Failing to Fail

I failed to fail yesterday, but it was a near thing. Had I not been forgetful, and cached some spare equipment in my kit bag, I could have been up a greased pole without a paddle. Or a mixed metaphor, for that matter.

It was batteries, you see. A couple of weeks ago I purchased several sets of lithium AA cells from a supermarket so that I would have spares for a wedding shoot. I already had Duracells in the flash units but better safe than sorry. The supermarket did not have Duracells so I took another brand. As luck would have it the Duracells had plenty of power for the 700+ shots at the wedding. Well and good.

Yesterday I set out to do a dance shoot and thought to change the flash batteries for the new sets just to make sure. Up on the platform, shooting away, everything as per normal, and then the new batteries - supposedly 8 x normal capacity - packed it in. I got less than 70 shots before the flash gave a warning sign on the LCD screen and refused to go.

Luckily, I had another regiment in the woods - a fresh set of Duracells buried at the bottom of the bag. Quick change and they then soldiered on for 650 more shots, with no faltering.

I reflected that I would stick to Duracell and Inca AA lithium batteries in the future, even if it meant searching them out. Indeed, I have asked for our shop to keep more of the Inca brand in.