# Digital Camera Advice - Battery Power



## Skipper (Oct 28, 2004)

I thought I'd write some short pieces of advice on different aspects of selecting a digital camera.  I've had several different ones over the last few years starting with a cheap Casio I bought in 97 and currently with a Canon Rebel D-SLR.  

 One of the first things you'll figure out about a digital cam is that they are hard on batteries.  If you think your walkman can go through a set of Energizers like a hot knife through butter, you've not been around one of these cameras very much.  Back in the days when I used Polaroids at work, one battery would do me for a couple of years.  When I bought my first digital cam, I couldn't believe 3 hours into my day and 26 miles from the office, my batteries were already dead.  I thought I just got a bad set at the store, so I went to the nearest quick sack and bought another set.  Before the day was done, those had also kicked the bucket.  The next morning, I bought a 12 pack at Wal Mart and by the end of day 2, I realized, the film cost may be zero, but at $8 in batteries a day, this thing is going to be expensive to use.  I bought rechargeable batteries, but that didn't work out too well either.  The batteries weren't that expensive neither was the charger, but it seemed every 10th or 12th charge 1 battery would bust and ruin the charger and more money would have to be spent.  Then I got the first of the Sony's the company bought for us.  This one had a "Trial Version" battery pack with it, and I sprung for an extra high capacity pack since I already knew the score on battery power.  It turns out, the L-ion pack for the Sony was the greatest thing since sliced bread.  I could charge my camera over the weekend and feel confident it would work all week on a single charge.  Yes, Sony's batteries are expensive at about $80 each, but they last forever.  I've had the ones for the older Mavica since 98, and have only had 2 go bad over that time.

 When I began taking photos as a hobby, the amount of time I kept the cameras powered up drastically increased as did the number of shots taken.  With that came more battery demands.  Today when we go out to shoot photos I keep a charger in my truck and have a spare battery on it ready to go.  The charger plugs into a AC converter that I plug into the cigarette lighter, and typically can charge the battery pack in about an hour.  I just turn it on while I'm driving and when I park, I unplug it to keep from running the truck's battery down.  

 When you look at a point and shoot camera under $500, there's not a lot of difference in them from brand to brand.  The photo chips are mostly made by 2 or 3 manufacturers and used in everyone's camera by the lowest bidder method.  The processors are also fairly standard as they are with most computerize items.  One of the ways that manufacturers turn a $500 camera into a $250 camera is to make it run off of AA batteries that way they do not have to include a battery pack and charger.  

 If you are in the market for a digital camera, bear in mind that the battery consumption you have experienced with film cameras has nothing to do with what you will experience with digital.  Digital cams are closer to battery consumption of a video camera or a walkman cd player.  Buying AA batteries, rechargeables, and or chargers gets expensive, and it's very possible that you are better off to put down a little more up front and get one with a battery pack that's up to the job.

 Skipper


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## mike bell (Oct 28, 2004)

thanks skipper,

Im looking into a digital with SLR and bigger lenses.  But for now I have a Minolta Maxxum 300si with a 70-210mm lense.  I would like to get around a 500mm. 

I have a question does that digital Canon you have, have auto focus and or manual focus?


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## Skipper (Oct 28, 2004)

It has autofocus as well as a full auto setting that allows you to shoot pictures without messing with any settings.  Just point, focus and shoot.

That said, sometimes with a real long lens like a 500 mm you can run into problems with autofocus and may have to do it manually.  Some 500 mm lenses do not have focus motors in them.  I also have a doubler that I use on rare occasions.  When it's on the camera, autofocus will not work properly.

I'm not sure where Minolta is in the quest to build a digital SLR.  I've seen blips here and there on it, but not seen an actual camera yet.  Canon is giving Nikon a pretty good whipping right now, paticularly in the pro body cams.  The D70 and the Rebel are fairly close with a slight edge to the D70, but if you ever intend to upgrade bodies, go Canon.  Nikon has just recently introduced an 8 mp chip in a pro body, Canon has had a 12 mp chip for a couple of years now.  Early next year, the 1Ds Mark II is due out with 16 mp which is up there with the digital backs for the medium format cameras.  Of course the projected price is way up in the clouds too at 8G.  

When Olympus introduced their D SLR, they changed their lens mount so their customers would have to buy new lenses if they chose to convert.  That was one nice thing that both Canon and Nikon have done, that is keeping the same lens mount.

Digital still cameras came from technology in video.  In the 1980's when camcorders came out, to reduce the size they had to get away from the old style tube pickups and go to a CCD chip.  Commercial video changed about the same time, and Canon has been a big player in that world.  The trick that made a digital camera was building a processor to convert the signal from the chip to a jpg file.  Panasonic and Sony were the first to introduce digital still, and both are the industry leaders in commercial video.  The big difference today v's early digital cams is the resolution.  A common 5 mp still cam exceeds the best video exponentially.  Ever hear of a "Snappy".  That was a computer device sold in the early 90's that converted video to still shots.  The shots looked awful, but on the computers at the time they were a big deal.  Marry a Snappy to a Video CCD and you get a still camera.  Obviously, it's more complex than that, but that's the basic premise.

Skipper


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## Arrow Flinger (Oct 29, 2004)

With my point and shoot Olympus, I was using 20 bucks of batteries every couple of weeks but then 2 years ago, I spent 50 bucks on 12 Energizer rechargables and 2 chargers and haven't spent a dime on batteries since.  I use mine for work also and take a ton of pictures ever day.  Best 50 bucks I have ever spent.


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## TOW (Oct 29, 2004)

My Olympus C770 came with a Li-10B Li-ion rechargeable battery and charger. I’m glad it did and that was one reason I bought it at…

http://www.beachcamera.com/shop/Product.asp?ProdTypeList=&Sku=OMC770#


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## Skipper (Oct 29, 2004)

I haven't tried the Energizer rechargables yet.  When I had that problem the only ones out were the Rayovac's.  The first camera I had, that's what I ended up doing, and was satisfied, but somewhere along the way, Rayovac's batteries got cheaper or the chargers got to charging faster than the batteries could handle and I kept busting them.  I've got a 1 year old and a 5 year old.  You guys with kids at home know the battery score.  All the toys you had when you were a kid were manual, today, they have a battery in them to power the whistle or motor.  I'll have to try some of the Energizers.  The Raovacs saved me a lot of money until they started busting constantly, and really it wasn't loosing the battery that was the problem, it was the chargers that kept getting ruined.

Skipper


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## Arrow Flinger (Oct 30, 2004)

Out of 12  almost two year old Energizers, I am still using all 12.  And they have been used alot.  4 stays in the charger all the time.  4 in the camera and 4 in the camera bag. I have been extremely pleased with them.


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## leo (Oct 30, 2004)

*Lots of great info in this thread*

I am also a Oly fan, and a user of the old faithful C-700UZ  

If you are a novice picture taker like I am (took me a real long time to venture off "auto"), IMO, the most important features are "optical zoom lens (10X) and auto"   

Another feature I really value about my Oly is it's ruggedness, I am not easy on a camera and keep it with me 95% of the time I am in the woods. It has been dropped a few times and has a few battle scars, but just keeps on working and making my pics look good  

Last week I finally managed to "damage" it, it took a 15' fall from a tripod  , and the battery competent door will not latch now  , after hunting season I will contact Oly and either get the part or send it to them for fixing  , until then a bit of duct tape keeps it going  

Rechargeable batteries are really the only way to go, IMO. I also have a set that are still functioning after 2 years service.

I really can't comment on any other dig cam"s quality other than the my Oly, I know that I have seen good pics on here from other cameras and it seems that more manufactures are coming out with the 10X lens on their cameras.
I would love to have a later model of the Oliy, but mine just keeps on taking good pics no matter how rough I treat it 

It's great to see that we have some more experienced members that can advise us on the features and what they mean and do, maybe I won't have to keep going to Jessies to get my questions answered  

leo


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## Hoss (Oct 30, 2004)

*Minolta Dimage 7*

Been using this for a few years.  It does well with batteries.  I believe that that is due to the fact that it has a manual zoom rather than a motorized.  I really like the manual better because I can adjust it faster and more accurately than I have been able to do with the motorized.  Also, it uses 4 double A's.  Nearly all of the newer small digitals seem to use 2.  This along with the motorized zoom means that they eat batteries.  If you use the LCD rather than the camera view finder, well just make sure that you have plenty of batteries before you head out to take many pictures.  
I bought rechargeables as soon as I got the camera.  Like Skipper, I got Rayovac with a 1 hour charger which has a cigarette lighter adapter.  With 2 sets of 4 batteries, I have not run out of power yet while taking pictures.  Still on the original batteries.
Now digital SLR cameras.  We bought a Nikon D100 this year at work.  I have taken a few pictures with it, but really haven't gotten the hang of the camera.  The guy who uses it most of the time has a quote that he uses, "You can take a good picture with this camera".  This means that getting the camera set is not an easy thing.  In auto mode, the exposure is constantly off, so you end up taking lots of pictures that aren't all that great.  His opinion is that after taking a few thousand pictures, you use the camera pretty well.  Concerning Canon, a co-worker bought the digital Rebel last year around Thanksgiving and found a steep learning curve with it also.
Concerning using old Nikon lens on the digital Nikon's, you need to be careful, cause you may not get all of the functionality that you are expecting.  Look for a D in the lens catalog number to assure it works properly.
Don't get wrong on the digital SLR's, I am not bad mouthing them, I believe that they offer some real advantages in allowing you to choose the lens that you want.  I am only pointing out that for the casual user, these cameras are not necessarily effective for point and shoot.  Do some research and pick a camera that works for you.

Hoss


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