HELP EMERGENCY - Need Canon Charger TONIGHT!!!

[klynam]

Please help - can pay cash tonight will come to you in DFW area !!!!

Long story short - I have a bridal shoot tomorrow morning at 7am and all my batteries are dead !!!!!

I went to charge my batteries tonight and realized I have the wrong charger. I traveled to Tulsa last week to shoot a family wedding and left my charger. I thought I had it but the charger I picked up was a video camera charger.

Again - PLEASE HELP. I'll buy your old vertical grip (that I can put batteries in) or you old charger CASH TONIGHT: FRIDAY JULY 14.

Please call me at 972-746-6187 if you can help out

Thank you...

klynam

[ShutteredEye]

Bah just saw this. Sorry!!

[JohnT]

Sorry I didn't see this sooner.

[klynam]

No problem gents...I was totally grasping at straws last night !!! Here's what happened though...

I finally got through to the family at 11pm last night to let them know what the situation was. We all agreed to just show up as scheduled this morning and shoot what we could with what we had.

About 40 frames into the shoot, the battery totally died. We went to WalMart and didn't find a universal charger. Found a local Wolf Camera but they didn't open until 10am and the temp was already over 80 and rising fast. Faced with a desperate situation - and against the advice of another board and my own better judgement - the father of the bride and I decided desperate times truly do call for desperate measures.

With his past (albiet limited) electronics knowledge, and assuring me that he would replace the batter if this didn't work, we found and bought a 7v/1000ma power adapter at Wally World. This is the closest specs to the battery's label volt/amp labeling. We cut the tip off, stripped the wire, taped the leads to repsective +/- leads of the battery. plugged it in to the AC power inverter he had in his car, and waited...

1 minute goes by...
2 minutes... battery does not feel hot or show any other problems
5 minutes...
10 minutes... and we pull it all apart

With GREAT hesistation, I pop it in the camera and turn it on. Viola. Everything works, and I see a 33% charge on the LCD. While I go scout out he rest of the shoot, he tapes the battery back to the "charger." Once we were ready to shoot again, I shot another 50-60 frames (45+ minutes) and finished the shoot with no problems. (Whew, count your blessings and say a quick thank you Jesus prayer!!!)

Now my lessos learned from this experience:

1. HAVE BACKUP EQUIPMENT!!!
2. DON'T WAIT UNTIL THE LAST MINUTE - OR EVEN THE NIGHT BEFORE THE LAST MINUTE!!!
3. NEVER AGAIN VIOLATE RULES 1 & 2

But just so everyone knows, in the worst of emergencies - cause by one's one incompetence or other factors - the stock battery from a 300D can be successfully (at least partially) recharged using a cheapo 7v/1000ma power inverter. The wire with the white stripe is the positive lead.

Am I glad to know this - yes. Was it very risky on several fronts - probably so. Will I do this again - not if I can possibly avoid it. Do I recommend this - absolutely not.

But sometimes you have to do what you have to do.

[rphoto]

Congrats on surviving your shoot. Sounds like one for the storybook

[Daniel Bates]

That's a story for the grandkids there, klynam!

Oh and, welcome to TPF!

[klynam]

Thanks for the welcomes - hated to introduce myself to the forum like that. oh well...

klynam