01The question every nature photographer eventually asks

Sounds like a very good plan. But have you ever considered how nature photographers charge their gear?

You need to prepare a whole setup to power your camera batteries, flash batteries, drone batteries, laptop, and other stuff — whether it's a shorter or longer trip. Because sometimes you'll need more batteries than you have brought. And sometimes things just kind of go differently than you've planned.

In this article, you'll find some suggestions about how to keep your batteries charged in the wild.

02Portable solar panel: put sunlight in your pack

In the wild, we are always under unusual circumstances. Say it's a trek through the jungle, or a hiking expedition on the Pacific Crest Trail, with no wall plugs and no vehicles.

You might find something really nice. Then you might spend the whole day out with the cameras, drone, sound equipment, and more. Their batteries very easily run out. Here, carrying along a portable solar panel is a good idea.

Why it beats hauling a heavy supply of batteries

How to choose: match the panel to your trip length

There are different sizes and charging power in portable solar panels. Just choose the proper one based on the length of your trip.

For me, I bought two foldable solar panels: one small size with 24W, and another bigger size with 100W. I usually bring the 24W on short trips and the 100W on longer trips.

If you are looking for a serious 100W option, the XTAR SP100 is worth a look. It uses Sunpower® solar cells with 23.7% efficiency, weighs just 9.7 pounds, and comes with two adjustable kickstands so you can angle it toward the sun even in tight spaces. The upgraded version adds bypass diodes to reduce hotspot risk — a meaningful detail when you are deep in the field with no way to replace a damaged panel.

• 24W small panel — lightweight and easy to carry on short trips.
• 100W larger panel — faster charging for longer expeditions. The SP100 weighs 9.7 pounds and folds down for transport.[reference:0]

The foldable solar panels connect externally with at least 3 ports, which means they can charge 3 devices at the same time. What I like most is that they fold very nicely together, so I can pack them well in my bag.

It's nice to be able to have a cup of coffee in the middle of the day, set up your portable solar panel, and then power everything up within quite a short rest time. And don't worry about windy and cloudy conditions. Everything has turned out to be just perfect.

03Portable power bank: the long-trip backup base

If you are planning a longer trip, I suggest using portable solar panels with an external portable power bank. Nowadays, the capacity of portable power banks reaches up to 20,000mAh. They usually have USB-C ports.

You can use it for almost everything, like your phone, portable photo storage, camera batteries, headlamp, and everything that basically powers from USB.

Why higher-watt power banks are worth it

Some portable power banks have much higher watts, with the function of manually choosing the output volts. This is very brilliant. They can charge your laptops faster. If you plug in a converter, they can also charge your drone batteries.

One option that stands out for field use is the XTAR PB2SL V2. It is both a battery charger and a power bank, and it takes replaceable 18650, 18700, 20700, or 21700 cells. That means you are not locked into a sealed internal battery that degrades over time — you can carry spare cells and swap them out when needed.

04Smart camera battery chargers: the real bottleneck

Actually, the biggest challenge is to charge the camera batteries without the wall charger. Fortunately, you can buy USB chargers for camera batteries. Also, to charge the battery with solar power, a DC power input is needed.

Recently, a special camera battery charger was released on the market. That is the XTAR SN4. Some professional photographers thought it a game-changer. Let me share more information.

Seven docks, detachable design, cross-brand compatibility

The SN4 is built around a 7-in-1 modular docking system. It can charge different types of camera batteries from both the same brand and different brands. For example:

The SN4 supports six camera brands — Canon, Sony, Nikon, Panasonic, FujiFilm, and Leica — across eleven dock models.[reference:1] It uses a three-stage intelligent charging protocol, which reduces battery wear compared with traditional pulse charging, and it can automatically identify battery type and internal resistance to adjust the current.[reference:2]

For camera batteries, the fact is that even different models of cameras under the same brand may have batteries that mismatch. The SN4 camera charger solved the embarrassment of different chargers and charging cables mixed together in your camera bag.

Fast charging specs

• 3A for a single slot
• 2A for two slots
• 1A for four slots
• Almost 4 times faster than other normal chargers
• Uses a USB-C port — you'll never worry about the mismatch of charging cable

A unique function: activating dead batteries

There is a unique function on XTAR chargers. That is the activation for most of the dead batteries. The SN4 can bring over-discharged camera batteries back to life, which is something most standard chargers simply cannot do.[reference:3]

Install your dead batteries in the XTAR SN4 and plug in the power. It will automatically detect the battery status and charge it with a very small charging current. Several hours later, you'll find the voltage of your battery come to a normal value.

05The complete field workflow

When you are out photographing with the above setup — portable solar panel, power bank, and SN4 camera charger — here's how it all comes together:

1. Set up the solar panel Put the portable solar panel pointing toward the sun at a good angle.
2. Connect the SN4 camera charger Plug the charger into the solar panel or power bank using USB-C, then insert your camera batteries.
3. Leave it and go photograph Find a good place and go photographing. The gear keeps charging while you work.
4. Come back to charged batteries When you come back to have a break, you would have four charged batteries within a few hours. Isn't it extremely helpful?

If you have more time, you can even put a power bank installed in a solar panel so that you have a fully charged power bank as well.

06Final thoughts

Charging on trips was always a big topic. It doesn't get the same attention as lenses and camera bodies, but it often decides how long you can stay out and how much you can shoot.