Fred wrote:
I would sure appreciate hearing from someone who had this problem and FIXED
it.

I have a C-700 which is about 18 months old. My problem isn't
ordinary battery drain, rather what I suspect to be some kind of short
circuit. Newly inserted batteries, alkaline or (brand new, fully
charged NiMH) re-chargeables only work for a picture or two. I can
open the compartment door, rub the contacts a bit, and get maybe one
more picture, maybe not.

I posted this query about a month ago, and got a suggestion clean the
contacts, check the springs, etc. I have done this and the contact points
are all good & clean. No change in performance.

Already checked the obvious -- tried several new batteries and all act the
same, batteries are not in backwards, etc. The problem is with the camera,
I know that for sure.


Hi Fred...

My grand daughter has one. She and I spend most of the
summer school vacation at the cabin, and she uses it
constantly. I've never counted pictures, but she
easily fills at least two 128 meg cards (without lcd
or flash) before she has to change batteries.

We have, however, in a pinch, bought alkalines to
use. With them we get very few pics - perhaps a
half dozen if my memory serves - before her camera
shuts down.

A couple of suggestions, if I may?

Is it possible that your charger isn't really
fully charging them? A test might be to find a
neighbor with a charger, let him charge them for
you... or to trade batteries (that he's charged)
with him for a test.

If you or a friend have a voltmeter, it might be
worthwhile to test them right after you take
them out of the charger. Unloaded, just in
your hand the terminal voltage should be about
1.4 volts.

And it probably wouldn't hurt all that much, but
are you really taxing them? LCD on, VF full high
brightness, flash a lot, continuous focus on,
zooming a lot?

And finally, and I mean no disrespect, but is there
any chance that you're buying bargain basement
nimh's? It's worth noting that only one of the
four need be weak to shut it down. FWIW, I once
very stupidly put 4 in my jeans pocket. ONE of the
cells shorted, got incredibly hot, burned my leg.
And from that point on that set of 4 acted just
like you're describing.

Hope this is a little helpful.

Ken