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Just got this camera a week ago. Low battery sign keeps comming up
just about daily. New batteries placed each time but battery life is
ridiculously short. I don't keep the camera on or use it extensively,
maybe 10 pix per day if that and just the usual review and delete
involved in editing. Does this camera really use that much energy or
is there some function or setting I have inadvertently activated? As I
said this camera is new to me and I am still unfamiliar with it . I
need some advise or suggestions please.

What type of batteries are you using?

Digital cameras will go through alkalines very quickly.
If you use Nimh rechargables, you should get better milage.

Gadi

"trg-s338" <> wrote in message
news: ups.com...
> Just got this camera a week ago. Low battery sign keeps comming up
> just about daily. New batteries placed each time but battery life is
> ridiculously short. I don't keep the camera on or use it extensively,
> maybe 10 pix per day if that and just the usual review and delete
> involved in editing. Does this camera really use that much energy or
> is there some function or setting I have inadvertently activated? As I
> said this camera is new to me and I am still unfamiliar with it . I
> need some advise or suggestions please.
>

In article <. com>,
"trg-s338" <> wrote:

> Just got this camera a week ago. Low battery sign keeps comming up
> just about daily. New batteries placed each time but battery life is
> ridiculously short. I don't keep the camera on or use it extensively,
> maybe 10 pix per day if that and just the usual review and delete
> involved in editing. Does this camera really use that much energy or
> is there some function or setting I have inadvertently activated? As I
> said this camera is new to me and I am still unfamiliar with it . I
> need some advise or suggestions please.

Are you using NiMh, NiCads or even plain Alkalines? NiMh are the ones to
buy for digital cameras.

Something is wrong if you are using NiMh, either your camera, charger or
a dead cell, try a voltmeter on your cells and exchange whats bad.

Gadi Ben-Avi wrote:
> What type of batteries are you using?
>
> Digital cameras will go through alkalines very quickly.
> If you use Nimh rechargables, you should get better milage.
>
> Gadi
>
> "trg-s338" <> wrote in message
> news: ups.com...
> > Just got this camera a week ago. Low battery sign keeps comming up
> > just about daily. New batteries placed each time but battery life is
> > ridiculously short. I don't keep the camera on or use it extensively,
> > maybe 10 pix per day if that and just the usual review and delete
> > involved in editing. Does this camera really use that much energy or
> > is there some function or setting I have inadvertently activated? As I
> > said this camera is new to me and I am still unfamiliar with it . I
> > need some advise or suggestions please.
> >

I have been using plain Alkaline batteries. Have some NiMh that came
with the camera kit,
I'll have to gauge battery life using them. I just happen to have a
bunch of Alkalines. Is there any particular brand of NiMH batteries to
recommend or are they pretty much all the same? Where do you buy
yours, online or retail store?

NiMh are the best bet. These should take 10 times as many shots as you
are getting, however the negative side of NiMh is that they have a self
discharge rate of up to 3% per day, so they need to be charged within a
few days of usage if you want to take a reasonable number of shots on
one charge.
There are also new Lithium disposable batteries which take up to 600
shots and last for years if rarely used. Still much cheaper than a
similar number of shots from a large number of Alkalines.
It all has to do with the voltage curve. Alkalines start at 1.5 volt but
quickly drop through 1.2v (which is the nominal voltage of NiMh). NiMh
stay at 1.2V until flat. You might notice this behaviour with the
battery indicator on your camera. With Alkalines you take a couple of
shots and the low battery indicator comes on, but you can take 10 to 20
more shots. With NiMh the low battery indicator comes on and you are
lucky to get a few more shots.
It is also a risk to take more shots when the indicator comes. The last
thing you want is for the batteries to go flat during a write to the
memory card. This may scramble the contents of you card. Low battery
really means replace or recharge the batteries.

trg-s338 wrote:
> Just got this camera a week ago. Low battery sign keeps comming up
> just about daily. New batteries placed each time but battery life is
> ridiculously short. I don't keep the camera on or use it extensively,
> maybe 10 pix per day if that and just the usual review and delete
> involved in editing. Does this camera really use that much energy or
> is there some function or setting I have inadvertently activated? As I
> said this camera is new to me and I am still unfamiliar with it . I
> need some advise or suggestions please.
>

Paul wrote:
> NiMh are the best bet. These should take 10 times as many shots as you
> are getting, however the negative side of NiMh is that they have a self
> discharge rate of up to 3% per day, so they need to be charged within a
> few days of usage if you want to take a reasonable number of shots on
> one charge.
> There are also new Lithium disposable batteries which take up to 600
> shots and last for years if rarely used. Still much cheaper than a
> similar number of shots from a large number of Alkalines.
> It all has to do with the voltage curve. Alkalines start at 1.5 volt but
> quickly drop through 1.2v (which is the nominal voltage of NiMh). NiMh
> stay at 1.2V until flat. You might notice this behaviour with the
> battery indicator on your camera. With Alkalines you take a couple of
> shots and the low battery indicator comes on, but you can take 10 to 20
> more shots. With NiMh the low battery indicator comes on and you are
> lucky to get a few more shots.
> It is also a risk to take more shots when the indicator comes. The last
> thing you want is for the batteries to go flat during a write to the
> memory card. This may scramble the contents of you card. Low battery
> really means replace or recharge the batteries.
>
> trg-s338 wrote:
> > Just got this camera a week ago. Low battery sign keeps comming up
> > just about daily. New batteries placed each time but battery life is
> > ridiculously short. I don't keep the camera on or use it extensively,
> > maybe 10 pix per day if that and just the usual review and delete
> > involved in editing. Does this camera really use that much energy or
> > is there some function or setting I have inadvertently activated? As I
> > said this camera is new to me and I am still unfamiliar with it . I
> > need some advise or suggestions please.
> >

Thanks for your informative responses, you guys are great! I'll buy
some more NiMh batteries and use the camera for a while to get a feel
for its energy use. Good advise on changing the NiMh battery once
indicated low, I wasn't aware of that characterisitic of this type of
battery.

I carry six AA NiMH batteries with me at all times. Two are in the camera,
four in the side pouch of the case. As soon as I see the battery indicator
below 1 / 2 ( AND I am staying out taking shots)...I change the batteries
and re-charge the low set when I get home. I know I should completely
discharge the batteries from time to time and that is supposed to lengthen
their charged time...but so far, this method has kept me shooting.

I have recently purchased four more NiMh batteries for use when I can't get
to a charger for a day or two.

regards, RichG TX/IL
-
http://groups.msn.com/DigitalPhotographyClub
http://groups.msn.com/CarolinaSkiffOwners
..

Energiser and Sanyo have verified output, many cheaper off brand NiMh
are rebadged some are even overrated on ma purposly.

On Wed, 01 Nov 2006 20:48:54 +1100, Paul wrote:

> It all has to do with the voltage curve. Alkalines start at 1.5 volt but
> quickly drop through 1.2v (which is the nominal voltage of NiMh). NiMh
> stay at 1.2V until flat. You might notice this behaviour with the
> battery indicator on your camera. With Alkalines you take a couple of
> shots and the low battery indicator comes on, but you can take 10 to 20
> more shots. With NiMh the low battery indicator comes on and you are
> lucky to get a few more shots.

Alkalines have a much steeper voltage curve, but they provide
their power while dropping from a bit more than 1.5 volts down to
0.6 volts or lower. That is, they'll continue providing power over
that range, but only to devices that won't power off early. Usually
motors and non-digital electronic devices are the ones that can
operate down to very low voltages. Such devices can quickly kill
rechargeable batteries though. NiMH cells quickly drop to about 1.2
volts, but with continued use will show steadily decreasing voltage
until they reach about 1.0 volts. At that point they're just about
100% depleted and need to be recharged. What you say about NiMH
batteries dying soon after the low battery indicator comes on is
true, but when that happens with alkaline batteries, you might get
far more than another 10 or 20. When that happened with my camera,
it was able to take more than 400 additional shots. There's a trick
involved though, where the shooting conditions before and after the
warning weren't the same. Hint: The flash was involved.


> It is also a risk to take more shots when the indicator comes. The
> last thing you want is for the batteries to go flat during a write to
> the memory card. This may scramble the contents of you card.
> Low battery really means replace or recharge the batteries.

It's a shame that some?/most? cameras aren't smart enough to avoid
that kind of damage. I've seen battery powered MD and mp3 recorders
that flash a "low battery" warning and refuse to record when asked
to do so if the batteries are too low.