[wildmovieguy]

Should i take the camera back to Argos? Or try new batteries?

[alanwarwic]

And use the reset feature too! (back to factory state)

The SD card usually has to be formatted by the camera, not the PC. And do the full format.

[neo_wales]

Originally Posted by wildmovieguy

I'll go down to Tesco and ask at their service bit. None of you lot have digital cameras? All i wanted was a set of batteries that was gonna last me. So Alkaline don't work, these lithium don't work. What works! I cant use my camera!

READ MY POST the energiser rechargable from Argos will work fine, well, good, last, they shut at four on Sunday so get off your ass and go buy some.

With the one hour charger
http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Produc...+BATTERIES.htm

You might get them cheaper elsewhere but your short of time and these will do the job.

[alanwarwic]

Originally Posted by neo_wales

READ MY POST the energiser rechargable from Argos will work fine.

Might be useful to read the posts. The camera has a fault or needs resetting or th SD card does not work/needs formatting.

The lithium batteries should have been as good as NiMh.

[grumpyoldbat]

Are there really that many people on here using cameras that take standard batteries? I thought rechargeables were the standard these days (as in the ones that come with the cameras, not the AA rechargeables). Even cheap £100 cameras seem to have them now.

[brangdon]

Originally Posted by grumpyoldbat

Are there really that many people on here using cameras that take standard batteries?

I am. But I did have to make an effort to search out an SLR that took AA batteries. Most SLRs don't, and my camera actually got criticised for it in reviews. I think there was a kind of battery snobbery going on, with people associating AAs with tourists and holiday snaps rather than serious photography.

I'd like to think the advent of Eneloops will mean more gadgets take AAs in future. The benefits of a standard format are huge.

[grumpyoldbat]

Originally Posted by brangdon

I am. But I did have to make an effort to search out an SLR that took AA batteries. Most SLRs don't, and my camera actually got criticised for it in reviews. I think there was a kind of battery snobbery going on, with people associating AAs with tourists and holiday snaps rather than serious photography.

I'd like to think the advent of Eneloops will mean more gadgets take AAs in future. The benefits of a standard format are huge.

I go to a lot of outdoor events where I'm using a lot of continuous shooting to grab fast shots and yet I can shoot at least 2 or 3 days on one battery charge (maybe a couple of thousand pictures). I can't imagine AAs would do that in a DSLR, would they?

[wildmovieguy]

Ok there was a reset feature on the camera and that seems to have solved the problem. I'm not aware of any format function on the camera but i'll need to go through the manual for it because i've been through the menu screen so many times today and there's nothing at all to do with the SD card. So i got the batteries to work. The first few times i tried to record video it would come up with a card read error. I don't have an SD card, i have a 8gb micro SD card inside an SD card adapter. But then i was recording some other videos, the longest being about 2 minutes and it never cut off again. So hopefully that is it working fine now. Everytime i take a picture or video the green light flashes orange, i'm not sure if that is an indicator to battery power or if it's just a confirmation that the camera is in use in some way.

Obviously now i am a bit more happy with the batteries. I struggle to find anywhere locally that sells the Eneloops so i guess that will be an online purchase. I probably didn't help the situation by binning the batteries that came with the camera but i did google the name and code at the time and there were many sites claiming the batteries could not be purchased, they were made to be included in the camera and i will try and find out the sites talking about these batteries. On close inspection on my camera, just below the SD card slot is a code 'SIZE AA HR 3UF'. If you google this code you will see this

http://jp.sanyo.com/koho/hypertext4-...1/1101-4e.html

Sanyo's highest capacity AA battery at 2700 mAh. From 2005 albeit but is this code basically telling me the recommended batteries for the camera? A further google search reveals they are not Sanyo at all but Fujifilm AA batteries which would make sense since the camera is Fujifilm but they are listed as rechargeable and are only 1600 mAh. I don't recall the batteries that came with the camera being made by either Fujifilm or Sanyo but i could be wrong. Whether that code is an indication as to what batteries should be used i do not know. I'm not sure what my next step is.

I had a look at the Energizer rechargeables and they have good reviews. I'll be using my camera over the next 3 days to see just how much i can get out of this current set of 4 AA's and then obviously the event i am going to is on Wednesday night so i'll probably need a fresh set. The reason i didn't buy rechargeables today was because i didn't know if you could use them out the box or if the only way you could use them is by charging them up. Batteries are not refundable so it was a bit of a risk.

[alanwarwic]

Fuji most likely buy their batteries off Sanyo.
I know Apple do and Duracell certainly do/did.

You might as well test the rechargeable batteries you already in that they will improve after a few charges anyway.

I have to agree about the battery snobbery.
NiMh is a safer and more rugged battery technology with weight not being a major disadvantage for semi-professional cameras.

[wildmovieguy]

The rechargeable ones that i have are 800 mAh and their not big branded name ones. I thought the higher the mAh is the more power can be used so i don't know whether to buy the batteries it says on the camera or just go for a decent set of rechargeables.

[Tassium]

This is totally pointless (again), there is more than enough info to decide.

[alanwarwic]

Last time I was in Asda I'm sure they had energiser or Infinium.
Any decent brand will do.

[wildmovieguy]

Well it was in January when i went out and bought decent Duracell ones and they lasted minutes. Oh there is a lot of info. I know nothing about batteries. How many in here have cameras that take up a lot of battery power? Maybe it was my fault to expect people to say 'my camera is such and such and i use these batteries and they last me for x number of days'. Or lithium is the best or alkaline is the best. I had to buy them. Apart from the Eneloops, which i can't even buy locally, there was no definitive answer. I had no choice but to go and buy those ones today otherwise i was just going round in circles. Trying them is the only way i'm gonna know if they are good or not. So far these ones are working ok. But no one could 100% guarantee me that a specific battery or specific brand would work with no problems.

[alanwarwic]

Originally Posted by wildmovieguy

But no one could 100% guarantee me that a specific battery or specific brand would work with no problems.

Like life, most problems are user generated.

[neo_wales]

Originally Posted by grumpyoldbat

Are there really that many people on here using cameras that take standard batteries? I thought rechargeables were the standard these days (as in the ones that come with the cameras, not the AA rechargeables). Even cheap £100 cameras seem to have them now.

Lots of cameras use AA batteries.

I think the OP is just winding us up now.

[brangdon]

Originally Posted by grumpyoldbat

I go to a lot of outdoor events where I'm using a lot of continuous shooting to grab fast shots and yet I can shoot at least 2 or 3 days on one battery charge (maybe a couple of thousand pictures). I can't imagine AAs would do that in a DSLR, would they?

The Pentax K-r has Li-ion as standard and 4xAA as an option, and the AAs offer the larger capacity, despite having to fit in the space that the custom battery pack was designed for. So in at least that case, AAs do better.

2000 pictures does sound good, though. The numbers you get will of course depend on the camera, how much you use live view, etc. A non-standard battery probably gives you more scope to include non-standard but larger capacity.

One of the benefits of a standard size is that you can buy spare sets cheaply. I use 3 sets, one in the camera, one spare, one on charge. I actually have a lot more than that, because the same batteries supply my GPS, my shaver, my toothbrush, my water purifier, my binoculars etc. I have a lot of gadgets but I only need one charger. I also have the option of using lithium AA and leaving the charger at home, and cannibalising batteries for one gadget from another.

[PrinceGaz]

I'm not going to re-read the whole thread but if the camera can take AA cells:

a) check if it has a battery-type setting, so it knows what it is working with (alkaline, NiMH, whatever)
b) buy AA batteries of the type most suited to your requirements

Alkaline- available everywhere but a last resort really (don't even consider lesser single-use batteries labeled "heavy duty" or the like)
Lithium AA- expensive but superb in every way
NiCD rechargeable- obsolete for cameras, due to their low capacity
NiMH rechargeable- best bet for regular use, you can find them on the high-street in Maplins sales for around a pound each for standard 2500mAh cells
NiMH hybrid- not quite as high a capacity and more expensive than the normal NiMH, but they hold their charge for a long time, unlike normal NiMH which will need recharging if you store them for more than a couple of months

Simples!

[grumpyoldbat]

Originally Posted by brangdon

The Pentax K-r has Li-ion as standard and 4xAA as an option, and the AAs offer the larger capacity, despite having to fit in the space that the custom battery pack was designed for. So in at least that case, AAs do better.

2000 pictures does sound good, though. The numbers you get will of course depend on the camera, how much you use live view, etc. A non-standard battery probably gives you more scope to include non-standard but larger capacity.

One of the benefits of a standard size is that you can buy spare sets cheaply. I use 3 sets, one in the camera, one spare, one on charge. I actually have a lot more than that, because the same batteries supply my GPS, my shaver, my toothbrush, my water purifier, my binoculars etc. I have a lot of gadgets but I only need one charger. I also have the option of using lithium AA and leaving the charger at home, and cannibalising batteries for one gadget from another.

I don't use "live view" it's a Canon 450D. It has a proper viewfinder rather than a digital viewer. Last weekend I shot 450 photos. The battery is still showing full. I'll probably shoot more than that this weekend and I'd expect the battery to still show full at the end of the day. It seems to take at least 2 full days of shooting before it ever starts to show signs being less than full. I have a spare battery, but I don't think I've ever had to swap them out during a day's shooting.

I had a 300D previously and the batteries were nowhere near as good as this. It's staggering.

[brangdon]

Originally Posted by grumpyoldbat

I don't use "live view" it's a Canon 450D. It has a proper viewfinder rather than a digital viewer.

The K-x has a proper viewfinder too. I generally prefer it, but it can be easier to focus a manual lens on a tripod by using the Live View and zooming in. How long the batteries last depend on whether you are doing that, or using flash, or whatever.

Last weekend I shot 450 photos. The battery is still showing full.

Most people seem to get 1000, +/- 200, with the K-x. It's obviously different to compare across different cameras. From reviews, I gather the 450D battery has a capacity of 1050 mAh at 7.4v, or 7.7 watt/hours. A set of four Eneloops would give 2000 mAh at around 5v, which is around 10 watt hours. So the AAs would have about 20% more capacity, and you'd get even more photos out of the Canon 450D if it used them.

I had a 300D previously and the batteries were nowhere near as good as this.

I gather that uses a BP-511 with a capacity of 1400mWh, so the battery is actually better than in the 450D. I guess the camera is more power-hungry.

[grumpyoldbat]

Originally Posted by brangdon

The K-x has a proper viewfinder too. I generally prefer it, but it can be easier to focus a manual lens on a tripod by using the Live View and zooming in. How long the batteries last depend on whether you are doing that, or using flash, or whatever.

Most people seem to get 1000, +/- 200, with the K-x. It's obviously different to compare across different cameras. From reviews, I gather the 450D battery has a capacity of 1050 mAh at 7.4v, or 7.7 watt/hours. A set of four Eneloops would give 2000 mAh at around 5v, which is around 10 watt hours. So the AAs would have about 20% more capacity, and you'd get even more photos out of the Canon 450D if it used them.

I gather that uses a BP-511 with a capacity of 1400mWh, so the battery is actually better than in the 450D. I guess the camera is more power-hungry.

Absolutely. Canon are constantly refining how much power the camera draws for various functions, so that's why you can't really compare batteries purely by size, especially not in cameras that are few years apart. The technology is constantly evolving. I just wish smartphone makers were making the level of improvements that we've seen in cameras in the last few years.

[home_alone]

Originally Posted by wildmovieguy

Well it was in January when i went out and bought decent Duracell ones and they lasted minutes. Oh there is a lot of info. I know nothing about batteries. How many in here have cameras that take up a lot of battery power? Maybe it was my fault to expect people to say 'my camera is such and such and i use these batteries and they last me for x number of days'. Or lithium is the best or alkaline is the best. I had to buy them. Apart from the Eneloops, which i can't even buy locally, there was no definitive answer. I had no choice but to go and buy those ones today otherwise i was just going round in circles. Trying them is the only way i'm gonna know if they are good or not. So far these ones are working ok. But no one could 100% guarantee me that a specific battery or specific brand would work with no problems.

ok i have a Canon Powershot A580, it uses AA batteries, the best ones I ever used were Energiser Lithium, they lasted long enough to take a decent number of snaps, including using the flash.

[PrinceGaz]

Originally Posted by brangdon

Most people seem to get 1000, +/- 200, with the K-x. It's obviously different to compare across different cameras. From reviews, I gather the 450D battery has a capacity of 1050 mAh at 7.4v, or 7.7 watt/hours. A set of four Eneloops would give 2000 mAh at around 5v, which is around 10 watt hours. So the AAs would have about 20% more capacity, and you'd get even more photos out of the Canon 450D if it used them.

Forget Eneloops or other hybrid NiMH cells if you're going to be using the device often enough to drain the batteries in under a couple of months, as normal NiMH cells are much cheaper and have a higher capacity (at least 2500 mAh these days). So-called hybrids have their uses, but those uses tend to very few and far between compared with a large-box of alkalines to power everything which uses very little power and only need replacing once or twice per year, and other things where they need recharging within a month for which normal NiMH cells are better.

I think hybrids are seriously over-rated, unless you're the sort of person who suddenly has an urgent need for a lot of fully charged rechargeable batteries, after many months of not needing any at all.

[alanwarwic]

The hybrid Eneloop is just a design improvement which is likely to become 'standard' in almost all nimh rechargeables.
2300mah is standard fro some manufacturers now whilst Eneloops are available as 2000mah or 2500mah.

No doubt you will find 2900mah batteries somewhere too. However you will find these self destruct very quickly.

[brangdon]

Originally Posted by PrinceGaz

Forget Eneloops or other hybrid NiMH cells if you're going to be using the device often enough to drain the batteries in under a couple of months,

I'm not a professional photographer, so I might go a month or so between uses of my camera. With Eneloops, the batteries in the camera will keep their charge, as will the spare set and the other spare set. With normal NiMH I'd have to charge up a set (and the backups) a few days before I wanted to use them. That involves a bit of planning. It's less convenient.

I think a lot of people gave up on NiMH because they were always flat when they wanted to use them. Low Self-discharge batteries are what rechargeables ought to be. The difference in capacity between 2000 and 2500 isn't as significant as them being available for use whenever. And once you get above 2500, the higher the capacity the worse the battery in my experience. It's all about marketing: they sacrifice everything else to get a big capacity figure they can feature prominently.

[PrinceGaz]

Horses for courses.

Standard NiMH which are drained in a few months even when not used are annoying when used in things you only use occasionally only to find they're dead, but then again if you only use it occasionally, a box of alkalines might be a better buy.

Hybrids as their name suggests are an in-between product between much cheaper and higher-capacity NiMH cells, and alkalines which hold their charge for many years but aren't suited to recharging at all. Ultra-high capacity NiMH, getting up towards 3000mAh for AA cells, are quite delicate and need a decent charger so are best avoided unless you know how to use them properly. As such, I would never recommend the very high capacity NiMH cells out there to anyone who needs to ask what to get.

I'd say there's a place for alkalines, hybrids, and normal NiMH cells in most homes, with alkalines being used in low-drain stuff where one set will last a year, NiMH in anything likely to drain the batteries in under a month or two (either through steady use or shorter high-demand periods), and hybrids for anything in between or for things which need a lot of power when used but are only used very occasionally so you want a full charge available on those rare occasions.