a charger and/or a > few spare batteries for it. You can run the charger from an inverter > used in a automobile 12V DC accessory socket. For the CompactDrive > PD70X or HyperDrive, a set of the Lithium AA disposables will > also go > a long long way. > > I don't think there's anything to worry about going out into the > boonies where getting to power will be difficult ... just carry > enough AA or CRV3 Lithium disposables (for a Pentax *ist DS, or > HyperDrive storage unit). > > Personally, although the romantic notion of going out into the > boonies like that is appealing fantasy, I find I am not a boonies > kinda guy and will always have power available within a day > or so, at > least until civilization collapses. My photography is not > wildlife or > landscape in central thrust... > > Similarly, when I leave on a trip, I package up my spare body for > quick shipping by courier rather than carry it as a matter of > course. > I'm only very rarely in desperate need of a camera at every > minute of > a trip, I can handle a 48 hour delay. And, knock on wood, I've never > had a body fail on me in the field. > > G -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
