Vancouver, February 2010 – I have learned a lot over the past 7 days of taking part in cultural and sporting events at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics. Some of it I learned the hard way, and now you don’t have to. It is possible to be well-prepared for long days away from opportunities to recharge devices like the battery-gulping iPhone, palm-sized HD video recorders, and even digital SLR cameras. Believe me, there is nothing more aggravating than lugging a ‘real’ camera through long walks, lineups and security only to find the battery is near dead, a problem exacerbated by cold temperatures.

So here’s my tips for preparation, power conservation, and emergency backup measures:

MOBILE PHONES:

• Turn off ‘Ask to Join Networks’ on iPhones, Blackberries and other smartphones.
• Turn down brightness on display or put on auto-brightness.
• Turn on airplane mode and enable access only when you can group your posts, social network updates, and uploads
• Turn off GPS location based features
• Turn off Bluetooth unless it is in use – most people forget and leave it on when they don’t need hands-free access
• For the iPhone consider a charging skin/case, such as the Mophie, which can double battery time
• Avoid games and long calls, and writing lengthy emails, which can cause the screen to stay lit for long periods of time
• Buy a regular battery powered phone charger, such as the one sold by Energizer, the Energi to Go. Use rechargables in the Energizer device to reduce toxic waste.
• On the iPhone turn off audible sound effects for key clicks etc.
• Turn off push notifications for applications
• Turn off 3G if not available
• Minimize auto-lock time so the screen darkens as fast as possible after use
• Turn off camera apps when the shot is complete! The camera will stay on even if it’s in a dark pocket.
• Shut down apps before locking on the iPhone, by pressing the home button. Otherwise the app is still running in sleep mode, drawing power.
• Turn off vibrate setting – vibration takes a lot of juice. Just check your phone visually more regularly.
• Turn off the equalizer on iPhones in the music settings.
• Bring a power charger and plan a coffee break in a wireless enabled cafe that is plugin friendly. Starbucks and Blenz are two chains in Vancouver where mobile users are frequently seen availing themselves of this tool. Better yet, bring a 4-plug power plugin – if all the plugs are taken by other users they’ll happily share if you have the hardware.
• Special note: BC Ferries has cubicles on board with power outlets for laptop and mobile charging use, and they’re free. No wireless coverage yet however; there’s a black hole lasting about 20 minutes on the Horseshoe Bay/Langdale run for example.
• Update the firmware for your phone. We all hate this chore, but developers are always making improvements to the code that runs our phones, and often in the areas of battery usage and conservation.

CAMERAS

• Invest in a double or triple set of rechargeable batteries for small HD video cameras. Have two differently marked bags for keeping hot/good or cold/dead batteries so you don’t have the wrong ones in for that important part you absolutely have to cover. Turn off the camera between shoots as keeping the display lit drains the batteries quickly. Don’t review the footage on site unless you have to – better to do reviews, edits, purges at home with a card in a reader or with all footage downloaded to a computer and wiped off the device.
• Have a second lithium ion battery charged for any digital SLR cameras that use them. Bring it with you, even if you’re sure the one in the camera is also charged. Better to have it than be gnashing your teeth in the middle of an event with a paperweight around your neck.
• Double-check your camera before departure to ensure the memory card and battery are actually IN IT. I once hiked up a brutal trail in a scratchy forest, lugging my Nikon D70 – with its spare lens – and got to the top only to discover the battery wasn’t even in it. Turn the power on and off and take a test picture before you leave in case there’s any problems with the card.
• Bring a spare memory card, and don’t go more than 4gb in size unless you’re a professional shooting in RAW mode. Better to split your shots on multiple cards in case one gets damaged or fails. Carry them in a proper case – especially the small and easy-to-damage SD cards.
• If you’re covering something truly epic, bring a storage device you can download images into to keep space open on your cards, and your images backed up.  You can either go with a standard portable hard drive of 500gb – 1 terrabyte, or you can invest into an actual photography-specific storage device, such as the Epson P-6000 Multimedia Photo Viewer, which offers instant shoot and save, RAW file support, and a large viewer so you don’t have to port them into a computer just to review them.
• Take every opportunity to do this kind of housekeeping and charging whenever you can, and even ask at restaurants or hotels if they provide such a service either for free, for a fee, or with your meal.

GENERAL TIPS AND TRICKS:

• Research your transportation route on a computer before you leave home so you’re not looking things up on your phone
• Know where the closest electronics stores are relational to the route you’ll be traveling
• Be prepared to spring some cash if you don’t do your preparation beforehand. My camera battery died en-route to the Olympic hockey venue for the much-anticipated Canada/Sweden womens hockey game, and we happened to see a Best Buy along the skytrain route. Hopped out and $60 later were back on board with the exact lithium ion battery my Nikon needed, and it was pre-charged to half strength. I guess I can take comfort from the fact that there’s enough people like me to constitute a market for this product.
• FREE BUT PRICELESS TIP: label all your chargers with white tags that denote the device it’s for and store accessories by device and not by type (ie. charger, spare battery, extra lens for camera all together; charger and mophie pack for iPhone together – NOT all chargers together – that’s a recipe for a distastrous mixup.

If you have some tips to share, please send them along. As for me, on day 7 of the Vancouver Winter Olympics I finally feel properly prepared to take in all the sights, sounds and events with my gear.