Can’t re-charge camera via USB?

Most cameras these days come with a mini-USB or a micro-USB port.  You might think that this means you can re-charge the battery inside by connecting it to a USB port on a laptop, or even to a wall adapter.  But, sadly, some cameras only use this port for data transfer.

My father-in-law recently learned this lesson the hard way.  He got a brand new camera just before leaving on a 1 week vacation.  He threw out the box and packaging, keeping only the actual camera and the USB cable.  Somewhere in the “packaging” was the travel charger for the battery.  By mid-week, the camera was dead, and plugging in at the USB port didn’t do anything.  Dead camera.  Hopefully 4 days of remembering the vacation will make up for the missing pictures.

Always be sure to check your charging options for cameras, camcorders, cell phones, etc. before leaving town.  With the right wall adapters, power banks, cables, and spare batteries,  you’ll avoid disappointment when you try to capture the perfect vacation moments on digital media.  Otherwise, you just end up packing around some dead electronics weight and missing out on the memories.