Does shooting lower quality photos on the Nikon D3100 save battery life?

Help!
Does shooting lower quality photos on the Nikon D3100 save battery life? Are there also any other tips anyone can give me about preserving the charge on this camera?

I've got quite worried after reading how this camera doesn't seem to last long in terms of number of photos…
I'm using it for an event that's lasting around 9 hours. (I won't be taking photos all the time though!)
I always use the viewfinder too and don't check the screen much for looking at previous photos I've taken!

I also won't be using it for video, but are there any other tips people can share?

No. How often you click the shutter and use the LCD screen will drain the battery. Just don't touch the camera unless you need to.
My advice, buy a second battery, and not a cheap $10 generic one. Buy one made by Nikon.

LEAVE YOUR CAMERA HOME and then consider selling it on Craigslist! Why on earth did you buy this camera in the first place? You wanted top quality results so you could make fabulous images to please yourself! Who cares if shooting on lower quality saves battery power? You should have about 3 charged up and ready rechargeable batteries in your gadget bag! Yes you can save battery power by using the viewfinder, and it would be smart to do so! Always, always shoot on maximum quality, or sell this fine camera and buy a point & shoot. Remember, you are not spending money on film developing, PLUS you are editing out the pictures you don't like before you are having the best ones printed, so buy some extra batteries, with the money saved on useless photo processing if you were shooting with a film camera.

A spare battery or 2 is the best option, and maybe a spare SD card or 2 so you don't have everything on the same card. No point taking lower resolution images if you can avoid it.

And if you're using an external flash, take lots of spare batteries for that as well.

There may be some slight savings in power use with lower-quality photos as the amount of processing is a bit less, but the power savings is going to be nil. I'd recommend keeping the quality at the highest setting. However, shooting JPG vs. Raw might provide some savings.

For minimum power loss, avoid using live view. Also, turn off Image Review (normally image review displays each photo you take for a few seconds). Page 150 in your manual.

Also set auto off timers (Page 143 in your manual) to short.

On my D7100, I mistakenly left the camera on for 2 days and it hardly used any power.

And I would consider buying a second battery.

The only real answer to your question is simple… You need more batteries for your camera. 2 or 3 more. Then you change batteries when one gets low. You should also look at memory cards… Always have at least 1 spare!

I went on vacation several years ago and forgot my charger. I had 2 batteries in a battery grip, and that was all the power I had. It lasted just over 2000 shots, which was on the way home. I get 1, 000 shots per battery regularly, but I don't think your camera has that sort of battery life to begin with.

No.

It will do the reverse allowing you to shoot more pictures and make you want to Preview them more often.

To save battery, set Auto Preview off and avoid pressing that Preview button as much as you can. If you think action is slow and you won't be shooting in a while, turn it off. If you anticipate shooting now and then just leave it on. The camera will sleep when inactive for a certain period of time. To wake it up, simply press the shutter release button half-way. This saves battery life compared to turning off and on now and then. You should be able to set sleep time even to maximize power saving. If you have the option to turn off the LCD at all costs then do it. Don't use LiveView and check settings through the optical viewfinder, not the LCD. That LCD is the single most power-hungry part of the camera.