Ultimate Guide to GoPro Batteries and Chargers

GoPro cameras have very many features to be admired. They are very small and light thus they are easier to carry when you are on the move. But the GoPro cameras also have their downsides, the battery life of the GoPro cameras isn’t that great more so in the GoPro Hero 3. Depending on how cold it is and the settings you have configured the camera to, you might get up to 2 hours of battery life if you’re lucky enough–and much less if you’re not lucky.

If you’re doing any kind of serious shooting or filming with the GoPro camera, you’ll need to have spare batteries for your camera with you. You’ll also need to have a way to charge your batteries that doesn’t involve the in-camera charging that takes the camera out of action while you’re charging.

Below, am going to share with you 5 great tips to extend your GoPro battery life.

1. Turn off your camera when you are not filming and don’t plan on filming soon. First set up the angles and think about what you want to shoot before you turn your camera on. If you leave your GoPro camera on, or in the standby mode, the camera will eat up your battery life relatively quick. Try to first think about what you are going to shoot and from what angles. Play the footage out in your mind before turning the GOPRO on.
2. Adapt to using the lowest power consumption settings. The lowest power consumption setting is the (1080-30) setting. This will save you a lot of battery power because the camera is not having to work very hard to capture and store the footage you are shooting.
3. Make sure you that you have the latest GoPro firmware installed on your GOPRO camera. The firmware had some serious issues when they first released the GoPro Hero 3. Always upgrading to the latest software version will enable your camera battery last a bit longer. The improvements in battery life will be minor but they are worth it.
4. Don’t use the GoPro remote. Using the remote will eat up the battery life of the camera especially if the remote’s batteries are low. If the Wi-Fi BacPac battery is very low, the remote will use power from the GOPRO’s battery. According to GoPro’s official website, this will reduce the camera’s battery life by about 25%. The GoPro Hero 3 has inbuilt Wi-Fi. Using this feature will reduce the battery’s life by about 10%.
5. Set up your camera to one button mode. Setting up your camera to the one button mode will let you start filming as soon as you turn the camera on. You do not need to waste time trying to figure out if you have the GoPro camera set to pictures or video. All you have to do is just press the power button and start filming instantly. When using the one button mode, make sure that you hold down the power button for about five seconds to turn the GoPro camera off. By pressing the button once, your camera is going to stay on and this will in turn drain the power just as fast as if you were using it.

Shop for an extra GoPro battery here.