How would you like your camera batteries to last even longer for less money?

When you think about, despite technology advancing at rapid rate, one thing that seems to lag behind is the average capacity of batteries. Sensor sizes and the processing power of today's cameras (and out smartphones too) has hardly advanced from where it was then years ago.

We depend on batteries to power every camera on the market, unlike the 'good old days' of film when it was possible to have a camera that didn't need any batteries! So, I guess all us would answer my question with a resounding 'YES!'

Well, your wish may well become true in the very near future. I know, we have heard similar claims before only to be disappointed. As our cameras have begun to offer ever more features and onboard processing power, our batteries can barely keep up. My X-T2 and its power booster grip has three batteries in it but will only just last 6 hours or so use. Other cameras have similar limitations.

Well, researchers at the the University of Texas at Austin have discovered a family of anode materials that can double the charge capacity of lithium-ion battery anodes. This means that the batteries that we use in everything from cellphones to large-scale energy storage systems could be more efficient in the future.

This is good news and may mean that at last we can use our cameras for an actual whole day of shooting. If you are a sports or wildlife photographer who requires fast FPS and subject tracking then you would be over the moon if your batteries had twice as much power for the same size battery.

It would also mean that for the same power output batteries could be much smaller, meaning more space in your gadget for other fancy stuff or making the whole device smaller and lighter. The same science could mean that electric cars will have smaller and lighter batteries but with increased range at a lower cost.

To read more about the science behind all of this read the article over at Techxplore. You might want to bookmark the site if you are interested in keeping up with similar developments. I have.

If you need to order some more lithium-ion batteries and want to help me out use this affiliate link. (Amazon UK site). Thank you.