Once you start using your camera off flash regularly you will probably realize sooner or later that you are spending quite a lot on batteries. We recently started wondering what was the best kind of speedlight battery out there to get the most flashes for our buck. After a bit of research and some experimentation we have concluded the best speedlight battery to be: rechargeable NiMH batteries.
Why Use NiMH for Your Speedlights?
Obviously using recyclable batteries over time helps save you money. While a set of NiMH batteries and a fast 1 hour charger may be much higher cost up front (compared to regular alkalines) they should last you hundreds, if not thousands of recharges. Off camera flashes can be power hungry devices so to constantly buy disposable alkaline batteries gets expensive in the long run. Using rechargables then should save you money in the long run as well as being better for the environment.
Despite outputting a slightly lower voltage than regular alkaline batteries rechargeable NiMH’s can put out a greater current. The current is what matters when it comes to giving you a faster recycle time for your speedlights.
When selecting which rechargeables to buy always buy NiMH’s with the highest possible mAH or miliamp hours. This basically tell you the capacity of the batteries. Rechargeable NiMH batteries can have mAH ranging from 1000-2800 mAH. Aim to buy the highest possible, at least 2500 mAH to get the most out of your recheargables.
Getting The Most From Your Speedlight Batteries
NiMH batteries have none of the dreaded memory issues that other types of battery have (such as NiCADs. This means that you do not have to fully run them down between charges to avoid reducing their capacity. However this said it is good practice to try to always use and charge your batteries with batteries with similar states. The easiest way to do this is to buy a spare set of four and label each set A and B with a magic marker. This way you always charge batteries together and never use batteries with different amounts of power left.
Speedlight Battery Conclusion
If you want to know what the best kind of speedlight battery there is then it really has to be the NiMH rechargeable. The only thing that can really beat it is an external battery pack, however these are only really required by professionals who need to use their speedlights for extended periods of time when changing batteries is not an option.
Check out the best NiMh battery rechargers on Amazon.
Enjoy this article? If so please subscribe to Digital SLR Guru to receive free updates!
Loading ...