On Tue, 24 Jun 2008 06:01:01 -0400, Shawn Hirn wrote:

To each his own. There's no way I would use a digital camera that takes
AA batteries again. When I travel, I shoot hundreds of photos a day. I
tried a camera that used AA batteries and it was a PITA. I had to carry
bulky sets of batteries with me, change them two or three times a day,
and make sure I kept each set separate from the other sets, plus they
would discharge fairly rapidly when I wasn't using the camera for a few
weeks, so I had to recharge them all each time I went out with the
camera.

Too bad, as you're misjudging today's cameras based on the memory
of a poorly designed camera that's probably been discontinued for
many years. Would you mind disclosing which camera that was?

Today you can get small cameras that with just two (emphasized -
*not* four) AA cells can take 400, 500 and more shots per charge.
And that's with a high percentage of shots using the flash at full
power. Up to 1,000 or more shots per charge for outdoor/daylight
shots that don't require the camera's flash. You also seem to have
missed hearing about the new "Eneloop" type of low self-discharge
NiMH cells that retain most of their capacity even after a year or
two since their last charge. This is much better than Li-Ion
batteries as a number of photographers in this forum have discovered
to their dismay. Failure to charge them for similar extended
periods can fatally damage them, and that would be a *real* PITA.


Not to mention, that when I travel, I like to pack as light as possible,
and the li-on batteries and their charger are considerably less bulky
then AAs.

I have some travel AA chargers that I'll bet are no larger, and
are probably smaller than your Li-Ion chargers. While the smallest
cameras available are usually designed to use Li-Ion batteries, they
usually have several drawbacks, one of which is that tiny cameras
are more difficult to hold steadily enough to take reasonably sharp
pictures. Exacerbating that tendency is their tendency to also be
designed without having viewfinders, whether optical or EVF.

Two examples of very nice currently available cameras that use a
pair of AA batteries are Nikon's P60 and Panasonic's LZ8. They're
both small enough to easily fit in a shirt pocket, have VR/IS, can
shoot for days on a single charge (from approx. 500 to over 1,000
shots, depending on how the camera is used), and produce very good
images. They both have the usual plethora of predefined "auto"
modes that some beginners rely upon. For any of their owners that
may develop an interest in photography, they also have the manual
modes (P/A/S/M) that are usually missing from typical P&S cameras.
They're both fairly inexpensive, and the biggest difference I've
noted is that the P60 is slightly more expensive. But that extra
expense gets you a viewfinder and slightly more than one stop worth
of better high ISO, low noise performance. Similar cameras are
produced by other manufacturers, most notably from Canon.

I went to DPReview to compare the battery life performance with
that of cameras using Li-Ion batteries and found that the first half
dozen checked were far inferior, averaging about 1/2 the number of
shots that these two are capable of getting. Here's what Dpreview
said about Canon's SD900 :

Battery life, like most models in the SD range, is nothing special,
though at approx 230 shots (CIPA standard) per charge it's no
worse than many of its competitors.

So with one of the previously described cameras and two pairs of
charged AA batteries (two in the camera and another two in the
camera bag) you're probably good for something between 1,000 and
2,000 shots. That should not only be good enough for a short
vacation or extended hike, it should also allow most people to
travel *really* light, since with that kind of battery life most
people wouldn't need to bring along a charger!

In short, while the type of battery a camera uses can be a factor
in deciding which camera one should buy, it shouldn't be the primary
factor. Good, well designed cameras are available with either
Li-Ion and AA batteries, and a few rare models offer the choice of
both types. My personal preference (if you haven't already guessed
it) is for cameras that use AA batteries. But that won't prevent me
from buying cameras that use Li-Ion batteries if the cameras have
the features that I want or need. Battery chauvinists do themselves
a disservice.