(Summary: Make your digital camera batteries last longer. Here's how.)
Are you always running out of battery power just before you take that perfect picture with your digital camera? Here are some tips to conserve your batteries when you are out "snapping away".

1) Turn off your digital camera when not in use. If you are in a situation where you must snap pictures quickly, this may not apply as turning digital cameras on and off take a few seconds, and may cause you to miss a picture-taking opportunity. However, if you are taking a leisurely stroll and can afford a couple of seconds before snapping a still subject, by all means, conserve your digital camera's energy!

2) Many digital cameras have a regular viewfinder and an LCD viewfinder. While the digital LCD viewfinder has its benefits, it can drain battery power. Turn it off when applicable and use your regular viewfinder for taking pictures.

3) Don't stop after taking every photo and look at the picture in your digital camera's playback mode. Granted, you sometimes need to look at photos immediately after shooting them in order to make sure your exposure is correct, the lighting is ok, etc., but doing this does use up your digital camera's battery power.

4) If you are using MicroDrive media, be forewarned that these miniature hard drives may take up quite more power than Compact Flash cards.

Use these tips and you'll save some digital camera battery power for when you want to take that perfect picture. But, of course, the best tip to make sure that you don't run out of power is . . . take some extra charged batteries with you on trips