question for all you wedding photographers

[lorange]

Hello there,

I shot my very first wedding yesterday (hooray, I made it!). Well, I was second shooter, anyway. Congrats, all you wedding photographers. I've underestimated your amazing capabilities of keeping calm...

Anyhoo, I was wondering what batteries, in your experience, last you the longest in your flash? For my 580EX, I was using regular Duracel AA's and I had to replace them 5 times throughout the day. AND, it took anywhere from 2-8 seconds to recycle between shots.

Granted, I may not have done enough research before attempting to shoot a wedding. Also, do you prefer to have a diffuser on your flash, or an attachable bounce?

Any help at all will be mucho appreciated!

[SmartWombat]

I use hybrid rechargeables, good life and fast recycling.

[mjs1973]

Have you thought about getting an external battery pack?

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...#goto_itemInfo

[MJS]

How many weddings will you be shooting? Rechargables might be the answer, although an external rig such as the new Quantum turbo SC will make life as a working profsssional much easier.

[gahspidy]

The external battery packs as both Mikes here suggested would be the best solution. Otherwise, you should be using NiMH rechargeables. I have duracell 2650mh NiMH and also various others including Ansmann. They give me over 100-150 shots at fairly high power and recycle time is anywhere from 1/2 sec. to a few seconds towards the end. This is in my 580 EX ll. My 420 EX has slower recycle times.

[lorange]

Do rechargeable batteries not work in the battery pack? Maybe I'm misunderstanding, but from your replies it sounds like I'd either go with Nimh batteries in the battery pack, OR rechargeable batteries in the flash itself.

Also, what exactly is the difference between rechargeable hybrids and rechargeable Nimh's?

[gahspidy]

Do rechargeable batteries not work in the battery pack? Maybe I'm misunderstanding, but from your replies it sounds like I'd either go with Nimh batteries in the battery pack, OR rechargeable batteries in the flash itself.

Also, what exactly is the difference between rechargeable hybrids and rechargeable Nimh's?

The external packs take rechargeables such as the NiMH, however if you are just using batteries in the flasheads themselves you would benefit greatly by using the NiMH over the alkaline. Using the NiMH over alkalines in either case is the best way to go. there are good, inexpensive fast chargers avaliable for the rechargeables such as 40-60 minute chargers. The good ones have built in fans so the batteries do not suffer from heat build-up during fast charging.
As for "hybrids", I'm not sure what Paul means by that.

[SmartWombat]

Hybrids like the Uniross Hybrio (there are others too) are a rechargeable that has a lower self-discharge than NiMH and is shipped charged in the blister pack - so you can use it straight away like an alkaline.

I've had them work after a couple of months when the NiMH are flat and they've been stored together in the same camera bag. I find they're great as backups because I don't need to keep the charge topped up, I know I can pick them up and they'll work.

Even with 2600mAh NiMH I have to think "when did I charge these?" and usually go through a day of charging all of them just in case before I go off on a race weekend.


Hybrio is 2100mAh and charges at 450mA for 7h

[jorgemonkey]

I use the (discontinued) radioshack batteries that recharge in 15 mins in addition to a couple pairs of long charge rechargeable batteries. All the batteries I have are 2000-2500MA. Amount of shots is dependant apon how much I use the flash, and at what power.

A couple weeks ago I used my flash at a MTB race, and went through 2 sets of batteries. 2 weeks later at another race, I didn't even go through one set due to the way I was shooting.

Either way, I make sure everything is charged up & ready to go the day before.