Downloading images while battery powered (Canon Powershot A520)

Canon Powershot A520 user's manual says that downloading images to the
computer via USB cable eats lots of battery power.

* How much battery power? (Right now, I have alkaline batteries)
* What would happen if the batteries fully discharged in the middle of
downloading?

 

How much power.. Do you want to know exactly how many amps the
camera draws from the batteries, or do

 

We'll try this again without hitting send prematurely

How much power is subjective.. Try download and see how many
shots you can take vs not downloading images. With alkalines
it will probably cut into their life noticably..

Don't use alkalines.. Get yourself a set of NiMh rechargeables and a
charger.. They will give you a LOT more pictures per set than alkalines
and you'll save in the long run by not having to buy as many batteries.

Probably nothing.. The batteries don't fully discharge.. The camera
senses when they're low and shuts things down in an orderly fashion.

The worst that can happen is that the last image sent to the computer
could get corrupted. But the image on the camera will be OK.

 

I doubt that anyone will be able to tell you, but you can easily
figure out what the approximate amount is. But it's more useful to
determine how long the batteries will last, rather than the power or
amps used. Start with a pair of fresh batteries and a card full of
images. Copy all of the images to the computer. Delete from the
computer's folder and copy again. Repeat as necessary until the
battery dies. From the time used you can calculate the power or
current if you assume some capacity for the alkaline AAs. Using
2,500 mah won't be too far off. If nothing is being written to the
card in the camera while files are being copied, there should be no
damage to the card if power fails while copying images to the
computer. You'll have to trust Canon's software to not do anything
that stupid. It would be somewhat better to use freshly charged
NiMH batteries to do power the camera while copying and much better
to use a card reader to transfer files to the computer. Canon's
Zoombrowser software is clunky and not really needed.

 

Hi...

Lots of battery eaten up downloading. If it quits during downloading,
nothing will happen except it will stop where it was, with the one
pic it was downloading at the time being possibly corrupted (on the
computer, not on the card)

Make it a non-issue by getting yourself a set of Nimh's and a charger.
The nimh batteries cost little more than alkalines, and entry level
chargers are very inexpensive. You won't be sorry, I promise!

Ken

 

If you are downloading images by the camera and usb cable, you may want to
use an ac power cord. The cord is not included with a new camera.
I bought a cheap external card reader for downloading images. Its 1/4 of the
price of canons ac power cord and it works great.

 

With my Olympus, I always use batteries (rechargeable) to download. Never
had a problem. I haven't even cosidered an AC power supply!

Malcolm

 

[snip]

Thanks to all for kind, informative replies!

-S

 

I can tell you this much. I have used an adapter from a portable cd player.
Downloads images fine but I can't power up the camera in shooting mode.
Having said that, I never use the adapter except perhaps to show pics on tv.
For small numbers I just use the NiMH, for many pics I use a card reader.
Get rid of those alkalines, not good for dgcams.
Dave Cohen

 

Why not good?
* Don't last long enough?
* Variable voltage/current/etc?
* Leak fluid?

 

Two batteries are pushing it for A520. Before you blow your money on
alkaline s which can't even come close to the capacity of Nimh buy
yourself a charger and 2 or 4 nimh batteries. Walmart, Costco, and Big
lots are good cheap local sources. Don't waste your time with the USB
cable. Just grab a card reader. They take up less space then the cable
and may even be a lot faster if your A520 is only USB1(I don't know).
Officemax use to have the real small Digital Concepts brands free after
rebate but I haven't seen them advertised like such for a while.