I am 77-years old and have been in photography since I was 8. I have earned my living as a professional photographer for well over 50 years and I am still working. Yet there is something I can not understand. So will someone please advise me?

Y'all spend many thousands of dollars on digital cameras, battery-operated flash gear, exposure meters, remote triggers, radio/slave flash systems- all electronically powered and all requiring batteries. If the battery unexpectedly dies in your camera or any of these other aforementioned accessories, the whole thing shuts down! So, why do so many folks fuss about the cost of batteries, worry about the differential in cost of OEM vs. 3rd party models and be hesitant about carrying a few extra batteries for all this gear?

When you consider the investment in the equipment, the cost, time, and effort that photographers of every ilk spend in going out, working hard, and shooting whatever they shoot, money spent on travel and vacations where picture making is part of the plan or the importance of family events you want to record for posterity, they cost a few extra batteries in comparison, is a pittance. How's that for a run-on sentence? If you are mathematically inclined- do the percentages!

Some of this battery bickering defies common sense!

I can write all about ampere/hours, charging rates, battery types and characteristics, and all manner of electronic technobabble, but after over a half-century of using batteries of many kinds I can tell you that even a brand new fully charged OEM battery can unceremoniously drop dead at the most inopportune times.

"Who needs a stinking spare battery.." can join the ranks of many famous last words. Well, nobodies gonna die but there can be some serious frustration and disappointment!