Thomas902 Loc: Washington DC

I guess the actual concern here is avoiding loss of power while during a photo session.
Back in the day (1970's) when I shot for a stock agency i didn't give a rat's butt if the battery conked out, since the camera would still function sans it's light metering system. However the Sunny 16 rule was so ingrained that wasn't such a serious scenario.

Fast Forward: Shooting League Soccer commercially (unitl Covid shut down that client base in 2020) I would go through 1500 to 2000 shots per match. And on occasion I would shoot 3 matches on both Saturday and Sunday. Yes my D810 would go through an entire battery charge if I forgot to turn off VR on my AF-S 200-400mm f/4 or my AF-S 200-500mm f/5.6. Sadly I made this mistake couple of times so as SOP in now change to a fresh battery at half time or before the start of a second match.

However my D3 and D3x NEVER ran out of juice... Why? because the Nikon EN-EL4a has more than enough power to do way over 3 soccer matches!

What kills a battery quickest? Shooting product for a jewellery designer in LiveView... Yes even my ancent Nikon D3 has a mirrorless mode... a.k.a. LiveView and another reason why mirrorless cameras still aren't ready for major commercial assignments in prime time. My D3 will shoot thousand of captures on a single charge... And mirrorless? Thousand of captures? Don't think so.

So it's all about the specific camera and usage mode...
For hobbyist probably not a major concern...
Albeit for those who shoot commercially it is a very real and serious issue.
Oh, as for aftermarket batteries? Was given a Watson by B&H as part of a "bundle". It stopped resetting activation count afer several uses... Obvious why B&H was giving them away... You get what you pay for folks...

Thanks all for sharing... this post was an interesting read and allowed me to understand which UHH members aren't into commercial assignments, enough said.

Wish all much success on your photographic journey...

Jimmy T Loc: Virginia

Same here. . .

VietVet Loc: Brooklyn, NY

With my Canon R camera (I’ve never counted the amount of images captured on the battery) I always have a fresh battery in camera and carry two fully charged spares. With my 7D II I have a fully charged in camera and only one spare as I get many more shots with it and rarely use the spare for it. Rather have spares and not need them than having to stop due to a power outage.

Gitchigumi Loc: Wake Forest, NC

I have taken up to 1,000 images with my D7100 without needing the second battery. However, if I use ‘Live View’ mode, that uses more battery. Same for video. So, it all depends on how you are using the camera. Best bet is to always start with a full-charged battery and a fully-charged spare. You never know when you might need that spare!

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

The spray n pray shooters use up a lot of battery on a days shoot. For me 200 exposures is a lot.

Morning Star Loc: West coast, North of the 49th N.

When I go out, I take not just my camera, but grab the bag. This way I have everything I may need: spare battery, filters, lens, notebook and pencil.....
Yes, it makes the bag fairly heavy, but the strap fits comfortably over my right shoulder with the bag on the left side.
If I haven't used the camera for a bit - right now not going out much - I will check the batteries every two weeks or so.
Oh, and if we go on vacation, by car usually, I take a second, smaller bag, to hold battery charger, cleaning cloth and liquid, and other stuff.

CliffMcKenzie Loc: Lake Athens Texas

Last weekend shot 4,075 RAW\NEF shots with D850 used about 40% of the battery at an airshow at 6 fps. Shooting TTL but did leave monitor on after each shot (should have turned off). My D7100 gets better battery life than D850 (same battery). Should you carry a spare battery? Like toilet paper, always have backup. In addition, you should have backup memory cards, the reference shoot took two cards. Also note, the quality of what you shoot determines battery usage. Example, some shoot RAW and Jpeg, this requires more battery usage (I shoot 99% of the time RAW only). Bad things happen to good people…always have backup. By the way, I wear a hunting like vest that always has backup chip & batteries ready on board.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Life is full of little trade-offs. There’s a big difference in current draw between the dSLR and MILC. A typical mirrorless model gets 1/2 to 1/3 the battery life of a dSLR. EVF and touch OLED displays eat lots of power.

So I get about 300 stills or two hours of video from one battery in my Lumix GH4. I carry two spares and an AC/DC dual charger in my backpack.

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

Picture Taker Loc: Michigan Thumb

"Bebulamar & Lamiaceae" I guess if you are a bobby shooter and don't shoot much it's fine FOR YOU. If you shoot
serious or for a paper or long intentional shoots is better to have backups of equipment including batteries, cards and camera and lenses . But, to each, his choice.
(A $50.00 battery?)

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Problem is that too many people think that everyone should shoot, operate, and process the way they do.......

SOME can't comprehend why others don't.

Then there is the difference between hobbyist and "professional" views....
(And I use the term loosely.)

BebuLamar

It's not about the money. I don't need more than 500 shots so my battery should handle that. If it doesn't I would buy a new one. I don't need to shoot that day. I shoot the same amount as I used to when I shoot film. Digital didn't make me shoot more and I did shoot a lot of film.

JBRIII

The only data I know I have is for eclipse shooting: Set to 5 or 7 shots using different bracketing settings for creating HDR, apeture priority, screen on to check still tracking properly (mid-brightness?), and capturing jpeg and raw, I got around 750 photos on several different canon batteries on 60 or 70D camera. These tests were done indoors so temp not involved. So I am clear, that's 700-750 jpejs and same number of raw.

As to temp, I don't remember any significant problems down to 32-40F in Iceland. I shot a lunar eclipse in CO started at 15F and dropped to 5F, I may have used dummy batteries then, but no problems with cameras, just for info. For me, fingers are more of problem than camera at low temps and I can't operate a camera in gloves good at 5F.

photoman43

The real issue is that the battery in your camera might not be fully charged or not working properly. That is why having a spare battery with you makes good sense.

On my Nikon D500 and D850, I do not know how many RAW images I can take on one battery. I have done shoots with 1000-1500 images without changing a battery.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

I thought the real question was "How many pictures do you guys shoot to use up a battery ??".
Seems like a simple enough question.